Maaaan, did I ever hate the bones of this game when I first talked about it on this very blog back in 2020. It arrived just as we were all getting used to the weirdness of being in a lockdown, and a game about a global pandemic that turned everyone into angry mushrooms probably hit a bit of a sour note with me at the time. But because TLOU is all big news again thanks to the TV show, I thought I'd replay both games again, for old time's sake.
TLOU 1 is a great game, not "I'm going to pay £70 for it a third time" great (the remaster can just do one) but still good enough in the previous 2014 remastered version for me to enjoy it from end to end.
TLOU 2 is a different kettle of fish and re-reading what I wrote about it in 2020, I still feel like it was a horrible misjudged step in a storyline that made us bond with, identify with and perhaps even love characters that the 2nd game then proceeds to paint as the most heinous villains ever to stalk the planet.
I also really, really struggled to play as Abby in the 2nd game. No, not because she's a buff almost macho superhero-esque character, but because she's just...completely unlikeable to me. Even in the flashback scenes (with Owen, who I also detest for entirely different reasons), I just couldn't summon up an ounce of giving a shit about her as a character, nor her justification for her "Dark Universe" version of doing exactly what Ellie sets out to do after Joel's death - go on some nihilistic revenge kick that turns the whole game into "you killed my dad, so I'm a gonna kill your dad, then you're gonna kill my folks then I'm going to come and kill some of yours and...oh please just feck off!"
I had issues with the game's timeline as well. One minute it's now, next minute it's four months ago, then 4 years from now, then 6 months ago and...JESUS CHRIST WILL YOU JUST STICK TO A SINGLE TIMEFRAME FFS! Yes it does this to try and explain Abby's narrative and a bit of Ellie and Joel's back story (particularly the big reveal where Ellie goes back and finds the evidence of Joel's deception just lying around, a weak-assed plot point that goes against what we end up knowing about the Fireflies / WLF - that they'd probably have torched the Hospital and all its records in a temper tantrum, not just conveniently left the damning evidence to all to see).
The more I pick at TLOU2's story, the more irritated I become, to the point where the very first time I played through it I ended up using the "Skip Cinematic" option a lot, just to get the bloody thing over and done with.
On this, only my 2nd ever play through (and I've played through TLOU1 at least 5-6 times bear in mind), I thought I'd just grit my teeth and bear it, but it just soured me on the game even more.
On the bright side, there are one or two sequences and gameplay sections that are just sublime though. That museum section - where Joel takes Ellie on a trek to a disused museum stuffed with dinosaurs and space stuff - is one of the most touching sequences in videogame history. The bit in the capsule where Ellie is lying there listening to a rocket launch is just chef's kiss. I wanted the whole game to make me feel like that, but instead that was a tiny moment of brilliance in a game that otherwise just made me fed up and annoyed playing it.
Playing again on the PS5, you get the option to remove all the film grain and lock the game at 60hz which is nice. Even on my crappy 1080p telly the game looks glorious, and bear in mind this is before Naughty Dog inevitably pull the same stroke they did with TLOU1 - because they're absolutely going to, thanks to all you folk who just blindly bought the remaster. Again (and probably because the TV show is a massive success).
Back to the game, other sequences just drive me crackers. The switcheroo in the Theatre when you play as Abby, being pursued by Ellie - you know, the other character you play as for most of the game, was just really badly thought out. Who the fuck are you supposed to be rooting for at that point? It was also another one of those hateful stealth vs violence sequences (like the diner sequence with the cannibal guy in the first game) where the gameplay is annoying and frustrating rather than enjoyable. From thereon, the game just turns into a real chore until the finale - and by the end I can't get the disk out of the drive quick enough to shelve this, possibly for good this time because I really really don't want to play it ever again.
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