A side story set at the end of the original game, just like the previous DLC, this time introducing two new Eikons into the game with their own abilities.

I don't usually review DLC separately but I just wanted to say, the DLC is much better value if you have yet to do your Final Fantasy mode playthrough since you'll have these new powers with you from the start of the game.

As I had already finished Final Fantasy mode, this DLC was all I had left. Thankfully they seem to have thought of this and so you do get given the Leviathan powers near the start to play through it with. It was fine, I guess. I wasn't particularly hyped by the new boss, definitely the hardest in my opinion though. The story was fine too but the new characters are basically just nothing. Same old boring side quest structure returns from the main game, but there are a couple of new hunt marks to do which I don't mind.

Then there's Kairos Gate, which had a lot of potential, but didn't really live up to it in my opinion. It does give you the freedom to try different ability combinations once you've unlocked everything though.

Over ten years since it was first released, I finally decided to play the first video game ever with a story. Hearing nothing but praise, and seeing it called one of the greatest games of all time, expectations were high going into it.

Taking place in a desolate world overrun by infected mushroom zombies, the main character gets wrapped up in the world's longest escort quest across half of America, taking a girl who possibly holds the cure to the outbreak through several states. It's here where you see the state of the world 20 years after the outbreak started, and in typical fashion, it's every man for himself. Joel isn't afraid to reduce the already dwindling human population if it means he survives, and his selfishness is a very prominent theme, right up to the game's conclusion where he forsakes humanity for the life of a single girl that he came to view as his daughter.

Joel isn't a good person. Very few people in this game are. Yet together with Ellie, you can't help but take his side. Their dynamic throughout the game feels very organic, and you see them both change throughout the game. While Joel becomes softer towards the end of the game, we see Ellie become quiet and less jovial, coming to terms with the lives she was forced to take and the trauma she has gone through during their journey. A moment that stands out for me is when she hacks somebody to death with a machete after he attempted to assault her, it's a pretty impactful scene. Their back and forth dialogue isn't grating, but some lines do border on marvel tier writing, though a lot less cringe. I'm not going to detail every part of the story, but I agree that from a narrative standpoint, the game is pretty decent.

However, this is a PS3 game. And I say that in the most derogatory way possible. I don't think this standard of gameplay holds up very well at all playing it in 2024. It's not terrible, but it's not exactly satisfying either. The gunplay especially feels weak, no doubt deliberately due to the game's focus on survival elements and its attempts to incorporate stealth. It feels very formulaic, where you enter an area and enemies are patrolling, so you either kill them all with guns or use stealth to quietly take them out. The only time the stealth felt good was the chapter where you play as Ellie and have to escape through a snowstorm after being kidnapped. Why? Because she has a knife with infinite durability, and the snow actually provides cover. We can't forget the classic mechanics such as moving a ladder, pushing a crate and boosting your partner up so they can then pull you up too. Very much game mechanics from that era of gaming.

Also, you're trying to tell me Joel didn't bleed to death, get his wound infected or die from hypothermia after the university chapter? He's immune to death, they should be using him for the cure instead.

Overall, it's a pretty good game and I'd say it's worth playing for the journey, but it's far from one of the best games ever made looking back on it.

Theres this random ass bridge in ishgard I noticed that really sucks. Its between the airship landing and the main artery in the middle of the pillars. If you look at it for too long it is a stupid bridge. Its made of two arches, and instead of there being a support pillar being between the arches, there's two supports placed in the middle of the arches?? and between the arches is a massive pillar for holding a lantern, putting the most stress on the least structurally stable part of the bridge. Absolutely braindead structure, I dont know how ishgard stood for this long. But then when you go over the bridge its looks really good and honestly the way the support beams look is pretty cool. The vista going over it is outstanding.
I could turn this into a metaphor for heavensward itself but honestly its about the bridge. Have you seen it? its really funny