Lots of reviews on this simultaneously praise the story and writing as a step forward for video games while acknowledging that that same story and writing may be exposed as somewhat weak by the TV adaptation via HBO. And that seems revealing to me, it seems to speak volumes. The quality of the game that is universally agreed to be the most enduring pales in comparison when held up to like, anything else remotely decent. And shit no one is even saying it might seem weak compared to The Wire or The Sopranos; no, people are seemingly worried about comparisons to fucking Game of Thrones or some shit. Because even next to GoT, maybe, the weaknesses of TLOU stand out.

I have not played more than two hours of this game. I enjoyed the walking sim more than the stealth combat, and while I don't know that I observed enough of the story and writing to weigh in, it seemed fine enough. But I think any game where the "story and writing" operate in the cinematic mode will necessarily fall short when compared to actual cinematic things. Better to focus on the whole, video game part, imo.