Played shortly after first game so felt it was way better. Combat was infinitely less painful, however once I'd gotten used to the second game it still became a bit of a slog to get through. The best thing about this franchise is the travelling and exploration aspect to me. The characters are cool, and playing all the games gives you some character development. However the combat really fucking sucks still, and there's soooooo much of it. Not quite as torturous as the first game but still too much. I wish there were more puzzles and more focusing on adventure and exploration, less mass killing. It felt like playing one of my fps games where you have to kill waves of zombies and after each wave, more appear to kill. I like those bc they are mindless fun and I expect it from those games but not in this.

I liked playing some parts and being reminded of crash bandicoot (mainly during scenes where you had to run towards to screen). Now there's a good naughty dog game!

I play this for the story and exploration but fuck me the gameplay and combat is BAD. Why does it take 238989 bullets (that are hitting their target!) to take down one enemy? Guh it's infuriating and yet this is my third play through!

Now the story isn't even all that good, but if you like adventure games then that's definitely what you get. With a whole lot of murder and no consequences or even an acknowledgement that Nate is a mass murderer. This game definitely takes killing and violence lightly (unlike The Last of Us).

Despite it's quirks and downfalls, I clearly enjoy myself enough to revisit this game every so often. There's lots of achievements to get and using dialogue while playing as a way of storytelling works. Really like that with the Naughty Dog (Uncharted and The Last of Us) games.

Took me FOREVER to finish. I took lots of breaks because life, and because the combat was kinda stressful (in a good way I guess?), but for me personally it didn't really have a lot of hooks to keep me playing. It felt like a drag. The ending reminded me of how I felt watching Return of the King extended edition. I just wanted it to end already, and the game seems to present an ending only to keep going on... Then I thought I knew how it would end... I just needed to play out this other perspective, ok - oh wtf there's a whole other plot to deal with now?! Legit thought I had like 10 minutes of the game left and then 2 hours later I'm still trying to end it. (OK I was also having fun blowing people up with trap mines)

I don't think this game was made for me. The first game absolutely was and I knew nothing would top that. At times - maybe most of the time 🤔 - I felt like I was playing a fan fiction. It had all the angst, trauma and sex (I love cringe stuff so this was quite entertaining) scenes that one could ask for in a fan fic. Maybe if I read some, I'll find where naughty dog got their inspiration from!

I liked the improved game controls and combat. There was just too fucking much of it. I really liked playing as different characters. Also some of the combat I found super intense and needed moral support to get through, the soundtrack really added to the intensity.

I'm undecided on whether I'll play this again but probably not.