its still The Last of Us

whether thats a recommendation or not is in the eye of the beholder. if you want this game, you probably already bought it. otherwise you probably already bought the remaster thats already playable on ps5.

is this the definitive version of TLoU? yes. is this game undeniably gorgeous? yes. does the gyro aiming make the original impossible to go back to? yes.

would i recommend the remake over the remaster? at full price fuck no, but if the new graphics and especially accessibility features are a real selling point to you then this is a great way to experience a game with frankly grossly unappreciated TPS combat.

this marks the second PS5 exclusive to be a PS3 game. what a time to be a gamer

One of the best feelings in the world is playing a game that truly deserves the kind of praise it's garnered.

Return of the Obra Dinn is one of the most perfectly detailed and intricately planned games maybe ever made. The nature of it's extremely unique gameplay requires that every detail of the story be near perfectly woven together with every aspect tying into the next. Miraculously, it almost pulls this off without a hitch.

Deducing a majority of the crew and the nature of their untimely deaths comes extremely naturally, through only your own cunning. It completely trusts you to notice patterns in their relationships and activity, and use the frankly beautiful dioramas to piece it together.

Which brings me to the topic of it's unique art style, which uses the limitations of low-poly models and a one-man animation team and embraces it's lo-fi nature and draws the game entirely in two colors. Too close up it can sometimes be a bit grating on the eyes, but watching the sails flap in the wind or being greeted by the gruesome sight of an execution stuck in time can be completely engrossing.

That engrossing feeling not at all hampered by the truly excellent sound design. The voice acting, the horrifying shrieks of men being shredded by monsters, the piercing sound of a gunshot making quick work of a fistfight, or even the waves softly hitting the vessel as you walk across the blood-shed boards of the Obra Dinn. Every bit of it is to marvel at.

It could be said that there is too much guesswork involved nearer to the end of the game, but it's frankly not enough to hamper the experience. It could be said that it's premise reduces replay value drastically, but the first playthrough alone is worth it.

I truly admire this game, and I hope it's gotten the kind of success it deserves.

I hope Lucas Pope is proud of this game, because it's a beautiful tribute. And god damn, those transitions are like porn to me

The Last of Us is one of the best games I have ever played.

This is not an unpopular opinion, I’m sure you know, as The Last of Us put into the public eye a strong focus on narrative in video games while also balancing it with one of the most engaging combat systems I’ve seen in a survival horror game. The design of its combat paired with the excellent pacing of its story made it easily one of the most powerful games of the last generation.

I was not looking forward to a sequel; I was almost dreading one. The ending of that first game is so beautifully ambiguous that giving definitive meaning to it could only ruin it. Joel and Ellie's relationship had been so perfectly played out that there was nothing a sequel could possibly add to their dynamic, I thought.

But somehow those sick, naughty dogs found a way to not only balance the intention of that ending with its new story, but elevate it to heights it had not seen before. Never would I have expected this game to show so much respect to its prequel, and still expand even further upon its themes and characters without eliminating the choice that Joel made.

I could go on and on about Ellie's journey and what it means for both her and Joel, but it’s entirely worth experiencing yourself. The kind of complicated, personal questions it asks you are genuinely thought provoking enough to warrant a playthrough from that alone.

But that isn’t all Part II has to offer, because the already rich gameplay structure of Part I is also expanded upon, turning the original’s Resident Evil 4 into full-on Metal Gear Solid 3 territory. The amount of new craftable items, unlockable weapons and upgrades, enemy variety, verticality, open-ended level design – it’s all to the absolute benefit of this game making it one of if not the most enjoyable Naughty Dog games to just pick up and play ever. I can almost guarantee that more than half of my time playing this game will be in exclusively the Encounter Select.

The Last of Us Part II improves on the original in so many different ways, that it almost competes with its predecessor in quality. there is no way to say that lightly. Naughty Dog have beaten all conceivable odds and created not only a wonderful game, but a sequel that should stand as a symbol of what any continuation of a game should strive to be.

The Last of Us Part II is one of the best games I have ever played.

this game is garbage

nolan north and richard mcgonagle give good performances as Nate and Sully for what they're given. thats everything good i have to say about this game

at its best, its the world's most generic cover shooter with the same problems all these ungodly games have. at its worst, its a repetitive series of climbing, braindead puzzle solving, and irritating monotony.

i cant even put into credible thoughts just how bad this game so here's some general shit i hate

- there were several instances where i had my reticle over an enemy's head and it registered as me shooting them in the chest

- enemies are all bullet sponges unless you hit them in the head, so the pistol is the only good weapon due to it not having horrible accuracy

- enemies will figuratively and literally pop out of cover dramatically like an actual whack-a-mole machine

- the level design is so uninspired with every shootout being so obviously marked by bright, glowing chest-high walls

- shoulder switching slightly moves the camera and takes several seconds, so if you come out of cover and the camera is on the wrong side its not even worth hitting the button

- getting into cover can sometimes be smooth (with the nice edition that dodge rolling near cover automatically puts you into it) but it can sometimes never put you into cover at all and nathan sticks so hard to it that if an enemy flanks you its up to the good lord whether or not you can get away

- enemies blend into the environment so much you have to step out of cover and let yourself get shot so you can follow the bullet trail back to the enemy

- most of my deaths were from the shitty climbing

- the distances nathan drake can actually jump are completely contextual

- quick time events

- nathan drake and ellen have like no chemistry and their idea of flirtation is sarcasming at each other

- no characters have any development and while sullivan and nobody else can sometimes have funny lines, the idea that there's actually a story in this game is the funniest joke it can tell

- nathan shooting a man in the god damn head and saying "ooh, that ones gonna sting in the morning!" makes him seem like a god damn psychopath

- the zombie stuff feels completely left field and while the enemies were a decent change of pace to the braindead fucking cover shooting, they get stale quickly and dont gel well with regular enemies at all

- this game marked the death of third person shooters until naughty dog themselves had to revive it again

i cannot fucking believe this is by the same developers as the last of us and uncharted 4. fuck this game