Shane Scaddan

if you look at the scores for this game, it feels like almost no one is really judging this game honestly, for me it feels that way at least. I will start off by saying that the first game is a masterpiece of story driven content rivalling the most Oscar worthy movies in both writing and acting, and its sequel, in terms of how characters are written, I feel rivals the first one, and within the first hour or so of playing will craft heartfelt and gut-wrenching scenes of love and hate, and the consequences of taking both too far (the main themes of the first and second game respectfully). I can see why this game gets 5 stars, as it hits many of the points that typical game review websites love to see, beautiful visuals and some left leaning content, though not nearly as much as some would have you believe. The thing I don’t understand is the 1 star reviews, since this game can and should be hailed as one of the crowning achievements of what story telling games, and video games in general, truly can be. I've narrowed down the reason this game gets so much hate to two things **(SPOILER)**, Joel, one of the most beloved characters across maybe all types of media, dies at the hands of a new, unfamiliar character, and the second reason being the left leaning content of some of the games plot points and dialogue. The first point was frustrating for me to witness in game, since playing though the first one successfully made Joel one of my all time favourite characters, but I feel that his death, and the fashion it was executed put me in such a state of distress, hatred and distain for the antagonist that I can't help but love Ellie even more, since I can empathize with her more than ever, and even cried during that scene and the moments after where you get to recall moments from the first game, making me even more sad. This game is such an emotional trip that the leftist dialogue (for example Ellie calling a man a bigot, which seemed forced in the dialogue and took me out of the immersive gameplay for a second) takes a backseat to one of the most raw and tantalizing games I've ever played. While this game isn't perfect by any means, and I don’t think five stars is befitting, it is a game I cannot recommend enough if you like getting invested in characters and the long winding stories they take you on. Seriously though, get this game. Sorry for the long as hell review, and thanks for sticking with me.