Jocelyn Libbey

Sitting with my best friend as he played through this game was one of the best cinematic experiences I've ever had. The story, the graphics, & character designs are absolutely breathtaking. We loved the LGBTQ+ representation. We continually discussed the themes as we went along, our main one: how primal & selfish human beings are, especially when going through trauma; we felt it was evident in pretty much everything- Abby's revenge for the death of her father, Ellie's relentless search for revenge for Joel's death, themes of love, sexual gratification, finding comfort in spirituality; the different "factions" or "groups" who, despite their different beliefs in how the world should be, inherently all wanting similar things out of life, but all unwilling to sacrifice their personal agendas for peace. Despite our love for Joel as a character, & despite our broken hearts after watching him be viciously murdered, we both agreed that, frankly, Joel actually wasn't a very good person, & he most definitely had it coming to him. Joel was a ruthless killer, & it was obvious from the first game that he had no qualms about murdering masses of people at a time. His demise was inevitable, as was Ellie's vendetta to avenge him, since, as we've seen, Joel basically trained her to be just like him- a ruthless killer. A lot of people hated Abby, & they hated that the writers of this game made the decision to have her kill Joel before we really got to know her as a character. But, I actually loved the structure of the storyline, & I actually found it quite clever. You start out hating Abby. She just brutally murdered one of your favorite characters, ripped our hearts to pieces, & now we're angry. But, I LIKED hating her, only to then see her backstory, her relationship with her father, her love life, her friendships, hear about her beliefs, her determination to train herself & seek out Joel, to avenge her father's murder, even if it is the last thing she does, even if she loses everything else in the process. It makes her human. I no longer hated her, but found her relatable, & eventually even grew to like her. I loved the transition of emotions, & I think it made the story even more heart-wrenching & raw. Even the ending, as crushingly sad as it was, ended up feeling perfect to me. The Last of Us isn't a love story. It's never meant to have a happily ever after, & as much as we all wanted it, I think anyone who was paying attention should've known it wasn't ever going to end that way. I am so glad I got to experience this masterpiece- it broke me bit by bit, made me angry, passionate for discussion, in the end ripping my heart out entirely. This one is irrevocably a tragedy, folks.