Theres so much to unpack with this game... Going into it I knew the game was hated on but after starting I was sure that it was just people who didn't like Ellie's development. At first I liked where the story and everything was going, and I feel this way about most of the game. I loved Ellie and Dina's relationship and seeing lesbian representation is awesome!! I think both her and Jesse following Ellie in the first section of the game was done really well. I like all characters and plot lines at this point in the game. Once Abby's story was introduced I wasn't fully on board with her as a character and to be completely honest I'm still not. She has similair motives as Ellie who i love, so because of this it felt wrong to dislike her.. but then I kind of got over this mindset. I didn't mind Ellies vengeful motives and more intense violence in this game compared to the first. To be fair she has grown up in this apocalyptic world I would say its unrealistic to maintain that amount of "pureness" or "innocence" (idk the right words for what I'm saying). Anyways one I thought about this I realized that even though they have similar motives I still don't care much for Abby. I do not know her backstory to begin with, and once I learn it I do not care for it, so all I can see her as is the brutal villain of the game. I don't think her character is bad at all, but I would have rather never played as her. That is until Lev is introduced. I absolutely loved Lev's plot line in this game for several reasons. First of all him being an example of an actual GOOD representation of trans people in video games.. LOVE THAT!! I adore him and I loved his addition to this game. I also really enjoy the change he created in Abby. She seemed very closed off (which I believe hurt her as a likable character too early on), but with Lev she opened up and regained more sturdy principles and goals. I really enjoyed this section of the game. Furthermore, for the entire game the exploration, gameplay, graphics, everything is absolutely beautifully done. It would have been pretty hard to mess up since they pretty much nailed it already in the first game but luckily they did live up in those aspects. Now the last thing I really have to discuss is the ending... The ending of this game hurt. I believe the game should have ended right when Tommy walks out of Ellie and Dina's house. I don't care if there isn't revenge because I believed that Ellies true priorities would lie with her family. thats why her leaving felt so wrong, that being said I don't hate that she did... The whole game is building up to Ellie getting revenge for Joel's death, but at the same time the whole game Ellie sees more death than ever before on this quest. From enemies and friends that die in front of her eyes it feels like she should have learned to know when to let go. This ending feels like it is disrespecting the first half of this game which just feels wrong. Playing through the actual ending I didn't hate it. Seeing Abby and Lev in such harsh conditions really hurt and it felt nice for it to be Ellie who saves them. Then Ellie wont let Abby leave which... makes sense in all fairness, I would have been more mad if she just completely left after that, and I was satisfied with the fight ending the way it did. I DID NOT like the final scenes of the game. Seeing Dina abandon Ellie hurt and in the end I had no idea how Ellies character moves on from this. I'm sorry but this just felt wrong and I was not satisfied at all. All in all, this game fails in continuing the story of the first game, but it doesn't fail as its own game. This game shows a much more brutal and realistic view of this apocalyptic setting. I think this view works extremely well, but not for character we already know and love in a different light. As you can see I've mostly complained while still having a very high score, so yes this game is still good and it was worth my time, but I cant say that I got what I wanted from my experience.