Fair warning: this review contains major plot spoilers.

Talk about heavy hitting. The Last of Us Part II explores a ton of themes that are difficult to confront in the real world, even before you try to craft a video game out of them. This story took serious writing chops. Niel Druckman and Amy Henning - you should take a bow for this work. I know the both of you will never read this. But..... in case you do. I thank you.

At its core, this story is about revenge - pure and simple. Yet - it's not so simple......is it? You explore the gritty, dark, and unfiltered consequence blind revenge can have. At times - I felt Ellie's plight seemed hopeless, never catching a break, and there was never even a hint that all-is-right-with-the-world brilliant sunset was within her grasp.

The decision to kill Joel. That was an unpopular decision - wasn't it? Why? Because he was a *very* popular character. You'd been on this tough journey with him in Part I, and you wanted that sunset for him too. You cared when he died. You were filled with that bitter taste of anger - and that primal urge for revenge yourself at his death - weren't you? Who cares when some bit-character dies, right? Ever watch a AAA movie where some character dies after 10 minutes and you feel you're *supposed* to care? And you just don't? Well - Killing Joel is how that's meant to feel. You've seen it done right for once folks. Powerful - isn't it?

The storyline is split between playing as Ellie, and playing as Joel's killer, Abby. An interesting tactic. In the beginning - you want Abby to just *die*. I hated having to play as her. Her stupid story with her love life - Gahh! Who cares! Find me a bridge to jump her off already.... And yet that's how you're meant to feel. Those dark places I mentioned..... Gifted story craft there's no doubt.

That's not to say I'm waxing lyrical about being forced to play as Abby. I felt Abby's story was far too drawn out and had far too many subplots. By the end - I was glad to be at the end of her sequence. Abby does have different weapons at her disposal, and a different crafting list which is refreshing but ultimately not enough for the length of storyline given to her. I wanted to be back at the pointy end of the story, rather than wading through Abby's padding.

Much has been said about Ellie being gay. WOKE crap people say. Lev being a girl and wanting to be a boy. You feel about those story elements in the way that's right for you I suppose. For me those things being set against the backdrop of war and the despair of human destruction didn't seem out of place, or in any way token, or gratuitous. Ellie is gay. She has a love story with another gay character, Dina. I felt for them. I felt for their struggles to have a normal life - as impossible as that was. Character relationships in games often feel a little cheap - because you're not that invested. Here that's different. There's also no feminism being over-pushed here - for me anyhow. We have female lead characters, who suffer, love, and grit their way through a harsh world. Love is where you find it, not where it *should* be, or where you might have been thinking.

The port to PC was largely extremely well done. I say largely...... because there were a number of crash to desktop moments. One *very* nasty bug during Abby's storyline where a cutscene *always* crashed to desktop nearly bought the whole game undone. A google search revealing the solution was to cap the game at 30FPS for that cutscene and a few savepoints after that. Nasty. Very, very nasty. I also had a few visual glitches along the way - such as Abby's pistol having this bullet fire 2D asset pinned to it for a whole section of the game in Santa Barbara. Still - the rest of the game was so well made I did forgive these things.

The world has been exceedingly-well crafted, and the scenery has been built and designed to a very high level of polish. A clear design idea has been arrived at and built with care and purpose. This world being overtaken by nature and decay is extremely well realised and presented. Never did I feel anywhere that something had been rushed - and I constantly stopped to admire the small details and art direction on display. No - the game isn't cutting edge. After all, us PC players are *very* late to the party (never again right Naughty Dog?). Yet the water effects, sunlight godrays, and general ambient lighting were all done to a very high level - which I continually appreciated throughout the game. The fog and mist were also things that caught my attention - and how these were blended with overcast lighting for wet rain and dripping forests. My old 5800X3D and 4090 got though this title without too much trouble. That beach area in Santa Barbara was to die for.

Two things of particular note.

First, the voice acting is simply some of the best I've ever experienced. The actors injected so *much* into their characters. The emotion was real to me, as if the actors were really there and living out the nightmare, and the love, and the tension, and the uncertainty along with their characters.

Second - the animation work is also some of the best out there. It does look like some sort of motion matching and warping has been done - or in the least - Naughty Dog made a *huge* list of animations to cater for the different character movement scenarios in the game. There's been effort put into transitions between animation states like Swimming, jumping gaps, climbing ladders, balancing on beams etc. All done with seamless smoothness. Take note studios.

The game is violent, there's no escaping it. Too much so? That comes down to where you personally draw the line. It's one of those things that's different for everybody. For me, the violence fit the narrative. The world *is* harsh. The world *is* violent. The weak do not survive. There's this...depravity almost...in the world...that's infected the remaining human population. It's war, it's fear of death, it's hopelessness, it's sorrow...it's the damage that does to a person. To tone the violence down would have been jarring and inconsistent. You can't have too much sunlight in a story such as this - it just wouldn't fit. Though.... that does drag the game to dark places as already said, which *can* feel overly heavy at times.

What didn't I like? I felt at times that too many story elements got in the way of where I wanted to be - and that me getting to this location or that location was starting to drag a little too much. We also stayed in the same location for far too long. I would have liked a shorter stay in Seattle and a move to another location to continue the story. I know. More assets. A different art direction and extra story elements would have been needed. Yet - I felt Seattle was thoroughly stale by the time we were done there.

And so - to finish...
Neil Druckman: Your story isn't done. You made a quite complex, multi-layered, and thought-provoking part II. However, don't be closed to completing the story because you felt that Part II was a masterpiece. Ellie still has her immunity to impart upon the world, and humanity needs to bring itself back from the brink of destruction. That depravity needs to lift - the darkness driven back. Abby and Lev spoke about going overseas - and perhaps that's where the future story lies. Ellie needs to finish what she and Joel started - finding a doctor who can complete the work Abby's father began. There's growth to be had, there's that darkness you portrayed so brilliantly in Part II to lift away and shine a light of hope through. A story can be simple - yet with good writing can also have great depth along the way. I call you out. Finish the story you started. Only then can you lay it to rest. Right now it isn't done. Never leave business unfinished. As Ellie knows - that never goes well.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard collected a *lot* of criticism. Bioware themselves seemed to abandon it - sending it into heavy discount territory very soon after release. However, after 126 hours I can easily say it is one of the best games I have ever played. Each to their own I suppose - but there it is. It's deeply disappointing the world reacted so negatively to it. From where I sit - it didn't deserve the panning it got.

That's not to say the game is without fault however - it certainly does have them. Is any game faultless? Truly? I think not.

So, the Frostbite engine. I have to admit I groaned when I saw Veilguard was another outing for Frostbite. Mass Effect Andromeda felt very, very constrained by it - and I think the choice to use Frostbite there ruined that game. I tried mightily - but Inquisition also felt brutally shackled by an engine that just couldn't give the desired world the freedom it needed. Bioware's struggles to get Frostbite on the level for its games is well documented - and plain to see in those games.

However. It seems Bioware has finally been able to get
Frostbite on the level - or close enough to it to get a decent job done. I was very impressed by the scenery and environments they have been able to create in Veilguard. So much so I had to double-check the game really did use Frostbite. Some very, very nice world building here. Great lighting effects and ambient detail to really make the scenery pop.

The cartoonish art style was a big criticism by many. And that's a criticism of mine as well. A pity. Maybe we hit a Frostbite limitation there, who knows. But the game absolutely cried out for more realistic looking textures - particularly on the game's characters. Oh well - I got used to it in the end I suppose.

The storyline did stumble on the huge chunks of time dedicated to getting your companions ready for the final battle. Sorting out their inner demons, conflicts.....home life.... Gah.... a little much. Still, I found the overarching storyline compelling enough to keep me interested though all 126 hours. Taash's whole non-binary story arc *did* feel a little forced, but I don't have the damning judgement on it that many seemed to have.

I *did* mod the game. Sue me. I gave Bellara & Neve long flowing hair, got rid of Neve's stuffy outfits, and also gave Taash an outfit that I liked. Having the freedom to build and present the games characters the way you want is just gold to me. Nexus Mods.... thankyou. Doing that made the game *much* more enjoyable for me. Strand hair - known as grooms in Unreal Engine - is just *Divine*. The way long strand hair just falls and slides of the characters shoulders has to be seen to be believed. GPU heavy though - but the payoff is worth it.

My ageing 5800X3D and 4090 combo did..... OK. But the old CPU is starting to show it's age here. I did suffer some choppiness. Not enough to ruin things - but noticeable. I did have the settings switched up fairly high without any framegen activated. Overall though I did ok on performance. 3 or 4 game crashes to desktop, and from what I read of others experiences, that is about the norm.

I really liked the character creator. The *first* time my character looked the same in-game as in the creator. I remember Inquisition being utterly *dismal* for me in that respect. So a lot of kudos for Bioware there.

I really liked a lot of the environmental detail. The water effects and the raindrops in the puddles. The lighting and god rays etc were also A1. Arlethan Forest and places like the Necropolis were just a joy to explore. Major set pieces like the Siege of Weisshaupt were also something to behold. Really, really nicely put together. Pity there weren't more of them. Again...... in Frostbite!

There were a few areas that did a smack a bit of slightly rushed. Less detail. Seemingly time-consuming set pieces that went nowhere... But thankfully these areas weren't common.

The voice acting I had no problems with. In my opinion *really* well done. Awkward situations felt awkward. Anger and pain were all very nicely performed. A *few* lines were a clear misshit - but only a small few.

A lot of people thought the combat got tired quickly. I don't know..... for me I gelled with it. But I had to put Dark Souls and Elden Ring down - just far too hard for me. My timing sux and quick key combinations on a dime just defeat me to hell. So for me - I really liked the combat dynamics. Finally - something that's not Elden Ring difficult. Though - the chance to upgrade armour etc and keep the characters progressing into new skills and abilities *is* an aspect that's missing. You slowly fill out the ability graph for yourself and your companions and it's *really* hard to misstep. Good...for the simpler gamers out there.... but could have done with an extra element.

So I think if you're sitting on the fence with this game because of the reviews........don't. Play it. I don't think the game deserves a large part of the criticism it got. I live in hope to see another like it.

Just my opinions.