Matteo Scammell

TLOU2 is an amazing experience. The haters are simply wrong. TLOU2 is an absolutely heart-wrenching, astoundingly brutal, totally beautiful, and sometimes existential experience. An extraordinarily human game. A complex portrayal of loss, grief, hope, and humanity. THANK YOU, Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross and the entire Naughty Dog team for developing such a mind blowing, immersive video game. The game continuously challenged and surprised me. It chewed me up, spit me out and dared me to "look for the light" - in ways that I will apply to my actual life. TLOU2 is not for basic gamers or shallow observers of human existence. TLOU2 is not for people who don't like to be challenged. TLOU2 is for people prepared to live with some uncomfortable grey area. TLOU2 is less video game and more meditation on the consequence of being alive in a messed up world. **SPOILERS***BELOW** To the #1 hater on this thread and all the people who agree with him, Abby is not trans, Abby is just a mannish woman. Lev is trans; you clearly don't know anything about trans issues. Also, Ellie didn't "become" lesbian, she just is and she always was. Y'all sounds like the Seraphites who think a woman's job is to reproduce and anything otherwise is selfish. You lambast the developers for making Joel weak. Yeah, you missed the whole point. Joel being weak was the point. Actual human beings are sometimes weak. But you can't call it only weakness, he was conflicted. Joel was trying again and again to say sorry to make up for his mistake. He was living with regret. It's a complex human emotion that the haters clearly don't have any appreciation for. Actions have consequences. Ellie letting Abby go isn't about justifying Abby's torturing and eventual murder of Joel. Ellie's choice to let Abby go is motivated by Ellie's refusal to live with any more regret than she already has. As Ellie drowns Abby she is reminded (in the flashback) of how Joel wished he made a different choice in Salt Lake City. Joel was living with regret, Abby was living with regret and Ellie was seconds away from living with it too. Actions have consequences. Ellie's insistence on pursuing revenge cost something. It cost her love, comfort, a family, a future. I would argue Abby's actions from Seattle Day 1 onward are motivated by her feelings of regret. Hunting, torturing and murdering Joel didn't ease the pain of losing her father. Actions have consequences. Revenge has a real cost. And we all live with the consequences of our actions, good and bad. This game attempts to debunk the revenge myth. TLOU2 is a painful experience. It's about pain. It isn't supposed to be easy to digest or heroic. There are heroic moments but none of the game is easy. F*** the bigots who can't deal with lesbians or female main characters or men with feelings. This whole f*****g game is a heroic achievement. If you didn't get it, grow up. Y'all sounds like Seth. If that makes you proud, f*** off. THANK YOU, NEIL DRUCKMANN. THE LAST OF US II WAS AWESOME!