I've never seen a game act so confident in its most hackneyed, shock valuing decisions while sidelining all of its actually interesting ideas. Abby and Lev's story? Excellent. It and the gameplay improvements are the only things carrying this game to a 7/10. Ellie's story? MISERABLE. It almost felt like a parody of the first game with how obvious and indulgent the writing became. (and I don't care if that's the point! I can think it's a dumb point!)