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The Last of Us: Part 2 takes place a couple years after the events of the first game. The game is visually stunning, I was taken away by how real the the people and environments looked. The gameplay is amazing as well, sprinting through hoards of zombies or using stealth and taking out a bunch of crazy bad guys is super satisfying.

(Spoilers)

However, the story was not good. The first couple missions are just tutorial missions, they introduce you to some new characters and all is well. In the beginning, you play as Ellie in the first couple and then you play as Abby in some other ones. Abby is a new character who doesn’t like to be told what to do (shocking). In the second mission where you play as Abby, you are sprinting through a bunch of zombies, and it is pretty cool. You get caught by one and then right before its about to get you, Joel comes and saves the day. A storm comes in and you, Joel, and Tommy all go to where Abby and her group are camped up. Then Abby kills Joel with a golf club. I was so confused and upset at this point, why would they have me play as a character and want me to feel connected to this character, just for them to kill the best character and make me dislike them.

After this happened I was upset but was looking forward to getting vengeance as Ellie. I thought to myself that it would be like John Wick or Kill Bill. Then Ellie’s girlfriend decided to tag a long and I was not excited anymore. The reason why John Wick and Kill Bill are amazing stories about vengeance is because the main character has nothing, which means they have nothing to lose. Ellie on the other hand already has a girlfriend so she has something to lose. In the beginning of your quest for vengeance it seems like Ellie isn’t even upset anymore. Ellie and her girlfriend are cracking jokes and seem like they are having a good time even though she had just lost the person that cared about her the most.

After about a chapter goes by, Ellie’s girlfriend gets sick and can’t continue on. Ellie has to do it by herself. At this point I was getting excited again, It’s just Ellie out for vengeance. Ellie also started to actually seem upset about Joel getting killed. After some good flashback missions and some very intense fights, I was getting immersed. If only the story started like that, but I was happy that it was improving. Then, about halfway through the game, it was getting pretty good, you kill some people that helped Abby kill Joel and you are starting to feel satisfied. You, Jesse, (who comes to join you on your quest for vengeance) and Tommy decide that she got what she deserved and are starting to prepare to head home. As you start to leave, Abby shows up and kills Jesse and then holds Tommy hostage. She then says ‘you killed my friends’ (which she should’ve expected after she killed Joel). Abby points the gun at Ellie and then it cuts to black.

At this point I was pretty confused and pretty angry. I disliked Abby even more than I did before. I didn’t know what was going on until the screen lit up. They then made me play as Abby. Now they want me to play as her?! I don’t want to play as the person that killed Joel, a person that do not like at all. The game instantly lost all its momentum and I was furious. I instantly started disliking the game again. Who in the world sat down and thought that this was a good idea.

This game has an identity crisis. If you asked me what it was about I wouldn’t be able to tell you because halfway through the game they start a new story from the perspective of Abby. It is incredibly disappointing to see how they fumbled the story on this game. The gameplay and visuals are stunning, but all that doesn’t mean much when your game centers around a story that isn’t good. If I were rating this game out of ten then I would have to give it a **4-5/10** just because of the gameplay and graphics.

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