Remember when Naughty Dog used to make games like Jak & Daxter and Uncharted while not being held hostage by a egotistical Zionist who believes he can do no wrong and a bigger company who so desperately wants the same 7 franchises they've relied on heavily since 2017 to be cinematic video game showcases so they can easily translate them into movies and TV shows because said-company's previously existing movie/TV IPs have either underperformed or is forced to have shared custody with the Mouse™?

On a completely unrelated note the Last of Us Part II is a very nothing remaster and they're now announcing the new cast for season 2 of the show.

TLOU Parte II foi por muito tempo o jogo que eu sonhava em jogar, conheci a franquia por conta do anúncio do 2 na Playstation Experience 2016, fui atrás da história do 1 já que eu não tinha acesso a um PS3/PS4 e me apaixonei, mas na época eu era nintendista, então não me via jogando tão cedo por não ter tanto interesse num Playstation, principalmente pela parte financeira, mas cada vez que o jogo aparecia eu ficava fisgado, até que o jogo saiu e se tornou um dos mais polêmicos, não exatamente pelo jogo, mas pela história, o que me fisgava ainda mais pra saber o porquê, então resolvi não ver série ou resumos, eu queria jogar ou se conseguisse um PS ou num Port de PC, acabei conseguindo o PS5 e finalmente peguei o game, infelizmente tomei spoiler de praticamente todos os momentos chaves mesmo sem nem pesquisar (obrigado internet) mas ainda assim eu queria saber o que eu iria sentir com aquilo e jogando eu me senti duvidoso, mas ao finalizar eu senti que eu amei TLOU II.
A história, eu acredito que é a mais impactante que vi em um vídeogame, são muitas coisas pra digerir, é pesado, humano, triste, depressivo, é insano o que foi feito aqui, eu curti muito ver a jornada dos novos personagens, algo que poderia não ficar bom igual o 1°, eu pessoalmente não sei que história gosto mais, porque a Parte I é mais simples, mas mega impactante, além da relação Joel e Ellie ser incrível, mas acho, que eu gosto mais do II, a maneira que ela impacta, lida com luto, os flashbacks do Joel, eu achei absurdo.
O gameplay é a parte que pra mim brilhou, é um game bem mais robusto e bem maior, zerei o game em torno das 24 horas sem limpar o mapa todo, comparado ao 1 e aos Uncharted é impressionante a escala, uma ambição incrível.
O visual não tem o que falar, é ridículo, só isso, parece jogo da atual geração, isso rodou num PS4, é bruxaria, é por coisas assim que a gente sempre quer ver o próximo passo de estúdios como a Naughty Dog, Kojima Productions, Rockstar e outros.
A versão Remastered é bem eh, a nota é pro jogo em si, tipo foi ok, diferente do Remake esse tem upgrade, tem modo novo que é dahora, conteúdos cortados, se vale a pena, acho que não, se já jogou o original, só se ama muito e quer rejogar numa versão melhor.
Tive alguns glitches e bugs, mais que eu esperava por ser uma versão atualizada de um jogo no geral bem polido, mas nada que impactou a jogatina de forma muito negativa.
Essa foi uma das experiências mais ....... Sei lá, memoráveis que tive com um jogo, é insano o que esse jogo é, uma das jornadas mais pesadas e incríveis que já joguei, aguardo ansiosamente a próxima aventura que a Naughty Dog vai fazer.

Look, like clearly many people on here and everywhere else, my opinion on Neil Druckmann both as a person and as a creative has changed over time; there's no denying that. However, I also cannot deny how much I love The Last of Us Part II, despite the moral baggage both inside and outside of its creation.

That said, while I don't necessarily agree with the top reviews here calling this remaster creatively bankrupt, I do totally get where they're coming from. For the equivalent of $10, I definitely felt I got my money's worth here though. I've always loved any and all behind-the-scenes looks at games, especially when Valve does it, and the addition of Dev Commentary for the cutscenes and the Lost Levels section for this remaster is a real treat. It would have been cool to get commentary on all the levels in the main game but I understand that's a big ask given its length. Still, what is given here is more than sufficient.

No Return is the highlight of the whole package, of course. I'm usually so-so on roguelikes, unless they have some neato gimmick to them, but honestly, Part II's gameplay is solid enough that it carries the whole thing. It's surprisingly involved too, and clearly not just something they shoved in there as an extra thing. There are tiers of challenges, several game types, and a pretty nifty unlock system that carries from run to run. You probably won't spend more time on it than the main game but it's a really cool thing to have regardless, and I wouldn't be surprised if they make it a standalone release separate from the rest of the remaster.

All of the PS5 controller's gimmicks (not meant derogatorily) do switch things up for another playthrough to make it feel unique, but I wouldn't say they enhance the overall experience or are totally essential, or anything. Then again, I've already played through this a few times so perhaps it’s a different case for first-timers.

All in all, the PS5 remaster of Part II is a great addition to a truly fantastic game. I can totally see it not being worth the price for some people but I suppose that depends on how much you're willing to spend on it and how long you're willing to wait for a sale otherwise. Still, if you already love this game, this is pretty essential.

9.5/10

If somehow Naughty Dog gave me a second chance to experience it...I would do it all over again....and they did

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered delivers a gaming experience that's undeniably solid in its gameplay mechanics, smooth controls and engaging gameplay. Calling it a Remaster is kind of the wrong term, I would say it falls under the territory of 'Director's Cut' in all honestly. The graphics are nothing short of stunning even comparing it to the PS4 Pro version of the game albeit you really have to look for those differences as the PS4 Pro version of the game still looked absolutely stunning. You still feel immersed in a post-apocalyptic world that feels eerily real and can happen at anytime during out lifetime. Hell, the game came out during a pandemic. With that being said the music and atmosphere elevates the emotional resonance of each moment, enhancing the overall experience.

The journey through this sequel is undeniably fun and I would say the gameplay really saves the game, offering a mix of tense encounters, satisfying exploration and being able to approach in anyway you like . However in my opinion, the narrative takes a bold approach, and this is where opinions diverge. The story, while ambitious, leaves players with a hit-or-miss impression. As the tale unfolds, there's confusion and hatred. Even after playing it again the second time I felt a sense of being torn between appreciation for the risks taken and a desire for a more satisfying payoff which is how I felt during the initial playthrough of this game. I still kind of feel the same way.

Now, the new stuff it offers is really worth paying attention to. Like I mentioned I would call this a Director's Cut. You have your Lost Levels, New Skins to replay in Story mode and a fan favorite Guitar Free play. What is new here for the PS5, you have Graphical Updates, Faster Load times, Dual Sense Integrations and import saves which I felt were very nice additions to the game. Importing your game is honestly a life saver as your trophies carry over as well as your progress. I managed to obtain the Platinum Trophy during my run and is easily obtainable. The Real Meat and Potatoes I would say for this remastered is the 'Exclusive' roguelike survival mode 'No Return'. If you enjoy the gameplay in anyway shape or form this game mode is for you. I love this game mode so much! This is a addiction to be had here. No return detaches itself from the narrative and want you to just have fun. Being able to use the characters from the story mode such as Jesse, Manny, Mel, Tommy and Joel, it creates a Sandbox Experience approach and put you in scenarios that would not be feasible in the main game. Couple that with their own pro and con perks that they have and you will never have a 1:1 experience per run. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenges it had and modifiers the game threw at me as it created some intense situations. What is a great addition is the flexibility the game offers in its 'runs'. You can customize everything in 'No Return' from Modifiers you want, Factions, Difficulty, and so much more. The only Online aspect of No Return is it's Daily Run where all players are given a run to complete in 24 hours to becomes the best survivor. Other than that, the world is your oyster.

Overall, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered offers a complex narrative that challenges expectations, and while some may find it divisive, the overall experience is still a testament to the craftsmanship of the game. The gameplay, graphics, and music contribute to a memorable adventure, even if the narrative might leave you feeling a bit mixed towards the conclusion. No Return is a great addition to this. Now the elephant of the room is, is this worth the full price of admission? If you have the PS4 version of the game, it is worth the upgrade price of $10.00. I feel like there is a lot of value here for the upgrade path. I do feel like this is the best way to experience The Last of us Part 2 if you have never picked up the game but I would honestly still recommend the upgrade path, buy it preowned or on sale (PS4 version) then upgrade. As long as you are under $50.00 which is what the PS5 Remaster goes for New, you will still enjoy what the game offers if you enjoyed the gameplay from the Last of Us Part 1. As for Story, that is ultimately up to you, this game is very divisive but there is a ton of replayability and fun to be had here which is what I enjoy the most in Video games.

Hey gamers


I'm not interested in talking about the story. The discourse surrounding it continues to be a toxic cesspit 3 and a half years later. I have my issues with it, but I like it overall. I admire stories that are challenging and ambitious in its narrative, themes, and subject matter.


First, while I agree that the term "remastered" is quite generous, I can't get on board with the hate. The bonus content alone is enough to warrant the 15 CAD price for the upgrade. You're not paying the full 65 CAD for this if you already own a copy of the original; if you don't, then guess what? You can still buy the original version which is currently 50 CAD. That's right, the price difference between the two versions is the same as the upgrade price. I promise you that if all this bonus content was released as a DLC package for PS5 owners priced at 15 CAD, which is exactly what this release is, then nobody would bat an eye; but people are all up-in-arms over this for reasons I don't understand. If you're still upset about that, then where were you in 2014 when The Last of Us Remastered came out? A whopping 13 months after the first game, Naughty Dog re-released The Last of Us on the PS4 with the exact same goals as this PS5 Part II re-release - upgrade the game for the next-gen, improve the graphics/framerate, and include bonus content - however, there was NO reduced price for the upgrade. If you already owned the PS3 version and wanted the remastered upgrade for a reduced price, well too bad. You could only own the PS4 version if you coughed up 60 CAD; no exceptions. Where was all the hate for that? I haven't the foggiest idea.


Anyway, let's look at the additions and improvements to the game, starting with the core game. The DualSense usage was in line with the Part I release. There's less overall vibration due to the decrease in the bombastic moments of the first game, and it coincides with the game's more somber and quiet tone. As for the visual improvements, I'll be honest and say I didn't notice much aside from the frame rate increase. One thing I found annoying is, same with the original version, there's this weird digital sheen coming off the edges of most textures throughout the entire game. I'm 90% sure that it's chromatic aberration, but there's more blue than the rest of the colour spectrum, perhaps due to the cooler temperature of the natural lighting. If this was in Part I, I didn't notice, and no tweaking in the display menu seemed to change it, so idk. (After I wrote this, I checked the photo mode settings and the default chromatic aberration setting is 53 instead of 50, which is slightly toward the blue end of the aberration, so that leads me to believe that this is the case during gameplay as well. Still haven't figured out how to change it though.)


This really has nothing to do with the remaster, I just felt like pointing it out: There's one shot that's always stuck with me for the past few years, and it's this one with Ellie waking up on day 3. This is the first time I've genuinely been this impressed by a game's visuals that I thought to myself "this looks like real life" since playing the EA Battlefront back in 2015 and seeing individual snowflakes land on my character's blaster.


Now let's look at the new content:


Guitar free play. I wasn't expecting much from this at all, and my expectations were met. All the cosmetic changes don't do much for me, though I like that you can play different guitars and use different pedals. I think a missed opportunity is the ability to customize your chord wheels. All you have are 5 chords wheels which correspond to the chords in A, B, C, Db, and Eb major. If you're trying to play a song that isn't in those keys, you'll have to keep switching between chord wheels, and it's a pain. Customizing these wheels would improve things way more. If that was an option and more chords were added on top of that (suspended, power, maj7/min7, etc.), then I think guitar free play would be worthwhile, but, idk, at that point you're better off spending your time playing Rocksmith or a dedicated guitar simulator instead. As it stands now, guitar free play is just a gimmick that I never returned to once I fiddled around with it for a few minutes.


Commentary tracks. I'll admit, I'm not much of a commentary fan since it sucks me out of the moment, but the few scenes I watched with it were pretty interesting. I think the next time I replay both games, I'll give their applicable commentary tracks a go. At the very least, I appreciate the addition.


New skins. I really don't care much about cosmetics for linear, narratively-focused games. I find that they pull me out of the moment, especially in a story as grounded as this. I'll go crazy with them in No Return though, and I, again, appreciate the addition.


Lost levels. These are basically deleted scenes but for video games, and I found them really interesting. The commentary sections were super cool. I wouldn't mind there being some of these in the story mode for the game designers to add commentary during gameplay as we only have cutscene commentary. I love stuff like this that provides insight to how these kids of projects are made, and I'm excited to watch the Grounded II documentary next week. Though I find it kind of funny how the three levels shown here were removed for pacing reasons when the game's pacing ain't all that great to begin with.


And that leaves us with the real meat of the bonus content, the No Return mode. I am really enjoying this so far. It's a completely different experience than the combat of the story mode. In the main story, around 75% of the combat encounters can be bypassed without killing anyone by sneaking or running to the exit (as long as you know where it is). As someone who has played this five times now, I do this a lot to save resources. You cannot do that in No Return - you are forced into combat. This, along with mods, gambits, and generous resources, change the way combat flows, and each encounter is different from the last. The challenges give you something to work towards so that the mode doesn't get stale. I guess my only concern is that the mode will get stale once I complete the challenges, but more can easily be added later on, so I'm not sufficiently worried.


So yeah, those are my thoughts on this re-release. The story is what it is for me, but I appreciate most of the bonus content, and No Return will provide me a replay value that the story mode doesn't.


God help Kaitlyn Dever.

For me, this remaster is more in line with a Criterion Collection kind of package: I'm basically paying for the extra features and content, rather than the actual graphical "remaster" effort itself. The graphical upgrade is so miniscule that its embarrassing to talk about, so let me use this review as a way to talk about the two extra features that I care about the most. If you want to know my thoughts of the main game: it's my 2nd favorite game of all time. I wrote a review for it sometime ago here.

I'm entirely satified with the Lost Levels and the director's commentary. There's a cutscene selector now, so you can just watch all of the commentary that way. I'm always down to learn more about the behind the scenes of this game, and the lost levels especially are so cool to me. There's a ton of insight and fun moments from Neil and the rest of the cast, and I get to learn more about this game that I really love. Can't really ask more than that.

No Return is the kind of game mode that I've been wanting from TLOU for a while now, especially with the Factions game being cancelled. TLOU Part II has one of the best third person combat system out there, and I just wanted a way to experience it while being detached from the main story. In that regard No Return definitely succeeds. It showcases the combat at its most chaotic heights, especially when the games' crazier modes (infected holdouts are insane) or mods (like the invisible enemies mod, or the random photo filters) show up. But it still feels more like a once-in-a-while kind of mode, rather than this addictive thing that makes you want to keep playing one more time. And that's fine by me honestly, I still got what I wanted anyways. I will still miss Factions though.

Anyways, that's it really. If you're interested in the features above then it's definitely worth the upgrade price. If you haven't played the OG game then it's a no brainer full game purchase. Everybody else can sit tight.

P.S.
Some deeper thoughts about No Return:
- The intensity of the gameplay have been ramped up to the point that it almost feels tiring at times. Kinda reminds me of RE4 Remake's almost non stop combat barrage. It definitely adds to the fact that I can't play this mode for too long in one session, haha. It's not necessarily good or bad, I just thought that it's an interesting feeling to have in a roguelike thingy, where usually the game likes you to go right back in straight away.
- If they ever update this mode, I would love to something that makes choosing the branching paths more interesting. Maybe a free gun upgrade as a reward for one of the levels, or a permanent buff mod reward.
- I noticed that while your selected character still says some lines, the things they say makes it feel so detached from how the main story portrays them. I can see a lot of people being bummed by how disconnected this mode is from the main story, but I think that's for the better. I want this mode to feel like a fever dream that the character would have in the game's world. Looking at it from that perspective, I'll say that it's a pretty great time.

As with the original PS4 release The Last Of Us Part II is a phenomenal game of revenge, redemption, brutality, and horror. Graphics, animations, and gameplay are top tier.

With this PS5 version of the game I was mainly looking forward to the No Return mode which I really like. I love all the different encounters and how whacky and chaotic it is. My favourite rounds are the holdout levels and thankfully you can create a custom run of all holdout levels, which basically turns No Return into a horde-like mode. Really fun and addictive. 👌🍄🧟‍♂️

This game has gotten way too much critisism for the decisions that the creators made. Even when this came out, I strongly disagreed with some of the critisism, because I felt people misunderstood the plot and the motives of the characters. Now that I'm playing the game for the second time and I can kind of relax, knowing how the story goes, I can focus more on how the story and the characters proceed, and the game is still amazing. It looks amazing and I love the characters because they seem like real people. Real people do things wrong, they are not perfect.

I feel like haters just concentrated on what happens to Joel. But the game shows that everything has consequences, even for the characters that everybody adores. If you cannot handle that, you should never watch movies, read books or play games, because it happens in every form of media. People that are loved, suffer or die. That is just life.

4,5/5

Completed Mar 10th 2024

I've never played this sequel, but bought it on sale years ago, so the cheap upgrade offer felt like a good excuse to rectify that.

For context, I liked Part 1, but didn't love it. I really rate the world design aesthetic and appreciate the production values, but I didn't care for the story as much as I feel the game wanted me to. It was more daring as AAA games go, and well handled, but nothing life changing for me. The bigger issue was I found the actual gameplay amongst the cut scenes, on rails escapes and slow walking sections a bit sluggish. It just never quite clicked in a way the combat did in Tomb Raider / Horizon, nor did I feel the stealth was as solid as Metal Gear / Deus Ex / Hitman.

I tonally struggled a bit with Part 1 too. It's pretty bleak and unrelenting, but also very silly. It goes to such great lengths to be realistic in it's visuals and writing, but your character seems to be fine after taking an axe to the head and safe combinations are left written on walls 5 feet away. So I found that a bit jarring.

My friend recommended I up the difficulty here to Hard to make scavenging items more vital and combat encounters more tactical, and it was a great shout. If anything I wish I'd played it on an even harder setting, as by the end I was pretty unstoppable and realised I ended the game having saved up, but never used, a Molotov / nail bomb / smoke bomb. That shift in tension transformed my enjoyment of this series; and whilst I do feel it's thematically still more of a far fetched game than it is a deep essay on humanity, I loved Part 2 so much more than Part 1. I'm tempted to buy and replay the Remaster of the original one day.

Abby and Ellie's increased movement and move sets make things so much more fluid, and I felt like I was chaining together my abilities so smoothly. I went from stealth, to picking off a few people, to setting traps and then unleashing bullet hell on people often within one encounter. I stealthed through whole camps, without being spotted once. I avoided whole sections of the game. I set infected on enemies without doing anything. I walked into an infected room with a flamethrower and stood my ground like Elena Ripley. Picked off whole patrols without them ever knowing I was there. The variety and control I had felt thrilling. In particular Days 2 and 3 for both characters were amongst some of the best I've experienced in a while.

I also liked that this game felt a bit more human on human, than a zombie fest. I am not the bravest gamer and shy away from jump scares and horror titles, so that probably also added to my increased enjoyment of Part 2 Vs 1.

I should also say, whilst I'm not someone who always gets swayed by visuals, this game is pretty remarkable for a game half a decade old. Many times I found myself taking photos or marvelling at how gorgeous it was. I loved the change in light and tone in the final section too. And played with headphones on, the sound was really quite spectacular. The sound design of things like the workbench upgrade table and the infected is immense.

I won't go into anything storywise for spoilers, but I think it builds on Part 1 smartly and goes interesting places. The story (and probably the game itself) could have done with some editing and landing it's points a bit faster in places, but I'm intrigued to see where a further chapter goes narratively.

I'm excited to play the cut content now with the commentary on and replay a few chapters I particularly loved in a different way. I definitely favoured stealth over firefights, so an alternate play on those levels would be fun.

All in all, TLOU2 just feels a far better game to me than 1. And I can see why the people who love it, really love it. Whilst the story of the first probably stays with you longer, I know which one I'd rather play.

And if... or rather when... Part 3 lands, I'll be there day one.

A half-hearted remaster of a game that really didn't need it- pathetic in every sense. Fuck Neil Druckmann and free Palestine.

Is this really where the games industry is headed? Games being rushed out to meet deadlines instead of being given the time they need, ever-increasing budgets making the AAA scene as we know it totally unsustainable, a fixation on graphic fidelity over gameplay innovations and the focus to make games more cinematic leading to a landscape where a huge amount of modern releases feel extremely similar.

I haven't played TLOU2, but I'm sure it's at least pretty good- ND are a phenomenally talented dev studio and I have faith in them. That said, their talent is wasted on this. This better not be an omen for more studios to follow.

Talking about this game is like poking a hornet’s nest with a crooked stick, at least it would be if I had a bigger platform (charming). But what the hell! So too do I like this game, not as much as Part I, but I do like it. With that said though, there is still plenty of room for scrutiny here.

Deigned to follow the perspectives of Ellie and Abby, the sequence of events the player is thrusted upon takes place over three consecutive days as our heroines go through their own trials and tribulations in the long downtrodden and war ravaged Seattle. Being conceptually sound, it can still feel uneven, given that some days are longer than others and have their own gimmicks when it comes to encounter design. On the climax of the narrative, the one in the theater on day three, when the turn is taken and the audience is meant to get catharsis after hours of watching the winds and gulches, they cut it in half to tell us another side to the story, which puts a grinding halt to it, having to build that momentum up again over the course of roughly ten hours. Actual lunacy at display there. No kidding that so many people dropped the game at the halfway point when they were told they had to play more of it with a character they dislike.

Not to mention the epilogue in Santa Barbara, while being paramount to the story, still felt out of place what with the time jump, the new slaver faction in the Rattlers, and what trailed off it during the fight in the theater. Brazen is what I would use to describe the narrative structure of this game. Never have I seen a game before with the gusto to do something like pulling the proverbial rug from under you right before you think the game is about to end, only for it to not even be close. On top of that, you have to play as the goddamn VILLAIN of the story, which you come to learn really isn’t one and is just another flawed person with method to their madness. That’s where the brazen part comes into play, because it still serves its purpose despite being as confounding as it is.

The framework for gameplay is the same as the first game with layers stacked on it that makes it multi-faceted, that while not to the same degree of complexity as something like The Phantom Pain or Chaos Theory, is still on the same spectrum. Exploration actually feels like exploration now, and with the difficulty modifiers you can make the experience as grueling as you want. Despite the gameplay being, quite frankly phenomenal, and the narrative what it is whether you take to it or not, which I did, and have my own arguments as to its internal logic and how it's sturdier than some make it out to be, one thing that sticks out is that they don’t quite mesh like the team intended.

Just as other media can use its language to elevate itself and get itself across to whoever engages with it clearer, so too can video games. Whether visual, auditory, literary, or otherwise, just like other mediums have those facets, video games have interactivity as theirs. Plenty of games do this right, just on the principle of them being games, by mere accident. Even games people dismiss or deride for how they don’t use the medium’s strengths to their advantage, or lack story despite not being true at all, are true to that; The Last of Us Part I, God of Norse, Metal Gear Solid, Death Stranding, or stuff like Dark Souls, Metroid, or the Warhammer 40K franchise on the other side of the pond. Each one of these games makes the act of “play” an intrinsic part of the experience that forces you to engage with it at another level than how you normally would, rather than just something with an extrinsic goal, enhancing the stories they tell.

Yes, the notion that games should be “fun” has for the longest time made up the discourse, and it will continue to, but it’s okay for games to challenge that notion and do something beyond the pale of game design. There are games that are unconventional in their design philosophies, or downright frustrating, that still succeed at what they set out to do for those reasons. Exemplar of this is Pathologic, Fear & Hunger, and Darkest Dungeon, games which derive from and even explore surrealism, or more closely, the Theater of Cruelty, as proposed by French playwright Antonin Artaud.

The Last of Us Part II, despite being the rock solid video game that it is, who's story is better than people give it credit for, for as audacious as it is, tries to do this but ultimately comes up short. I feel like the success of a game doesn’t have to hinge on this but it would be better off that way, and while it is overblown in cases like Uncharted or Bioshock, which are punching bags for the crowd that upholds ludic narrative, The Last of Us Part II still ends up contradicting itself when those two games really don’t. Does that have to nullify the effect of what it’s trying to get across? No, that’s up to you, but it still fails to cross story and gameplay in key ways. That’s not to say they didn’t try though, they most certainly did, and the effort is commendable.

Let’s take Uncharted for one. Those games balance story and gameplay yes, but they don’t try to make them coincide. They are relatively divorced from each other and only serve to propel each other to make for the most bombastic, pudding in your pants, set-piece laden action romp. Sure, Uncharted 4 and the Lost Legacy took some strides took make gameplay inform the actions of the character, but even then, you could contend that death doesn’t carry the same weight in the Uncharted universe as it does in other games. It's okay for Nathan to kill droves of nondescript baddies because that's all they are. There is no real ludic narrative to speak of, therefore there really is no dissonance.

As for Bioshock, I can kind of see where it comes from. The point of the game is that Jack was strung along, with the player and Jack simultaneously learning he was just a sleeper agent. But apparently, for some this makes the binary system to harvest or spare little sisters and the directives from Atlas you have to follow go against the themes of the game. However, while the game doesn't establish that Jack wouldn't be able to deem things worth doing on his own, it also doesn't show us he has a strong sense of expressed self-interest. What triggers him is the key phrase "Would you kindly?" It's not like Atlas ever said, or had any reason to say that phrase to Jack in the event he meddled with things that conflicted with the objective, because none of what you do as the player does.

If anything, as basic as that system is, and the fact that you can't break the sequence of the story despite the central theme of the game being objectivism, they actually ADD to the story, showing that despite the proverbial shackles Jack has, he can break them and still has the capacity to tread his own path, whether that means acting on his own accord or on the behalf of others; it becomes his will to which side he takes, and not the will of a higher power. This is further solidified by one of the two endings you can get. It’s crazy to me that for the longest time Bioshock has been regarded as dissonant of all things for how it handles the development of the main character, when it’s the exact opposite, and only proves the story works.

Going back on track though, Ellie and Abby have distinct play styles, animations, load-outs, and upgrade trees. There is enough room to play the hard way and avoid combat altogether, even if it is necessary for progression at points. A lot of the best storytelling comes from gameplay too, being diegetic, opening up dialogue prompts with companions, and of course, spreading details you can miss around every crevice.

Being particular, some character defining details that are communicated strictly in gameplay also enrich the game. Details like Abby and her overcoming of her acrophobia, or Ellie progressively getting more unhinged as per the day the game takes place, make the potentiality for the player connecting to the characters ever stronger. They also solidify things the game set thematically, like othering, indoctrination, group think, and what can come of said aspects of humanity and how we can give them up, not be despondent about our conditions and work to improve them, and open up to things we once were closed off to and resentful of.

It has an effective through-line and makes with these as best it can but it still doesn’t reach its true potential, especially pared with Part I. It still works in the face of it, but that is something to pay heed to if you plan to play it, or already played it but didn’t jive with it. There will be things that go against what you’re used to, characters will make decisions you don’t agree with, but if you take the time to shift your perspective and engage with the game differently you can come to compromise and enjoy the game for what it is rather than hold scorn for it for going against what you thought it would be. Same as it is for Ellie and Abby and the hate they harbor for each other, a shift in perspective goes a long way.

Does the story have its fair share of “deus ex machinas” as the long men call them? Yes, but do they bring it down for me? No, not only because none of them are egregious and you can easily hand wave them, but because the game still manages to be internally consistent. Even if they did, I STILL wouldn’t lump this game next to the likes of the Star Wars ST, which I regret seeing, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which I regret playing, Borderlands 3, which was really fun but still had a dog water story apparently (I haven’t finished it), or Game of Thrones S8, which I haven’t seen and don’t want to.

It respects its characters and it respects the audience to draw their own conclusions, take the story for what it is, which evidently, seems like the opposite of what happened. Despite the droplets that slipped through the faint cracks, the exterior is stock and the interior is unsullied. This story generally works, what with the misgivings you might have with it or what stumbles it makes along the way to greatness.

As for the remaster in question:

No Return only underpinned what we laid out. A mode revolving around the, admittedly, robust combat system, with incremental rewards during every run with mods accenting them. It comes off as somewhat tone deaf, at least it can. It didn’t for me necessarily because I believe a game can have a point and still be fun despite it, but it can and will for many who play it.

The Lost Levels were what I was looking forward to the most. Once I got to play them, it turned out that the three vertical slice levels weren’t the rendering exclusions I’d hoped for. For stuff that was left at the cutting room floor, especially how it was advertised, I came in expecting there to be revelations that gave the creative decisions context, but no, they were rather inutile, with just the boar hunt giving Ellie more proper characterization. That’s fine, but still.

Is it evocative? Does it seem like shock value for the sake of it? For the some it may, but it has something to say, and it leaves the door open for a Part III to be more satisfying for everyone. I think this game was an experiment that paid off in some ways and didn’t in others, but was worth taking part in. I love this game. You may hate it, be indifferent to it, or love it just the same, and that’s okay. One thing is for sure and that’s how nuance has left the chat altogether when it comes to media discourse, at least on like, Twitter… maybe I just need to disconnect. On its own terms, it does end up working when held up to measured criticism for most part. Many people are letting their feelings cloud their judgement, hampering their ability to properly evaluate this game. It’s not something I believe, it’s something that is. On our terms, it may be flawed, even compromised in small ways, but it worked for me, and if you haven’t played it yet, I hope it works for you too.

Just for good measure, since I’m two for two on covering songs in games that aren’t part of the soundtrack, let’s bump that up to three. As follows is how I’d rank the covers and rarities EP.

1. True Faith - Inspired by Lotte Kesner’s cover
2. Wayfaring Stranger
3. Through the valley
4. Future Days
5. Take on Me