It's really hard to give my full thoughts without making my review all spoilery, so I'll just say this: Abby is one of my favorite characters in recent video games. Her arc is what makes this whole narrative work, turning the story from one that could easily be darkly cynical to something hopeful and even beautiful.

As a whole, I'd say I liked the story of Part II better than the original The Last of Us. It's more challenging, and the characters are generally more nuanced than before. My only issue with it is the pacing. There are just a few too many instances where you have to cross the city to get to yet another landmark on the horizon, rifling your way through buildings in search of loot and taking out large groups of enemies as you go. I think a few of those could have been made shorter or cut entirely to make the game a tighter experience.

My only other gripe is that I felt like there was a lot less tension in the combat encounters compared to the first. Rather than having to manage my bullets and pick up whatever melee items were available to me, I pretty much always had plenty of ammo and the best melee weapons, so I could pretty easily take out groups of enemies without needing much of a plan. I think that's an area where the original game shines, so it was disappointing that it wasn't the case here.

Overall though, these issues mostly pale in comparison to everything else I loved about this game. It's gorgeous, the gameplay is fun, and the story is up there with the best that AAA games have to offer.