Kaitlyn Cooper

Spoiler Free Neil Druckman and others involved heavily with this game have betrayed their fanbase to force social commentary. Rather than create a new IP, they used a loved franchise to make sales much easier than they would have been otherwise. The characters feel shallow and out-of-character, some of them even changing their personalities four times at least. The Last of Us Part II tries to recreate the first game in a different light, but it fails miserably and alienates players. SPOILERS This video game angers me more than the ending of Mass Effect 3, and Mass Effect is my favorite franchise. The Ellie in this game is clearly awkward, angsty, and angry at the world. She was never like this in the first game, but it would have made more sense if she had been. For whatever reason eighteen-year-old Ellie is extremely immature compared to herself at fourteen years old. This could be blamed on her traumatic experiences with David, but flashbacks show that she was still a happy person until she realizes Joel "took her purpose in life" away from her. After that, she completely falls apart as a character. Almost every character from the original game have had their personalities manipulated to make room for Abby. When playing as Abby, I actually had fun and somewhat enjoyed her character, but when I remember what she did to Joel, I realize how cheap that part of the game was. Nobody really wanted Joel to die, but we could have welcomed it if it actually had some purpose other than making Ellie so angry that she ruins her life in the process of trying to avenge him. Abby gets her revenge and suffers nothing compared to what Ellie goes through. The plot is so obviously forced and tries to use Abby and Lev as the new Joel and Ellie, but this has absolutely terrible execution. I would have gladly played a game with just Abby, or even a game where they made Abby a redeemable character besides helping some kids only because they saved her life. Every time I began to love a part of this game, it was crushed almost immediately. It seems that this game was used as an outlet for enormous amounts of social commentary, and, rather than create a new IP, it would be easier to make sales with a dearly beloved franchise. Truly sad for Naughty Dog, considering everything their employees have gone through only to create such a nightmare. If there is a third game that features Abby, I will refuse to play it until after I hear reviews from players. It is the only way to make sure my money will not be wasted on a poorly executed, unnecessarilly long, torture fantasy that should have been made for the players rather than using their love of a franchise to sell copies.