Steven Blackmon

Very well made, solid gameplay and incredible production quality. Not as good as the first one (which is a very tough bar to reach) but still worth playing. I've oscillated between giving it 3 stars or 4. It's more of a 3.5 so I'm rounding up. Story was interesting, but also at many times frustrating and unnecessarily repetitive. I get that much of that is on purpose as a metaphor for the unending cycles of violence depicted in the game and their relentless consequences, but I play video games to enjoy them not be exhausted by them. It's ok to take risks with characters, otherwise things get boring, but in this case I just feel disappointed by everyone. I guess that was the point, but I didn't love that. <SPOILER>When it came time to finally confront Ellie as Abby, I stood there and let Ellie kill me a few times before I decided to actually tried to progress in the game. It was honestly the only cathartic part of the game for me. Abby didn't win me over, I didn't leave feeling like she was any less of a villain. Ellie obviously isn't a hero either, and I realize that was the point of the story, but anti-hero characters should at least be empathetic. </SPOILER> In short, they tried to do a lot, and took the time to make a really well-crafted experience, but the story doesn't quite stick the landing.