I see why this game is so renowned. It really is an amazing sequel that's better than the first game in pretty much every way. Drake's Fortune had a lot of great ideas, but none of them felt like they achieved their fullest potential. Naughty Dog succeeded in Among Thieves. The set pieces in this are way more grand and beautiful, taking you to a diverse group of locations. I found myself saying “damn this looks amazing” often. The gameplay is more refined and the story/writing is better as well. It feels like a 6-7 hour over the top action movie.

I wanted to give this 5 stars but it is sadly bogged down by some annoyingly tedious parts that ruin the momentum of the action. Most of the platforming is fun, but it can sometimes feel like a chore, especially after a cheap death forcing you to redo long portions of it. The combat as well sometimes felt like it went on too long, and had some weird difficulty spikes. This game is supposed to feel like an over the top action movie, and when it does feel like that it’s badass. Too many times though I felt like the momentum was ruined and I was taken out of the illusion a bit. Honestly playing this game on easy difficulty would probably be better since never dying would make this a crazy on the rails experience that doesn’t let up. It’s still really great though and I’d definitely recommend playing it if you haven’t yet. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series.