played this once more to try and determine if it should stay in my top 5. my conclusion? still unsure!!

i dont think that any other piece of media that i've consumed through now has left me feeling as torn and as conflicted as the last of us. this is my third time running through the story in some fashion and the weight of the narrative hasn't lightened whatsoever. for each beautiful, heartwarming, inspiring or funny moment, there is a wince-inducing, dreadful, hopeless or otherwise discomforting one. to me though, its a sign of great writing, since every moment feels deliberatley crafted to progress things forward. as time went on, the wall between myself/joel and the rest of the game (due to him being the playable protagonist, mostly) began to fade as i started realizing the carnage that i was inflicting upon others.

overtime, i got wrapped up in the combat the way i do when i fall into a game hard and i restart encounters to get them just right. i had so much fun playing in different ways and trying out the branching paths. I feel like once i hit the credits i was like those youtubers that run deathless on grounded in tlou2.

music, good. atmosphere, good. attention to detail, good. pacing, good. going to have to do some deliberating to make up my mind of if this is top 5 material or not! not going to do the dlc again since its mostly narrative and riley got on my nerves last time with some of her treatment of ellie lol.