Come for the breathtaking vistas and immaculately detailed environments, stay for the fascinating probing of the delusions of grandeur from the American middle aged man and the rousing hijinx that ensue. Quite easily the strongest in the franchise, something I wasn't expecting at all, thanks to quality of life improvements with the shooting/combat and extrapolation of core narrative elements. It's such a fluid and coherent experience that I was left agape by how much genuine fun I was having traversing the comprehensively decorated settings and navigating the vast arenas to mark my enemies. While it doesn't pack the punch of Last of Us' narrative, by smoothness of execution this has it beat in spades despite the slight bloat in the latter half. Structurally, this is Naughty Dog's most ambitious work thus far (when this was written in 6/3 at least). Borrowing from Last of Us' novelistic approach, the first half of this weaves in flashbacks and stuffs an immense amount of information within the first several hours that leaves the player's head spinning by how quickly it progresses without skipping a beat. Once it slows down leading into the second half in Libertalia, we are presented with some of the finest character work Naughty Dog has done with the near crumbling and renewal of Nathan and Elena's marriage, acting as the true climax to the story.

This section is nuanced in how it employs a hushed sentimentality in lieu of outright melodrama and it's bold to see the throes of domesticity being engaged with so explicitly. This is a game less so about the ramifications of violence (which is ideally where I'd wanted the series to mature but LOU has us covered there) than it is about a mid-life crisis on candy coated adrenaline. Ditching the supernatural elements of the previous games, this entry follows an innate obsession with capturing glory as a means of validating existence and the subsequent thrills of "adventure" in all its forms that arise from that yearning. Following Last of Us' acclaim, some of this also feels like a meta commentary on "good fortune" and attaining humility in the midst of resplendent yet dilapidated splendor (exploring Libertalia in particular). Its thematic value is based in Nathan's relationships with others and how his actions and lack of honest communication potentially jeopardize these binding ties. The stakes are entirely emotional and surpass any idea of "death" that the franchise can conjure up at this point. Throughout the series Nathan's allies have been concerned for his mental well being and not Nate himself, who continued his adventuring without any thought to the possible harmful outcome.

Here, his brother Sam is an outright enabler of his shitty habits and Sully/Elena are subsequently exhausted by these antics by this point. Everybody here is just tired and the game suggests that the boisterous cartoons of yesterday have run their course and must be buried for good. The subjects are now drawn to the pull of reality and feel the sting of mortality with every push forward. While it's valuable to see Naughty Dog finally take the time to deeply explore any semblance of themes in these games, it doesn't get quite as complicated and messy as I'd hope; specially since it deals with the consequences of emotional duress. The exploration of these ideas is as broad as they come but it's okay. For what it is, a tour-de-force blockbuster epic that adopts that term to its fullest capacity, it intensely satisfied me and assisted in helping me escape from the reality of the turbulent world we live in now. At least for the 15 hours it took to complete its sweeping campaign. Despite my disappointment with the previous entries and my hesitance in approaching this, that's all I could ask for.