There's no way this could have been as tight as the original, because the story is much wider, with more sweep, but it's as effective and character-driven—if you ignore one aspect I'll get to in a minute. When I played it, I immediately understood what was happening about an hour or two in and I buckled up, curious to see how they'd play this all out. I think the story is good, even if there are some interesting choices in it that I disagree with. There's a lot of experimental storytelling here, too, and not all of it lands, though I'm happy it's there. But...(And here I sigh)....

But: I was oddly uncomfortable playing TLOU2, and it wasn't until someone mentions a cult leader whose followers, in being violent, strayed off the leader's teachings that it clicked into place. Which is to say that it dawned on me that the game's politics were that of a "liberal Zionist" that made me close my eyes in embarrassment, and lo and behold, the head writer grew-up on an illegal settlement on Palestinian land. Suddenly the appearance of the Apartheid Wall didn't seem like such a coincidence, and the story suddenly had real-life analogues. Which is to say that it rendered the cyclical nature of its theme void. I don't seem to be the only person to have made these connections. (Although I think it's more inspired by Palestine-Israel, not a direct analogy, but god was it hard to not groan out loud when the Seraphite/WLF split suddenly started reading like a Hamas/Fateh analogy.)

I'm curious to see if Craig Mazin addresses some narrative choices in season 2 of the show. TLOU2 is relentless, which is both good and bad. I wish, though, that it had given its characters more of a chance to love. And that the writer examines his...politics. Maybe we can do a Haganah/Irgun/Lehi split for part 3, eh?

Great gameplay and all, too.