I would definitely recommend this game to another, it was definitely worth the money. The bad reviews are just people being salty over character development, when there is so much more to this game.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
Overall, the gameplay was fun and enjoyable, I see that many people are complaining about taking control of Abby, I too was disappointed at first. however the time we spent as Abby gave the her (the main antagonist) a well rounded story, unlike the first, and gave her a reason to pursue Elli to the theatre. Some subtle things of note that I found were the enemies. In the original game, all of the guards were dumb and none of their other allies really showed concern when a few of them would drop dead, other than alerting the guards; however, in the second I found that each troop had a name, and their allies would show signs of panic when one dropped from the face of the earth. The game is iffy as far as pacing goes, but it tells a compelling revenge story that very quickly turns into ripping at your favorite characters (which makes you feel horrible), but in order for your favorite character develop and become more than a one dimensional character, they needed to have downsides to the story. You cannot get upset because Ellie Ellie wanted revenge or abandoned her family, those decisions made Ellie. You cannot expect Ellie to not want to kill Abby just because of a little as whopping, when the entire reason she went to Seattle was to kill Abby. Ellie only decided that killing Abby was not the answer as Ellie was drowning her. That is what makes Ellie more than a Badass with a bow. That moment is how naughty dog told a story. Some may be salty about it, but it was definitely worth experiencing it first hand.
Developers, the only way you could make this game better is if you made an alternate ending, where you decided not to beat up Abby, or not drown her in the water. Another would be to go with Tommy’s plan to pursue Abby, or staying behind with Dina to live your life in peace. But other than that, good job 👏.