This review does not contain spoilers for Part II.

One of if not the most ambitious game story I've ever experienced. Glad to see this site is free from the review-bombing on day 1 that metacritic has had to endure. Interesting to see how the score has been trickling up now people have actually had a chance to FINISH the game. I predict that in time people will give this game the respect it deserves, even if they aren't entirely won over by the story.

I actually really admire Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann for attempting to interrogate the morality of the first game's closing decision. What Joel did was selfish, although understandable, which is why TLOU I's ending was so effective. Part II opens up the world with new factions that expand upon the narrower scope of the original. I personally prefer the approach of Part I due to its simplicity but find Part II to be a much more thought provoking narrative that raises ideological and moral quandaries that have you question the players you inhabit during its approx 30 hour game-time. To play as a character that acts in ways the player may not condone, outside of the choice to make that happen, opens up extremely interesting possibilities for how video games can probe feelings in the player they may not particularly like about themselves. Druckmann seems to be the only video game writer in town that writes dialogue that seems sourced from reality, and comparable to scripts written for TV and Film. The jump in narrative quality between Uncharted 1-3 and 4 best displays this example. It's hard to feel for characters in games with emphasis on story when they don't feel like recognisable human beings. Let's face it, most video game writing is poor when compared to television and film, mediums the industry is obsessed with trying to replicate. This isn't to say games with simple stories and wooden characters are bad, because game-play is always paramount.

For years most games have acted as power fantasies that seek to empower the player. To see a game that puts you in the shoes of those driven but hatred instead of virtue was a refreshing change of pace from most other games I have played. The greyness in character evoked similar feelings as playing most From Software games. Games that, when interrogated, could make the case for the player being the villain. Of course, I don't see it as simple as that and would prefer games to experiment with characters and scenarios that depict people for who they are - flawed, not a hero, or a villain.

I'll admit that some of the structural elements of the game's story did begin to become a bit haphazard in their presentation, with constant flashbacks and flash-forwards punctuating a large portion of the game. However, as a fan of LOST, flashbacks aren't the pet peeve that many others find them to be. I can forgive a whole lot of plot inconsistencies and expand my suspension of belief to quite a large scale if the story presents interesting ideas, which this game does better than almost every other game. If you are one to pick a part a story because of plot holes/inconsistencies, then this game may not be for you.

The game-play however should convert most, and is for the most part the most successful Naughty Dog has ever been at the marriage of game-play and story. As already stated, game-play is paramount to a good game, which I think a lot of game developers miss these days with more emphasis going into making the game well presented instead of actually fun to play (I'm looking at you, Red Dead 2). Part II is one of the rare instances where both parties can be pleased, those that want a game that is interesting to play, and those want to have an experience. I believe there is a distinction between those two.

I found myself consistently impressed by the emphasis on environmental storytelling and moments of interesting game-play subversion. One moment had me attacked whilst in a situation the game had previously taught me was safe, which didn't feel cheap, because the game world supported this. I can't express how hard it for games to get moments like these right.

Many of my gripes with their past work has been with their intentions for the player's experience often not accounting for how the player would eventually approach the game. With games so heavily lent on player experience and immersion, it is far too easy to feel a disconnect from the developer's intentions. I think I may have gotten lost maybe once in the entire play-through, compared to the PTSD-inducing lack of clarity on where to go next on the first three Uncharted games. The game felt free to traverse in my own way and times where the game takes control and corrals you into the next section didn't break that immersion, as it felt in tune with how I was playing. The way the game caters to how you approach it without breaking immersion is extraordinary. Naughty Dog has always struggled with this and they have never done it better than they have here.

This game will stay with me for a long time and I look forward to how people view the game down the line, when it has had chance to sink in. If you separate yourself from the discourse surrounding this game (not an easy task), and instead surrender yourself to it, you will find one of the best games released on the PS4, and arguably Naugthy Dog's crowning achievement.

Spoilers, obvs.

So going into this amidst the flood of toxic waste that is the discourse online about TLOU2, I didn't expect it actually turn out to be something I'd call a fairly faithful sequel to the original. It improves on the gameplay to an enormous extent whilst embracing and evolving on the storytelling concepts the first game brings up. Even as it's tearing down the relationship between joel and ellie, it improves upon it and wraps up that story well. Even if it wasnt particularly neccessary. On top of that, the game goes all in on embracing the way both games don't cast judgement on the characters themselves with the framing. TLOU2 essentially boils down to two of these characters smushing together and truly embracing the consequences of it, which you witness from both perspectives. And at it's best, it's really effective. Viewing these twisted spirals of pointless violence from both sides leads to some really powerful moments. A lot of which involve friends being shot in the face uncerimoniously. Maybe a few too many.

That core conceit is built on a world of absurd levels of violence/consequence and a "no country for old men" degree of 'well you can also just get fucked by unrelated things out of nowhere', which is where things could probably start to fall down for some. TLOU2 teeters on the line between achieving it's hyper-realistic immersion and a shlocky snuff film, and I can definetly see some people's suspension of disbelief breaking and never coming back due to this, along with some more questionable elements (playing with the dog, all the enemies screaming out each other's name as they bleed out, Ellie killing Mel). And since this is such an emotionally driven game, with character actions being dictated by rage rather than logic, once you've checked out looking at it from outside a layer of immersion i'm sure looks a bit stupid. Ellie chasing Abby to santa barbara is blatantly not a well thought out act.

The issues of the story I actually have mainly come down to pacing and a couple of elements not being developed or built up right. Pacing is a particular problem for the first 2 days of Ellie's part, with seemingly nothing happening for a large proportion of the game other than Ellie killing a bunch of people. Whilst Abby has her Sidequests with Lev, Ellie is just left chasing leads and getting into hijinks for an unreasoable amount of time. There's good stuff in these sections but about 10 hours of very little after a strong opening is a bit annoying in retrospect.

On Abby's side, the Scar x WLF subplot feels a little tacked on, and the Scars themselves dont really get enough time devoted to them outside of Lev, who is a great companion and very likeable.

The split campaigns also leaves a chunk of the supporting cast a bit underdeveloped. Dina's relationship with Ellie feels a bit rushed and would have worked better imo as an existing thing before the game's start. Tommy, Owen and Mel could have done with another few scenes each, and even Lev and Yara could have done with more time to flesh them out and build up the relationships. It's not a huge issue and god knows the game has enough quiet time as it is, but maybe the characters could have been consolidated a little bit.

I know i'm rambling but the peformances, animation and general technical prowess of the whole affair really elevates it. The heightened realism approach of TLOU2's visual design is a huge factor in it's successes and it not losing people imo.

Now, gameplay. I wont touch on it much because frankly it's far less interesting to talk about, but it's a massive improvement throughout, with some of the absolute best environments and level design of a thing like this ever. If there's any game that shows the value of production values, its this, as every room of every arena feels handcrafted and like it has it's own cool way of having combat encounters. The differing toolsets of Ellie and Abby are also enhanced over the first game, and are fun to mess around with.

Main problem with the gameplay is the difficulty. It's too easy to lose guards on any difficulty selection and the systems can easily be gamed if you really want to. It's a shame because the thrill of being hunted and hunting can be legitimately fantastic.

But the big issue here? Lack of Multiplayer. Yes, I know it's probably coming at some point in some form, but TLOU1's multiplayer was really the best gameplay experience the game had to offer, if not the best part of the game altogether - and it's a massive dissapointment for me right now to not be using those cool tools the game has in the challenging environment the first game had.

Overall, I think this is the better last of us game, and probably Naughty Dog's best singleplayer experience. I think the story is definetly a milage may vary thing, but the enormous improvements on gameplay and the environements cements it for me. Not a perfect experience, not the best storytelling in a game ever, messy and not for everyone, but definetly worth checking out.

The most interesting open world game I've played. The greatest accomplishment here is the mechanical reckoning with the actual implications of an open-world game: you're endlessly sprinting and fast-traveling across vast swaths of land in most games like this one, yet in DS, just getting there becomes meaningful when traversal is this involved. I love it.

What I didn't love was the pacing of the story. Most of the story is thrust into the last 7-10 hours of this 40+ hour game, for some reason.

On my backloggd account I maintain a list of my personal Game of the Year picks for every year since 1970. Though 2002 comes close because I really, really love Kingdom Hearts 1, no year has caused me more agony than 1998. On the battlefield of my mind, the war between Metal Gear Solid and Ocarina of Time is more vicious than any other. I have torn down both games to the studs in search of an answer that is not rooted in mere nostalgia. I thought that perhaps I had found that answer when I considered OoT's randomizer. It is, after all, one of my absolute favorite things to play. Alas, I cannot give Shigeru Miyamoto credit for total strangers rewriting the code over a decade later without his consent.

Metal Gear Solid is my Game of the Year 1998 because fighting Vulcan Raven is more fun than fighting Twinrova.

I think this is my nominee for Average Game of the Year for 2019.

Things I loved:

+ The backgrounds are great to look at, especially further along in the game.
+ SOME bosses are interesting enough

...and that's really it.

There's a lot of stuff it does fine, but it also flubs things a bit because I feel like it's trying to be both a Metroidvania and a Soulslike game without really being strongly in either camp in a good way. I could write a long diatribe about prevailing issues with the game, but for how very average it felt, I feel like I'd rather just go play something else now, instead.

The most under rated game ever made and easily my favorite game of all time. I've played this at minimum 30 times, and I'm now only sort of getting tired of it. I love this game. It's so much better than the other Castlevanias, and it's the only Igavania besides Bloodstained that I like more than most of the Metroid games. I love the soul system, I love the areas, I love how exploration always rewards me with some cool new weapon. It's easily the perfection of IGAVANIA, and I'm so glad Bloodstained took from this game the most. Seriously, play this game please. It's seriously one of the best games ever made. I started speed running this casually as well because I just want to play more of it. I've done so many challenge runs, so many completion runs, and so many normal runs. I can't get enough of Aria of Sorrow. Great story, great gameplay, great visuals and good music.

its a humbling feeling to find a game that feels bigger than you

i dont even know where to start describing it. at its core, its a game about not understanding. the gameplay revolves around trying in vain to learn about your surroundings - to piece it all together and find a solution to a problem - only to die not because of a lack of trying, but because we just dont have the time.

the beauty of Outer Wilds lies right there. its galaxy is small, yet feels huge and only gets bigger the more you dig. by all means it should feel like a hopeless venture to continue exploring, but its too engaging not to. there is no end goal, and it makes no promises other than the fact you will die.

and the magic is that we did anyway. even if i didnt know what for, i kept exploring its planets to find its secrets. i felt giddiness meeting every character and hearing their stories. i pat myself on the back after solving puzzles once i asked the guy at the starting campfire how to.

Outer Wilds - despite playing as an alien - is a deeply human game. a journey about facing adversity through sheer willpower despite not having all the answers, and knowing youre not alone in that.

i cant do this game a service with my $5 speak and someone else could do a much better job, and thats ok. because like i said, this game - like its setting - is big. theres so much to talk about, yet its message is so precise. its mysteries are so complex, yet so simple in retrospect. games like these remind me how special this industry is, and what kind of art it can produce. Outer Wilds is a profound experience i likely wont forget for a very long time.