Benjamin Hope

I'll start spoiler free for those who haven't played; The game is visually beautiful, naughty dog yet again made an environment that is insanely detailed from blood diluting in water to the dynamic lighting, not to mention the Insanely well done audio. the difficulty of the game starts easier, I'm guessing for you to get used to the controls and playstyle, but really becomes challenging towards the end of the game (the stealth was better than games that aim for stealth like Thief). A few sections have rough pacing but they reflect a more true to life timing where not everything happens back to back. The story has so many elements that many people may miss, and without saying anything specific, you need to take your time especially in the second half and don't stop playing because you'll miss out. [Spoilers] * * * * I'll start with Joel; His death was very sudden and looking at the past games, it doesn't seem like him until you think about the fact that he has gotten older, he's settled down, and seems ready to retire. His character development was amazing and unlike many characters, he showed an age progression. Abby was an amazingly written character and the acting for her was amazing. A lot of people dislike her because she's "trans" or something like that (based off of negative google reviews and the Reddit page, which are filled with a lot of hateful people who clearly did not play long enough to get any of her story). She is very buff and she is Issac's number 1 scar killer, so it makes sense that she is strong. She shows a progression that is headstrong and is fairly natural. Ellie shows that she has grown up a lot, and she shows the same aggression that Abby shows in her own story. It pushes her into a similar reluctance to quit, much like Nathan Drake, but she does not quit where Nathan does. Though she finally comes to her senses after seeing a weak and half dead Abby. Dina and Jesse are level characters and a parallel to Abby's friends, and they are there to help the player think about what they are doing to realize that what is going on is not ok. Lev and Yara are amazing characters and push Abby the same way that Jesse and Dina push Ellie, the difference is that Lev helps Abby quit where Dina could not get Ellie to quit (at fault of Tommy). Overall the story, while a bit rough going through the first time, and thinking back you understand more so having those questions answered it makes a lot more sense. As long as you aren't trans/homophobic I don't see a reason why you would't like the story.