Beat the game off of a gamefly rental, gonna send it back. This may be one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. It is a narrative mess, and absolute mish mash of ideas and themes, with moments of genuine narrative brilliance. Those moments are all lost behind a game that is both too long for the basic plot beats that it drives home, while simultaneously being too short for the story that needed to be told to be satisfying.
Opening
The opening seems like it was cut together by a 1990s music video editor on meth. We cut between:
1. Prevously on the Last of Us and the guitar intro
2. Ellie in Jackson, four years later, but after the actual intro to these characters, which will be in 25 hours
3. Abby later that night, waking up before a blizzard and running from zombies
4. Ellie's tutorial section, in the hours before Abby wakes up
5. Abby again in real time, saves by Joel leading to the golf game
6. Ellie again, who has somehow been caught up to by Jessie despite the vanishing blizzard. Running into Abby and crew.
That is six major cuts, several of them out of order, no good introduction to any new characters, practically no Joel, the person who we are about to lose, and all done in the name of making Joel's death SHOCKING. Joel is killed by people we don't know, is backed up by people we don't know., and it is hard to get any feel narratively for what is happening. The entire situation is our contrivance. The goal was a reenactment of Caddyshack, and every bit of plot timing and story was twisted to get it to happen.
Why are Joel and Tommy so far ahead of everyone else? We know that just the night before Ellie and Joel had a conversation about forgiveness, they set up a movie night even. They were scheduled to go out of patrol, as Jessie said, so why did Joel and Tommy go out on their own first. The game seems to hint that they had been out for a while, but that CANNOT be the case. Doesn't matter, we need Joel there to save Abby to die. Why are Tommy and Joel unarmed when meeting the wolves? HOW does Tommy not see Abby pull out a SHOTGUN in plain view?
And all of that is almost forgiven by the just amazing performance of Ashley Johnson as she begs Abby not to kill Joel. It is HEARTBREAKING, it is haunting, and it is enraging. It's jut a shame that it is also lazy and let;s be honest predictable (you want to shock the Audience? Have Joel survive this game, no one would have seen that coming.)
Act 1 - Seattle (Elly)
I wish I could say that the pacing and editing work better as the game goes on. they don't. Everyone in Elly's group has a severe case of the stupids. Tommy runs off on his own (though canonically, by himself he would have done better than Ellie, chew on that one) and Ellie and Dina ride cross country to catch him ASAP on ONE HORSE! Maria must not give a fuck about Tommy because a single person riding on one horse is going to make FAR better time than a pair going double. Tommy could have been there DAYS head of them, if not longer. Either way we get to Seattle, Day 1, and it is gorgeous. Dina is fine, a little bland but exploring the city is nice at first, it gets old fast, and honestly the open world section does nothing but slow down pacing when we should get a feel for what is happening in the city.
And what is happening is nothing, but we will get to that later. Day 1 is a mess, nothing of value actually happens story wise. We have a few nice moments between Ellie and Dina, but I do not understand what happens day 1 that requires that much narrative space. The wolves are fairly generic as enemies, though all th artifacts that talk about them paint them in a very scary light, one that more or less gets ignored when we play as them as Abby. Anyhow, Dina gets sick, one of Abby's friends dies, whee.
Day 2 is the height of the gameplay with Ellie. It's not amazing, but it does have the best pacing and moves forward towards an acceptable climax. Story wise nothing of note happens other than Jessie showing up, which again is done solely to have that "You think I'd let you do this on your own." scene as there is NO good story reason he didn't just leave with Ellie and Dina in the first place. Hell, had they just brought Tommy along too, all of Seattle could have been handled in about a day and that time used for more interesting locations and stories, but I digress. The day ends with another strong scene, Ellie and Nora. The scene taken on its own is powerful, showing just how much Ellie is losing herself and understanding what she is willing to do to gain closure. In actual context it kind of fails. Nora means nothing to us at this point, and it is hard to feel for Ellie going dark when there are piles of bodies left behind her everywhere she goes. Just watch the scene and ignore the context, you'll be better for it.
I should talk about the flashbacks here. These are generally good to amazing. Starting at amazing, going to good, then the last one was just pain. This is THE revelation we have been waiting for. The scene where the Lie comes out. And what is it, about a minute and a half long. Insane. We NEEDED a longer conversation there. More had to be said, bring out both arguments. Have Ellie angry but also a little relieved in not being dead but unable to say it because she is angry. ANYTHING. What a missed opportunity. Museum was amazing, and the other one was fine, and I am almost certain it was meant to be a tutorial for Ellie at some point in development. It had that feel to it.
Day 3 - The worst day of the game. A few mediocre combat arenas, a rushed change of heart for Ellie, that both comes out of nowhere and yet is the most predictable thing yet. And then the Aquarium, an amazing set that is used for fuck all. The act climaxes on a wet fart with the deaths of Owen and Mel. We needed a whole day for this? We also have the miraculous disappearing reappearing storm. But more on that later. And I am trying to avoid nitpicking here, I really am. But the leftover map is the most contrived bit of plot in a game filled with contrivances. The taking o stupid pills continues, not even the barest precautions taken to secure their hidden base in ENEMY TERRETORY with two factions at war all around you who are both shoot on sight. Oh yeah, and leave the lights on. BRILLIANT. Anyhow, Abby smash, then flashback.
Act 2 Seattle (Abby)
Abby's day one is better in that it isn't supremely slow. But it does introduce us to the narrative coneit of TLoU2, the humanization of Abby. I'll state this up front I find this to be an almost complete failure, not only because she killed Joel, but because it is handled horribly. I can think of three times that I felt any sort of sympathy for Abby, one on day 3, and two in the epilogue. That is not good.
Abby's flashbacks mirror Ellie's cue "It's like Poetry, it rhymes.". The problem is that I'm sorry Doctor Jerry, the final "Decision" at the end of TLoU1 was always the weakest bit of plot in that game. It didn't matter much back then because the ending didn't hinge on the Fireflies being right, it hinged on being a situation in which Joel would kill for her, consequences be damned, and one in which he would lie to her. That is all it needed to do. Now in the sequel, we need to feel that Dr. Jerry was a good guy, or at least not a bad one, but sorry, he is planning on murdering a 14 year old girl on the off chance of providing a cure. Sorry, this will not work. Save all the Zebras you want guy, you still deserved the scalpel in the neck, the world is a better place with you not in it. I understand Abby's pain, but it isn't enough to even come close to feeling justified. The other flashbacks are about how much she Luuuuuurves Owen, but honestly while he is my favorite wolf, he's about as interesting as carboard.
We then move on to her Day 1. It's fine. Mel going out on the front lines is the dumbest shit ever, Manny is a tool, as are most of the Wolves. Somehow she Mel and Manny are ambushed SECONDS outside of their base, and no one comes to provide backup? No wonder the wolves have lost the city, they suck! It you can allow the people you are at war with to have DOZENS of foot soldiers and cavalry spitting distance from the ENTRANCE to your base, you need to fix that shit. Either way, we eventually find out that Owen has gone Awol, and Abby to the rescue. In what takes all together too long she makes her way across Seattle, is captured, then saved by Yara and Lev. Inoffensive but ultimately bland characters. Lev doesn't even HAVE the personality of cardboard, and Yara has no personality outside of "protective older sister" After that it's time for drunk Owen. He whines, and they talk about everything BUT the horrific murder that set him on his downward spiral, because that might be revealing about character.
After the worst sex scene this side of Ride to Hell: Retribution the day thankfully ends.
Day 2 is Abby's weakest. Hope you like wandering through boring building after boring building. On the bright side, it has a boss fight. And yeah, that's the entire bright side. Mel is back, she somehow went AWOL and by herself with no trouble at all despite being preggers as fuck. And that is about it. It really is a waste of a day. What drives me nuts is that with Tommy and Ellie on a rampage we should be getting more of a feel for how what they are doing is affecting Abby and crew, have some clue that their sins are coming back to bite them in the ass, but we don't get that at all until day 3, and even then it is almost completely forgotten till the end.
I will take a moment to single out Owen, the only member of the wolves who seems to have a conscience. He is tired of the killing, the horrible shit we know via log entires that the wolves have to do, Joel's death appears to have been a turning point for him, but we can't capitalize or dwell on that, because that would require actual dialog between characters, and we can't have that. The ENTIRE hospital quest was nothing but filler, hell Day 2 just had no real reason to exist. It isn't like Abby finds Nora dead. Her being at the hospital changed nothing, meant nothing. Are we sensing a theme here?
Day 3 - The day of the unchecked stupidity. Welp, Lev is an idiot. So we have to save him. People die. The end.
Oh right, more. Soooo. we run into Manny, he dies because Tommy learned how to IDKFA. Mel calls Abby a piece of shit, and I agree with her, but have no idea why she said it now and how it was supposed to have an impact. Owen is mopey and sad, so business as per us. Abby decides NOT to warn the love of her life and his baby mama that there is a crazed Texan on the loose out for their blood. Not like they can just take a five minute detour into the aquarium... oh wait. Anyway, some great action during these scenes on Scar Island, Yara and Issac die. Who is Issac, the single most wasted character this side of Joel. He just kinda exists to spout cliche evil commander speak, and get shot.
Ok sidebar. Yeah we have all heard the jokes that Abby is large, AND SHE IS, but what the fuck do the scars feed their people? Those sledgehammer weilders make Abby look tiny, and there are dozens of them? One as a boss fight? Ok sure whatever, but a veritable army of goliaths than can crack walnuts with their rock hard buttocks? FUCK THAT!
So Abby loses her gear and escapes with Lev, saving him for the THIRD fucking time in as many days, but whatever. She gets back to the aquarium, and Owen Mel and Alice are dead. And she is broken.
Ok all jokes aside. Know how I mentioned I actually felt empathy for Abby at three different points? This was the first. I mean story wise again, it was a mess, but the acting and direction sell that scene. Everything she cares about is dead, Lev is the only person she has left, and it is devastating. Imagine how effective it might have been if the aftermath of them killing Joel was a theme that was discussed more than just in passing. Imagine of Abby had felt actual guilt for how it went down. Maybe she sees Ellie in her sleep, crying for Joel's life, maybe she tries to lie to herself, and say its ok. Maybe different people in the wolves feel differently. I think all of these ideas ARE in the game, but they aren't executed. But that is the problem with all of Seattle.
So we get to the fight. The one that every single fucking person lost on purpose at least once. The fight was an amazing concept, stalking Ellie as she unts you at the same time. doding her traps and trying desperately to gain the upper hand. Or it would have been if it didn't end up being, grab bottle auto aim at her head, beat the young girl into the pavement. Repeat two more times.
The climax, if you can call it that, of Seattle lands like a juicy fart. We had a chance for Abby to reflect on her actions, see how everything led to this, how her friends are dead, in part because of her. How this girl is just like her, how everyone suffers. Nah fuck that, instead, let's have Lev's puppy dog eyes stop Abby from murdering a pregnant woman. The end.
Looking back at Seattle
So yeah, Seattle sucks. It sucks hard and it sucks long. We do have brief pockets of fun gameplay and the scenes I have mentioned above, but Abby's time in Seattle barely needed to exist, and Ellie's time there absolutely didn't need to exist. Honestly, remove Seattle from the narrative for Ellie, and what changes. Jessie is alive, and Tommy is less fucked up. Ellie isn't haunted byt the events of Seattle, she is haunted by the death of Joel, which she was before. Nothing changed. The revenge narrative just got more and more muddled. If Seattle was going to be a thing for Ellie, then it needed to be 1 to 2 days at most. Day 1 could have been about an actual hour of content, maybe two, Day 2 was fine as it was, and Day 3... well that actually needed a climax of some sort for Ellie.
Abby needs Seattle, her entire story revolves around it, but even then Ellie plays such a small role in it, if you killed her friends in other ways not a lot would change going into the endgame. LEv and Yara were fine ideas, but Abby becomes attached way too quickly, eventually being able to murder her own comrades without a second thought. She ends in a decent place story wise but how she got there was not worth the trip. And she, and her crew never actually got interesting or likable. Too many characters, not enough actual drama.
The endgame, aka the best part of TLoU2
So now we move on to the most controversial part of the game, the endgame. I will say this, taken on its own. I think it works well. Far better than I expected it to. Ellie is broken, she is unable to move on and give herself closure. She is living a happy life on a farm that seems like it exists only to lure out hunters to steal their shit, but it is just a sham. She loves JJ and Dina, but she can't move on. People say they don't get why Ellie made the choice she did. She never had another choice. She was BROKEN. It's sad and it's powerful, and it has nothing to actually do with the rest of the game.
So again, do a thought experiment. Cut the story at Joel's grave, then cut to the Epilogue. What changes? What have we learned about Ellie in Seattle that is evident here? Nothing, in fact all of her actual character development is handled better in about 10 minutes of this epilogue on the farm than in 10 fucking hours running down one way corridors in Seattle. Hell, just say Jessie died, and Tommy lost an eye from the beatings of the wolves and it even would make perfect story sense. The ending shows just how pointless the last 20 hours have been.
We also get the introduction to Dina and Jessie, 25 hours too late. I am a fan of non linear storytelling but this was just awful. The scene has NO REASON to be here. And it is clearly designed to be at the beginning of the story. Or do you think Naughty Dog is in the habits of showing part of their endings as the first real reveal of the game? Great scene, but needed to be back where it belonged in the goddamed intro.
Moving on, Ellie leaves, Dina gives an ultimatum, and again an actual conversation would be interesting here, so fuck that, we're moving on. We see Abby and Lev explore, then our hero, Fat Geralt comes in and elevates the ending to amazing.
Santa barbara is awesome. It, more than any other location, felt like Last of Us 1. Smaller, but well designed fun to explore and gank people in. A narrative told not through a ton of journals, but by the layout of the town. You learn more about these rattlers in under an hour than you did about the WLF in the first day. Ellie is full on Girl on Fire, and it is glorious. She is acting like the smart and capable person we know she is. One side note, literally, the second place I felt empathy for Abby was finding one of the letters she writes to Owen. You can tell how deeply it affected her. Again,, it would have been nice to see this more in the actual game, but I'll takes what I can get. And seeing Abby broken, I get my third actual bit of empathy for her. Karma is a bitch, but you almost feel it might be enough.
Anyhow, the final showdown is a straight rip off of Kojima, and it's glorious. I mean, Abby should be dead halfway across the shore from all the cuts she has, but whatever. It's desperate, it is brutal and you can see every bit of complex emotion on Ellie's face. If the rest of the game was this high quality in its storytelling, it would be my game of the year most likely. But it isn't. The scene is almost completely ruinged buy the one second flash of Jeol with his guitar. IF you wanted to do flashes, why not show the flashes of all the people Ellie has murdered? SHow how tired she is of the death, show her looking at Lev, show lev begging for her to stop so she sees herself. Show ANYTHING.
But even with that, I can't say I didn't feel that I kind of understood her stopping. In that scene, in that desperation, in that moment, she felt empty, and I did too. It worked more or less as intended. But that's the problem. The ending worked. even as she gets home and has the best flashback in the game, the best acting of Troy Baker's career is in just a half dozen or so lines, and it is touching, and heartbreaking. It's beautiful. But the journey to get there was so uneven that the game as a whole still fails. And it's a damn shame.
Final thoughts
I understand why some people like the game, even love it. The highs are exceptionally high. The only performances that have come close to this are late game Death stranding, and those didn't have the actual writing to back them up. If LoTU was paced better, it would have been a masterpiece. If Seattle had a reason to exist narratively, if the emotional journey of Ellie was a journey and not just a half dozen pit stops, this would have been something special. But it's not. 90% of this story is either nonsensical or worse unnecessary. Taken on their own the dozen or so amazing scenes can be shown as effective storytelling. But a game is more than the sum of its parts. And sometimes, it is even less.
I wish TLoU2 was a better game than it was, but all we are left with is unfulfilled potential.
TL;DR TLoU2 is a mess. It is at the same time the most impressive narrative I have seen and the worst. Ending is the best part. But the game is 90% filler.