I’m going to start this one off by gushing over some details that I loved, before getting into the meat of my thoughts on it. It’s rare nowadays for a game to impress me with realistic graphics, but as with the first game, The Last of Us Part II has managed to do it again. Combined with outstanding performances by every actor in the game, the graphics allow for characters to convey a certain subtlety in their expressions which no other game at present can match, and do things naturally which previously would have been firmly in uncanny valley territory. Also, whatever they did to model these characters at different ages is equally impressive, as the changes are subtle enough to notice, but not at all overly dramatic, and lends a greater sense of realism to the game. Additional kudos to this game for having one of its two protagonists be a muscular woman who actually manages to look like a real person, which is all too rare in video games. Dina is also a great character, and everything with her Jewish heritage in the synagogue scene is very well done. One last little detail that I adored: Abby having acrophobia and having a visual effect to show her vertigo when she gets near a ledge, and having her character react appropriately, is really well done. As someone with acrophobia I feel seen.

Alright so those are the little details I loved that really helped this game be something special, now time for me to delve headfirst into the discourse. There’s been a decent amount of criticism of this game for just being “one big guilt trip” and I don’t really agree with this take. The overarching plot of the game is a classic cost of revenge story, and I think what this game excels at, is putting you in the shoes of its two protagonists. Throughout the game, I was never personally on the same page as Ellie as to what the right course of action was, however, I was so engrossed in her perspective that I could absolutely understand why she would do what she does. For me, the game was an excellently told character story. However one thing the more regressive discourse around this game shed light on was, a lot of people did agree with Ellie’s quest for revenge, and for those people, I could see this game being a well needed guilt trip, because it makes the bold choice of having you play as Abby halfway through, the character Ellie is hunting, and empathize with her. And it seems like this game is a much needed lesson for many players about the dangers, and ultimately the emptiness of revenge and factionalism.

I played this game on the hardest difficulty, which for me was perfect, as it was the difficulty which most reinforced the tone and themes of the game in my playthrough. I could see playing this on a lower difficulty and getting too much of a power fantasy vibe from it. However for me, I always felt like I was searching for just enough resources to get by, and the enemies were threatening enough that it wasn’t in my best interest to try to overpower them at every turn. Also the dark realism of the game’s world had me making choices as a player that weren’t forced on me, but I naturally made as I thought about the morality of Ellie and Abby’s journey. For example you get molotovs and a flamethrower, but I made the conscious choice as a player to never use these on anything other than the infected, the game’s zombie equivalent, because it felt too cruel to use on a human character. I would’ve never made a choice like that if I felt like the game was a power fantasy.

Anyways, between this game and the first game, this series now accounts for two out of the four times I’ve ever cried at a video game. Ultimately it was how the game tragically portrayed forgiveness, specifically forgiveness given too late, that brought out emotions in me that few games do. The fact that this game managed to generate so many different thoughts and perspectives is indicative of how, in many ways, it isn’t overburdened with giving players what they want, which is a rare thing in big budget AAA games. All of this is why this series remains one of my favorites, and gets a high recommendation from me.

I'm a little down on the endings to this game, which is why it isn't rated higher. However, the vast majority of this game I really liked. You play as Sean, and during an event in which your father is murdered by the police, you find out that your younger brother Daniel has telekinetic powers when he lashes out and kills the cop. The rest of the game is you and your brother on the run, as you try to survive and raise Daniel. The game handles the terrible treatment of Mexican-Americans throughout all five episodes, forcing the player to choose what they'd do in those types of situations. My favorite parts of the game have to be the romance with Cassidy in episode 3, and confronting your mother who abandoned you as a child in episode 4, which is extremely well written and doesn't vilify the mother, while allowing the player to decide their own feelings towards her.

Similar to Eliza in that it's a game in what I've decided to call the "gig economy dystopia" genre. You're a driver for the uber-like service Neo Cab, while the company CAPRA is trying to eliminate human drivers by offering a competing taxi service with self-driving cars. CAPRA also develops a sort of mood bracelet called a FeelGrid, which connects to your body and turns different colors depending on your mood, and is sold as a way to help people be more conscious of their emotions and thus more able to self regulate their emotions.

There's a larger story with what kind of technology driven dystopic plans CAPRA is up to that's very good, but the majority of the game is spent talking to your Neo Cab customers, and there are some really cool characters in this game. My favorites being Gideon, a young anarchist kid who comes from privilege and is figuring out her politics, and is stuck in a restrictive mech suit because of her parents; and Fiona, an introverted woman trying to figure out her love life in the technological age. While you're talking, certain dialogue options will affect your mood as shown on the FeelGrid, and if you're too far into a certain mood, you may not be emotionally able to choose certain dialogue options. Spoiler My favorite part of the game is definitely the ending, which is a sort of emotional boss fight, in which you're confronting an abusive friend and trying to be conscious of your emotions so that you can be able to stand up to her. Really cool concept, great writing, recommend if you want to encounter some cool characters.