Kotori Minami

Hi. This is my first time writing a review for anything, but I think it would be useful for others. This has spoilers so proceed with caution. For background, I really loved the first game like so many others. I played it for the first time when I was 16 a few years ago and became obsessed with it and played it around 7 times in the span of 6 months. After school I’d come home and play it until late at night. To me, this game isn’t bad... but it’s not great. There are many plot holes and character issues. As the player, I wanted to see Abby get what she deserved. Joel was my all time favorite character for awhile so I really wanted to see her get what she deserved. It was like a slap in the face to have Ellie just let her go after chasing her this whole time. The game isn’t linear like the first game. There are too many flashbacks and flash forwards. It can be confusing to those who have trouble recalling things. I liked a lot of the improvements in combat but the story didn’t resonate with me. I’m disappointed that Abby seems more like the main character than Ellie and it feels as though you spend more time playing as her than Ellie. At the end you play as Ellie again but it doesn’t have the same effect because it feels as though it’s just in there so people don’t see that Ellie isn’t the main character anymore. Onto Joel. They turned such a strong, cautious character into someone senile and lacking common sense. Along with Tommy. Joel was always cautious and yet he somehow managed to let someone kill him? It doesn’t make sense at all. The side characters you travel with (Dina, Jesse, Lev, Yara) are great. It feels like they put more effort into them than they did Ellie. Ellie is turned into the bad guy, to the point where you have to fight her when you’re playing as Abby. It made me upset that Abby might end up killing Ellie and Dina. Ellie kills so many people who were involved with killing Joel and it ends up feeling like you might get close to Abby, but you never do. Abby ends up being let go. They butchered a whole character in order to illustrate a “revenge is bad.” If that’s the case, why does Abby get to have her revenge? Why don’t we, the player, get to avenge Joel that so many people loved? Why is Ellie suddenly a demon for wanting revenge that Abby gets to have? The game could have been so much more better than this. I wouldn’t have mind waiting even longer for it to come out so they could polish it more. Naughty Dog needs to listen to their employees and stop with crunch, because I feel this time, it made the game so much worse.