The fact Miyamoto thought that this would be the new Mario will never cease to amaze me. Don't get me wrong, pikmin are adorable, and Pikmin is an amazing game, but an RTS does not have the broad appeal of a 2D platformer !

On the game itself, it's amazing. The time limit isn't all that strict (a rythm of one part a day is easily attainable, and when you get good at managing your time you can even fit two parts into each day pretty easily) but it's simple presence makes everything have impact and meaning. If you lose Pikmin, you don't just feel horrible guilt because their adorable little faces are no longer there because of your incompetence, you now need to think about devoting time to bringing new pikmin to life. I had a few days were I took heavy losses in the early game, before you get enemies that give you 20ish pikmins at once, and those blows were tough and really hampered my progress. It's not as much of a problem in the endgame, but that final trial does make it necessary to have a solid number of Pikmin before tackling.

The difficulty doesn't just stem from the fights and losses though, it also comes from the puzzles. Some of the srequired progression will actually get the old grey matter going, my favorite example being how you move the cardboard box during the final trial. Every zone is harder than the last and will make you think about how you want to tackle every challenge, there is a real sense of progression in your master of the game thanks to its insistance on not treating you like a baby and actually believing that you can think for yourself. Pikmin 3, as good as that game is for other reasons, never really challenged me in this way and that's a shame because that game's gameplay really is deeper than the original's. In summary, Pikmin 1 is simpler in its core mechanics than Pikmin 3, but uses them to their fullest potential to make it a fairly challenging time (although don't be discouraged, I made it through the game in 23 days on my first playthrough) while Pikmin 3 has all the potential in the world but plays it too safe and, because of this, remains with untapped potential. Pikmin 1 on the other hand, is the best game it could've been with the tools given to the player.

The only real problem with the game is the pikmin's AI which is just so dumb. I lost so many pikmin to drowning because they just felt the urge to learn how to swim and rushed into water. Quality of life is not the best either, not being able to select a pikmin type to throw without holding A is a bit annoying, especially in the middle of a fight, same goes with having to individually send all of your Pikmin at one objective when future games just allow you to send all of them at once. But these are minor complaints really.

Overall, this is a great time that you can rush through on a long summer's day, to relax all while feeling productive.

The day I realised that Persona 5 was one of the greatest games I’d ever played is the day I realised that I couldn’t write a satisfactory review for it, as talking about one system necessarily implied talking about another. The review got really messy, and I abandoned it in favor of a review of the “Royal” part of Persona 5 Royal, by what I mean I only reviewed the new elements added to the game. Writing a review for The Last of Us Part II was incredibly hard, as, just like many great games, Naughty Dog’s latest (and, in my opinion, greatest) is a marriage of so many different interweaving elements. Just like the first game, which relied on moment-to-moment gameplay to build the connexion between Ellie, Joel and the player, the sequel uses its shockingly realistic gameplay to tackle the interesting themes of love, grief, violence, vengeance, and cycles which are at the center of the game’s plot. Furthermore, the game cashes in on the relationship it took a whole game to build 7 years earlier, by emotionally involving the player into the plot and using Ellie’s character as a projection screen for the player’s own emotions and desires, with whom the player slowly disconnects from while he realises the horror of her ways and starts to hope that she’ll save her last bit of humanity in time. It relies so much on the players’ love for Joel and Ellie, initially using the former to motivate the cycle of vengeance and then using the latter to make every painful step of Ellie’s descent hurt the player, in such a way that, by the end of the game, the player is left emotionally drained. I do believe that, because of this reliance on the relationship between Ellie, Joel and player, the game could only work as a sequel. I also do understand the backlash. Perhaps Naughty Dog underestimated the community’s love for Joel, leading many to not disconnect with Ellie’s motivations in time and completely turn on the game when you take control of Abby, and then getting even more annoyed at the end.
However, I would encourage a second playthrough. Going into the game for the first time, I had heard of the backlash and I knew basically the whole plot. I didn’t care for The Last of Us when Part II came out, so I just wanted to know what the controversy was about. Then I played the original, and was interested in Part II, expecting to hate it because of the noise… and I loved it. Knowing Joel’s death in advance help me take my knee-jerk reaction out of it and really look at the story Naughty Dog was trying to tell, and I loved it so much. I was never trying to avenge Joel, because I had already accepted his death by the time I started playing, I was terrified for Ellie. When that shift in perspective hits, the game just clicks (infected-related pun fully intended). This was my second time with the game, and I was probably more attached to Joel this time around as I have now played the original twice and have even done a video essay about it, so I was more affected by his death this time around. I was starting to believe that I too wouldn’t want to spare Abby by the end, that maybe my first playthrough was one of a contrarian who just wanted to think differently than the Internet noise. But then, again, the game managed to change my mind by showing me the toll that vengeance took on Ellie. In simple words: it didn’t matter if I had forgiven Abby or not, I didn’t want to spare her because of forgiveness (even though I do like Abby’s character): I wanted to spare Abby because that was the only way to save Ellie’s humanity. In this sense, the game reminds me of the following saying:

“Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace” - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I could’ve hated Abby with all my guts, and I still wouldn’t have wanted Ellie to go to Santa Barbara, and I think that is a pretty powerful statement about how love is stronger than hate. Ellie leaves the one she loves behind, because she wants to pursue hate and vengeance, and who could possibly agree with that. I cried when Ellie left Dina, because she was pursuing ridiculous, inconsequential vengeance. It wasn’t going to bring Joel back, it wouldn’t stop the nightmares (as shown by the fact that Abby still has nightmares of her dad’s death even after killing Joel), it wouldn’t bring her any relief, and yet she still abandoned her loved ones. I felt bad for her.
People tend to say that this game is about perspective, and that it tries to deliver the incredibly shallow message that “there are two sides to every story, so don’t be too quick to go on a murder spree :(“ but I couldn’t disagree more. Even though some clues could make you believe this (the numerous, on the nose parallels between Ellie and Abby that include but do not limit themselves to: dead father figures, living in a very organised community, starting our time with them by hearing of an affair the previous night and by being offered the possibility to pet a dog…), I dont’t think Naughty Dog wants you to say that both Ellie and Abby are good people, that they both had their reasons for doing what they did. If you go back to the reveal trailer for the game, Ellie sings “But I can’t walk on the path of the right because I’m wrong,” which is no coincidence. Make no mistake about it: Ellie is a horrible person in this game (though I wouldn’t call her a villain, as the game doesn’t reason in the classic hero/villain dichotomy, preferring to present good and bad acts rather than good and bad people), and she is presented this way to show the toll of vengeance. Even if her original motivations are justice and present a direct link to the love she felt for Joel, the kind soul that is Ellie completely loses herself and becomes a monster, with the underlying objective being to make the player feel like a monster when he takes a step back and realises that, sure, the game forced him to do these things, but at some point, he was fully on board with it and wanted revenge as much as Ellie. I whole-heartedly believe that Neil Druckman’s intention was to present Ellie as a psychopath, and Abby as her victim (even though I wouldn’t say Abby’s a good person, rather that she is repenting by helping Lev and Yara and by sparing Dina and Ellie). The former continuously goes after the latter, even after Abby spares her not once, but twice, saying that Abby “f’ed up” by showing her mercy when interrogated about it by Dina. She puts her pregnant lover in danger, refuses to leave as soon as she learns of the pregnancy, menaces an innocent child to force her foe to fight her… And of course, she kills everyone in her path to get there.

I have to admit that, of all the critiques I have heard of The Last of Us Part II, the one that I have never understood is one that consists of saying that the game is hypocritical, as it forces you to partake in incredibly gruesome (and fun) killing gameplay all while telling you that killing is bad (for example, NakeyJakey’s excellent video about this game, with which I do not agree but have to say it makes interesting points and is very well made like all of his videos, please check him out !). I honestly do not see the hypo-criticism in that. Had we been on the PS2, with graphics and engines unable to show deaths this brutal and realistic, I would’ve understood. But, this game’s combat physics are the most terrifying part of the game (even though the rat king is a close second). Enemies scream out fallen brethren names, said dying brethren make traumatizing dying sounds, you can see the blood spurt out of their throats, using certain weapons ends in limbs getting torn off, guts being exposed, blood being splashed across the room… In a world full of fungi infected people with mushrooms breaking through their skull and covering their body, the most horrifying sight is one of a blood soaked floor with what vaguely ressembles a discombobulated human body in the center of it, with its organs lying around. In a world where you hear inhumane noises and clicks that inspire fear in everyone, the most memorable sound is one of a human’s last breath being used to scream out in horror at the realisation that he is missing a limb and that he’s already dead.
The presentation of the combat makes every encounter tense and gives them terrible weight. The arsenal you use is enough to compose the orchestra of pain that you’ll be dishing out. Explosives, shotguns, smoke bombs, riffles, revolvers, flame-throwers, melee weapons are all equally fun to use and efficient. It also varies between characters, making it hard to tire of each’s arsenal as they really mix up the gameplay style. Abby is clearly more about offense than subtle stealth, having no traps but having pipe-bombs and the ability to chain an insta-kill melee attack to an anterior deadly blow, while Ellie can have a more subtle approach with smoke bombs and explosive mines. Maybe it could’ve been a bit more vast, with one or two more traps, but all that is here is already enough to make you feel like Death itself. All this unhinged, gory violence really has an effect on the player, who will definitely end up feeling like something isn’t right with what they’re doing. The psychological price for using certain weapons is brutal. I only used explosives when necessary or against infected, because seeing its consequences on my victims was always shocking. All this violence sells the themes and plot of the game, and you can see that Ellie herself has doubts about her actions, with Ashley Johnson’s amazing performance really selling that idea masterfully, especially at then end of day 2. Seeing Ellie in this state, combined with the player’s own doubts, will push him to want for this mad quest for revenge to end, to see Ellie’s soul saved, but she refuses to let it go, sinking deeper and deeper into despair as the player continues to commit these atrocities, wishing he didn’t have to.
As for the pacing of fights, this game is closer to Uncharted 4 than one may originally think, as it relies on the same principle of going in and out of stealth, except this time the stealth is way more developed and the gunplay isn’t as viable because of limited ressources. You are going to get seen, the question is not if but when, and you need to try and reveal yourself in a strategical location, where you may lure ennemies into a trap (wether that be an explosive or a room with a single entrance where you can wait for them) or get back into stealth. This makes for a great encounter flow between tense stealth where you’re hoping that there is no enemy suddenly appearing while killing someone, and intense combat, where you’re looking everyone to make sure no one is flanking you and where you’re trying to make every bullet count.
As for the level design of the encounters, it’s generally really good, with large levels offering many ways to tackle them. Ellie’s entrance into the hospital is a great example of this. It also offers the possibility to pit different factions against one another a few times, for example letting some infected loose or trying to lure clickers to ennemies with bricks and bottles shattering (on a side note, it’s really cool to see Tommy use this same strategy against you during his sniping confrontation with Abby) All this contributes to the game feeling open and full of choices for you to make, which also applies to the world outside of encounters.

If the original focused on the corridor-type linear design Naughty Dog excelled at during the seventh generation, Part II quickly throws you into a seemingly non-linear world during Seattle Day 1. You have a map, and a devastated city to explore. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the game being open-world, as I do believe that Naughty Dog is the best studio when it comes to linear level design and that because of this they should never stray too far away from it, but in this small, contained environment, it rules. It’s actually a masterpiece in hidden linearity, with one discovery in one local leading you to another local in which you make another discovery which leads you to another local and so on and so forth. It’s way more linear than first meets the eye, making it hard to miss the actual cool stuff there is to do in the area and directly pointing you at it, making sure you get straight to it. The whole game is more open than previous games from Naughty Dog, being filled with this false sense of non-linearity, giving you a lot of changes to wander off and explore on your own, giving you an illusion of freedom and immersing you into the game, but in reality, if you look close enough, you’ll realise that the game is designed in a way to point you towards these “secrets.”
That’s a good thing though, as what you find during these exploration sessions are worth it. Whole new skill trees (which are unequal in how interesting they are) and weapons are “hidden” in these parts, which make exploration really rewarding and give you the feeling that you found this, and that the game didn’t give it to you. The lore you can find here is also really good, providing quality world building, as you’ll read about neighborhoods turning on each other, the rise of the WLF, people losing hope they’ll make it, context as to why a certain place is filled with infected. My favorite example of the latter is one of WLF soldiers being bit, one of which shoots himself and the other turns, a note explaining that they got drunk on patrol and got caught by surprise. It’s a great piece of tone-setting, reminding you that in this world, even in these new forms of society that are the Jackson community and the WLF’s stadium, nothing will ever truly be normal again, and that that sense of security that the survivors have built themselves is only a feeling, not reality. The world-building also relies on the places you visit during your adventure: the hospital that served as ground zero for the infection in Seattle or a cruise boat that carried infected on board and where a passenger started killing everyone that was sick out of precaution are stand-outs.
The world is also sold by the state-of-the art graphics, animation and engine. I have to mention the great rope physics and the glass shattering, two prime examples of the care the developers put into this game (the best puzzle in the long list of great puzzles in the game being one that combines glass shattering and rope physics). The graphics are just insane, just look at the way blood drips on the faces of characters, the lighting is amazing (especially at the twilight of Abby Day 1). The animations are realistic and perfectly flow into one another: when a guy convulses, I believe it, especially when coupled to the excellent sound design, making you listen to the sound of someone dying and the screams of terror of his friends over and over again. The engine is so good that everything reacts the way you’d imagine it would every single time, without fail, you expect to find splashes of blood where they actually are, you’ll be terrified when you make someone blow up for the first time. Everything feels real, including the characters in how they look, and how they’re written, which I do believe are written as well as they were in the first game. I’ve seen people say that the characters in this game pale in comparison, that they aren’t memorable, but I disagree. I think that the lack of memorability comes from the number of characters more than their writing. Dina is a perfect partner for Ellie, Manny is great fun, Mel is detestable but understandable, Owen is the only lucid character in this whole story, Tommy’s writing in this game is great, Jesse is a protector of people he loves, Lev is pretty funny (asking Abby about her relationship with Owen while she’s scared out of her boots on top of a crane made me cackle) and you don’t really spend enough time with Yara for her to shine. This feeling of realness, wether it come from the writing, the world building, the graphics or the physics of the game really help the game sell its message and themes.

As it did in the first game, the gameplay sells the story. This time instead of projecting yourself on Joel because you have been through Sarah’s death with him, because you’ve felt how much of a pain in the ass it is to get anywhere in this world, you project yourself on Ellie because you have done the atrocities she has done, you have felt the guilt and shock she shows at the end of day 2, but you have kept going on because the game masterfully reminds you why you’re doing this.
The flashbacks are absolutely key to keeping Ellie and the player aligned, especially the first one. Ellie’s birthday visit to the museum is one of the best moments in video games as a whole. It’s expertly written, recapturing Joel and Ellie’s relationship from the first game and presenting in a lighter moment that you never really get in the first game, where you’re under constant pressure of an infected suddenly appearing. Suddenly, all feels normal again, like re-reading an old text from a loved one where, for a moment, it feels like they’re still around. Joel and Ellie clearly love each other, they finally have a life worth living, where they can allow themselves a lighter moment. This reminder of the love and affection that Ellie and Joel had for each other, and that you had for them, motivates you for Day 2, which is by far the most gruesome and will make you question why you’re even still doing this. Dina is sick, the WLF are everywhere, you run into seraphites, you then go out to search for Nora, where you violently torture her to learn the information you want. I’ve evoked this earlier, but at the end of the day there’s this great scene where Ellie takes of her shirt to reveal bruises all over her back, all while crying because of what she’s done. You’ve probably started to doubt the morality of your quest by now, you’ve inflicted death and pain countless times already, but seeing Ellie in this state will make you start to worry for her wellbeing. The game knows the player cares about Ellie, and it plays off of this to make sure that if you didn’t want for this quest for blood to stop because you doubted its morality, you’d want it to end because of what it’s doing to Ellie. And then the second and third flashback hits.
Showing the growing distrust between Joel and Ellie and their eventual fight, you realise that for Ellie, this isn’t as much about avenging Joel as it is forgiving herself for wasting her last few years with him still around, further reinforcing that feeling that Ellie should not be doing this,. Ellie and Jesse seem to agree that they should cut their losses: Dina is sick and pregnant, every time they put a foot outside of that theater they are at risk of dying, all of this is too dangerous. So they decide to go out, find Tommy and get out, or at least that’s what Ellie says. She actually wants to kill Abby more than save Tommy, and is using the latter to justify continuing her quest for the former. Presented with a choice between going to the aquarium, which seems to be Abby’s hideout, or following a lead about a “trespasser” which seems to be Tommy, she argues in bad faith that the trespasser could be someone completely different and goes for the aquarium, which Jesse calls out as being selfish and her not caring for Dina or Tommy, and he’s completely right. This isn’t the first time a companion character has called out Ellie for her dubious morality, Dina did it as early as Day 1, when Ellie tells her that she doesn’t want anyone else to kill Abby, that she wants to kill her herself, to which Dina responds “she’d still be dead.” If the original left it up to the player’s personal appreciation if Joel was a villain, Part II clearly deems Ellie to be wrong.

Then, the switch to Abby. What a bold choice. You may not like this game’s story, but you can’t argue that it had balls killing off Joel and making you play as his killer, all while trying to convince you that she’s not worse than Ellie. Does it succeed though ? Well, as said in the intro, the parallels are a bit on the nose, and Abby’s dad death doesn’t really make us connect to Abby immediately like Sarah’s death did with Joel. He seems like a great guy and all, saving zebras, cracking jokes, and even hesitating about doing the surgery on Ellie, but we aren’t shocked or surprised by his death. We know it’s coming, so we don’t empathise with Abby as we did with Joel, because Sarah’s death was unfair and shocking in its suddenness, we didn’t have 7 years of asking ourselves if the doctor’s (and all of the other fireflies’) death was justified.
But Naughty Dog knows this, and makes us align with Abby gradually, by showcasing her relationships that are so relatable. Manny’s friendship, the complicated love story with Owen are great examples of this. Those two characters are standouts in this game (alongside Dina), especially Owen who’s an idealist who’s self-aware, which is a great contrast to Abby’s self-focused thoughts and Ellie’s cruel lack of self-awareness. You can see his impact on Abby when she decides to go save Lev, as Owen had previously questioned the rightfulness of deeming Seraphites to be fanatics rather than just people of a differing opinion.
I also really love the use of Abby to show the uselessness of vengeance. She still has nightmares of her dad’s death, she pushes Owen away because she doesn’t have any place in her heart for love as hate is already filling it. Naughty Dog, by making Ellie do the same with Dina at the end of the game, because she’s had a nightmare of Joel and wants to stop having them, encourages the player to disapprove of Ellie’s choice, because we know that Joel’s killing didn’t help Abby. She regretted not being with Owen, and she didn’t find peace. She only found peace when she showed love, acted in all selflessness by saving Yara and Lev. Going down a path of vengeance only alienated her more, it was love that made her rekindle with her humanity.
As for this relationship between Lev and Abby, it’s alright. I don’t feel strongly one way or the other about it. I do love the fact that Abby didn’t want to kill Ellie and Dina because of Lev, really showing that love has saved her from the cycle of vengeance, even though it would’ve been justified (although regrettable) to continue said cycle by killing Ellie and Dina. Personally, seeing Owen dead, killing off all chance of Abby being happy with him again really hurt me. I really liked Owen, and I really liked Abby, and I wanted both to be happy together, so I am kinda mad at Ellie for killing him. The performance by Laura Bailey really displays Abby’s love for Lev, so although I didn’t personally care for him much, let’s say Abby cared for the both of us.

Now, the ending. You can probably already guess that I love it. Ellie’s choice to go to Santa Barbara, motivated by Tommy, who looks like a worse version of who Ellie is about to become (a lonely, crippled man, which parallels Ellie’s loss of Dina and JJ and her fingers being bit off), is heartbreaking. The player is forced to watch a person he loves destroy her life in quest for vain vengeance, which he knows will be of no use.
But then, she can’t do it. She can’t kill Abby, even when presented with the opportunity. She remembers Joel, her last memory of him being one of forgiveness, and she lets Abby go, finally breaking the cycle of vengeance.
I used to think this was the wrong ending for this game, yet I still liked it because it was a “good” ending and Ellie had finally seen the light, although a bit late. I believed that the tonally right ending for this game wasn’t a “good” ending though, but an ending where Ellie couldn’t stop herself in time, having now lost two fingers, a family, her humanity, and still not having healed. That would sell the story of vengeance being destructive. But this story isn’t about vengeance, it’s about love, and how it saves you from hate. And let’s be real, this ending isn’t a “good” ending, it’s dreadful. Ellie’s lost her family, fingers, and is scarred for life. The only positive thing about the ending is that she hasn’t completely lost her humanity (even though it’s been consequentially damaged). The price of hate is still on full display, but there is a glimmer of hope that maybe Ellie will be able to find the missing part of her humanity again. This act of compassion by Ellie, to save Abby, maybe to spare Lev from going through what she’s gone through, saves Ellie herself. And that is the true message of this game: not that vengeance is bad (even though it is certainly a theme of the game), but that love and compassion is what saves you from it, in the same way the original sells the idea that love is what saves one from being a monster. In the same way Lev saved Abby, and Abby spared Dina, Ellie spares Abby. The biggest question is why. I personally believe it’s for two reasons: not wanting Lev to go through what she’s gone through out of compassion, and the fact that Ellie remembers that her last conversation with Joel was one about forgiveness and trying to forgive an unforgivable act. In the same way she tried to forgive Joel for such an act, she decides to do with Abby what she couldn’t with Joel. This, of course is up for debate, and even two years on from my original play through, I still don’t know if I’m sure of this interpretation. After all, Lev is a non-factor in the ending, except for Ellie putting a knife to his throat, so my interpretation doesn’t seem to be the one put forward by Naughty Dog.
The final Joel flashback. What a scene. I’ve always believed that love is cruel in a beautiful way. Simply put, no matter when someone leaves, it’ll always be too soon. There always will be one more “I love you” you could’ve said. This scene didn’t change my vision of life and love, it comforted it greatly though and it did make me push my conviction further. Life is too short to wage war on the people you love, so love them. Love is forgiveness. Even if they fail you sometimes, as long as it isn’t so recurring that you can’t even say in good faith that they love you, forgive. And I absolutely love Joel’s refusal to change anything about what he’s done. He had a chance to pull her back in easily by saying he was sorry, but he doesn’t. His love for Ellie is unconditional, unforgiving. And Ellie’s “I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for that… but I’d like to try.” is the best line I’ve ever heard in a video-game ever. That is a statement about love and its power that I’ll never forget. For a game so grim, so horrible, so violent, this line is so relentlessly optimistic, so convinced that love eventually always beats hate.

I love this game, it’s story, its message and it’s themes. No game has ever left me staring blankly at the credits, completely drained emotionally. No game has made me think for this long. It’s taken me two weeks to write this because I kept believing my writing wasn’t good enough for it, that it didn’t translate all that I felt while playing well enough. I still don’t think I’ve done it justice, so please play it, and if you have already and hated it, please replay it.

(Also, for future reference, I may make a YouTube video out of this review, so if you ever see a video that has this review as a script or the base of a script on this YouTube channel (and not anywhere else), don’t worry, it’s not plagiarism)

A real shame that on PS5, this game is completely broken. It's just a choppy mess. The game has immaculate vibes, a great visual, themes that seemed really interesting, inspiration from Breath of the Wild... But I just had to drop it because of how choppy it is. The frame rate is just terrible. I don't know if that's the case on PS4 (if anyone could tell me if that's the case or not I'd be grateful), but yeah, right now I don't see myself pushing through a game which is just not pleasant at all, it just ruins the whole vibe of the game. Plus I really think it blows that the devs confirmed that the game would not receive a patch even with it being added to PS Plus. Real shame