Josh Bickle

The Last of Us was a brilliant game & its sequel did not disappoint. I resisted playing at first due to bad fan reviews but gave in & then after playing most reviews were hidden behind a thin veil of masculine insecurity & bigotry. Story - While it did have a couple of parts that left something to be desired, it was an excellent move forward game that moved from a consequences for your actions to a revenge filled romper with themes not often discussed in gaming. It all ties into ultimately how pointless revenge truly is & the cost to pursue it. Characters - I thought this was particularly strong. The great flash back sequences showed us the fatherly side of Joel. Ellie was still bad as and grappling with her desire to start a life, vengeance, & dealing with the weight of Joel's choices from game one. We also get a cast of well developed & intriguing characters in Lev, Yara, Owen, Dina. & in particular Abby, your second playable character. A nice cross section of diverse representation. Visual - This game is detailed & stunning. The sights are something to behold & the cut scenes are engaging. Gameplay - I though the gameplay was great. It did feel a bit easier than Last of Us was, with a few points of giant infected for inflated difficulty. But overall it was still satisfying to transverse any enemy filled level, particularly without being caught. Overall - This game had some bits it could improve on, but was a very worthy follow up to the franchise. It was fun, engaging, and nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. Ellie is a Lesbian, Lev is Trans, Abby is butch & the games leading cast is mostly dominated by females with the males in a more support role. My guess, this is what drives most of the vitriol for this game.