Nah, the first game did that. This one is more about whether revenge is ever worth it. 

You can avoid almost all the enemies, but not every single one. There’s at least one dog encounter you CANNOT avoid, for whatever that’s worth. 

I thought the pacing allowed for plenty of breaks. After major sequences you usually have a flashback that’s more or less a walking / exploration simulator to happier times for a good chunk of time.

This. It’s miserable and beautiful in equal parts and I was captivated. No, the story didn’t go how I expected. Yes, I was sad at the loss of life and the depths to which good characters sunk but that’s ok. That doesn’t mean the story is somehow poorly done. It means I’m feeling the things the creators wanted me to…

This was what was so brilliant about how they marketed this game. A couple fake scenes and everyone assumed they knew what was gonna happen, myself included.

Some people felt lied to, but I thought it was a great way of hiding the real surprises. 

It really, really does.  Which is partially why it’s so controversial. Structurally, it’s super unique, IMO. 

I think what this game does so well is it takes what could have been a very trope-y straight forward revenge story, and about halfway through it completely changes the structure of the game to become something else, forcing you to question who the real villains are. I’ve never played a game that dared pull off…

And nearly every negative review from users I’ve read has been based around the fact that they didn’t like what happens to one of the characters because it’s not what they imagined for this character’s future. Which is way worse, IMO. 

Not trying to convince anyone to play the game, but I will say that the 2nd game deals pretty explicitly with the idea that murder DOES have a cost and that what seems like pointless violence can have far reaching repercussions. In some ways it’s an examination at the violence Joel inflicts on the fireflies at the end…

At least one of the plot points you’re suggesting here do not happen. 

Do you not know what “retconning” means? Because the ending of part 1 is in no way retconned in this game. In fact, they double down on it. And aside from the opening minute, they also don’t even touch on the ending for 12 hours into the game, yet here you are saying they do it immediately? And no gameplay in the…

Same thing happened to me more than once, and I was very careful!

I am wondering if we’ll get a Lev DLC instead. But yeah, Tommy had a whole side adventure we never really see (except the aftermath of).

I loved this part! I thought it was really clever and surprising.

I have never understood the “games are too long” argument. It is always so annoying when you pay full price for a new game you’re excited for only to discover it’s a 10 hour game.

Last of Us 2's length was one of the best things about it, IMO. 

Agree. Just beat it on hard last night and while I definitely struggled with some sequences, it wasn’t frustrating or impossible, but you definitely have to scavenge whenever possible. 

The writer implies it was NOT about crunch. Though I’m sure the conspiracy theorists will say “Druckmann got to him!”

The person who wrote the cards said on twitter it was a reference to Druckmann’s intermittent fasting and workout regimens.

Honestly I spent most of this game anxious that they were gonna kill Ellie. That theater fight sequence was nerve-shredding. 

If you let audience reactions dictate every story decision, you get mass marketed trash that appeals to no one because it’s trying to appeal to everyone. I’d rather a creator take risks and piss people off than that, personally.