Jessup Straus

As a Magic the Gathering fan, I really wanted to like this game. I believe the lore is rich enough to be adapted to almost any video game genre you want. You could make a 2D fighter with a roster made up of the Planeswalkers or a narrative driven rpg where we can equip and cast various spells to solve puzzles and fight enemies. Innistrad would be a great setting for a survival horror game and Ravnica would make an excellent setting for a stealth focused game if we played as Dimir agents infiltrating the other guilds. I think I’m more disappointed by this being Magic the Gathering’s first step into video games when there is so much potential for better games from this franchise.

I didn’t pick this game up right away because I heard about the leaks and that everyone was hating on LoU before it came out. I’ve seen this with Star Wars sequel trilogy where the creators choose to take a risk. Then some minor or major plot detail is leaked, out of context and everyone blow up over it. This time I waited for the blowup to die down before I even started playing the game. Overall, I found Last of Us Part 2 enjoyable, but I it wasn’t flawless. I loved the risky story, which touched on The Philosophy of The Other, which people seem to forget about these days with this “us vs them mentality”, and the excellent gameplay (even if the gameplay is mostly recycled) I just felt that the ending could have been much stronger. (SPOILER START HERE) I kind of wished the game ended after Seattle days 1-3 because I would have though Ellie could have forgiven Abby after she sparred Dina. The group was planning to leave the city anyway, even if it meant Abby would have survived. At least it did give way to an amazing set piece with the Rattlers (END OF SPOILERS). Honestly I had the same complaint with the first game. I didn’t like the original game’s ending. However given some new context provided by this game, I’ve grown to love the original game’s ending. Hopefully Last of Us 3 gives me a reason to like the segment of this game I didn’t like. (On a side note, I never found stalkers of Last of Us 1 to be much of a threat, but I’d argue they became more dangerous than Clickers)