Max Lai

My biggest problem with this game is the fact that it just threw away the main characteristic of the first one that made it such a special game. For me, the most special thing about TLOU is the fact that it tells a story in a post-apocalyptic setting with great tenderness in a natural way. There are plenty of stories set in a post-apocalyptic universe full of pain, violence, tragedy and hopelessness. TLOU managed to perfectly balance the elements of negativity common in stories of the genre, such as death, tragedy and misery. Along with elements of positivity, such as love, tenderness and redemption, without making it feel forced. I consider the story of the first game to be infinitely more courageous than that of the second precisely because of this, it is a story with a cliché theme, told in an innovative way with unusual elements in stories of the genre. Making a story in a post-apocalyptic world full of violence and despair, with an extremely bitter ending, makes the game just another story in a post-apocalyptic world, full of violence and despair, with an extremely bitter ending. Trying to make a sequel with a story with the same approach as the first game, with a balance between negativity and positivity, would have been much more challenging and courageous for the creative team. For me the route they chose is the easy route. Subverting expectations and breaking paradigms established in the previous game is much more comfortable than trying to maintain the paradigms and reach the expectations of the fans in an intelligent and creative way without making it feel like the first game's story is just being recycled. That would be the real challenge for the writers, challenging the fans without relying on ye olde subversion of expectations, it's just too easy to get a strong emotional reaction from fans by using shock value