Thatcher Heinen

I have mixed feelings about this game. Joel was a key aspect of the 1st game and along with ellie gave us the compelling story that we've all come to know and love. And for them to remove him feels like a missing piece of a puzzle. I understand that they wanted to express a theme of hate in this game and they want to express how it can eat you up inside until all that is left is the thought of revenge leaving you blindsided to reason. And while the story is phenominal it also leaves you itching to jump into the screen at times and change everything. But you cant and this makes you feel powerless to all the emotion that you feel deeply weather you like it or not. This game expresses its themes so viscerally you almost dont wanna look, and for this I say they did a fantastic job. But at the same times I sometimes forget I'm even playing the equal to the last of us just for the raw violence in it. It feels like the happy moments and lightheartedness that made you feel a twinge of joy and relief from the 1st game dwindle in the second making it seem like there is less joy. But this game is gut wrenching, watching ellie claw and fight her way to those who have robbed her of one of the closest people to her and see the venom In her as she fights. Dina makes a wonderful companion leaving you happier in dark times. And seeing Tommy gives you a feeling of familiarity that comforts you. I feel Jesse's death was the most shocking and it's this sudden death that leaves you mortified that he's just dead, but this gives a sense of realism that not every character will get to have their last words before they die. Now Abby i s an interesting character. I felt that playing with her for the other half of the game dragged it on and while it was not unenjoyable it makes you feel so mad that you are playing the character who killed joel. I feel that they could have given her a little less time and we would have felt just as sympathetic as usual. The one main issue I have is the fact ellie left the farm with more ease than I was expecting. It felt unnatural and almost out of the water. Still i think this game has a lot of positives and while i wish just like everybody else we could change things we cant and this allows us to feel the pain of this journey and have to hurt and think and rethink this game over and over trying to do what we can to rationalize what has happened and it is this reason i say the last of us part 2 is a good name. Sure it won't be the sweet tale of a father figure and his adoptive daughter but it gives as a sense of darkness that gnaws at us in our subconscious and because of this and the fact that it causes us to think so much about it, that this would be a game I would recommend to anyone. We can only wait and see how this will all end. And people, you are entitled to your own opinions, but dont be salty over Joel's death, I know we all were but the rest of the game dosent deserve a bad rep for it. You can agree or disagree but let'sall try to enjoy the last of us part 2 for all it has made us hurt, laugh, cried, and raged.