I kinda felt empty by the end and not in the way that the writers probably intended. It felt like the game never really went anywhere and the pacing was made atrocious by the whole Abby bit although I did like the set pieces in her sections, the Island was pretty great but as I said before, a lot of the attempts to garner sympathy and make her more likeable fall flat and when I did start to like her, they just walked it back by making her an arse again. I feel like the whole Santa Barbara section was just a way to extend the runtime but the final fight with Abby was cool enough I suppose.
I think, overall, it was a story that didn't really need to be told, I get the impression that there was never meant to be a sequel to this game but they created one anyway because the first one was a huge success and this one felt hollow and forced because of it. They dreamt up a story, tried to emulate the emotional resonance of the first game and it just felt empty.
The game itself is great in it's own right but comparing it to the original kinda shows how flawed it is. It was meant to be this brutal and harrowing tale but it didn't really shake or move me at all, it just felt empty and I think the gameplay loop started to grate on me by the end. I feel like a game like this outstays it's welcome if it's too long and this game has far too much gameplay that feels like filler between it's big moments.
I hope they leave The Last Of Us alone now, they won't but I don't think we need another instalment in Ellie's story, we didn't need Part 2 on retrospect.
As a game in it's own right, it's an 9/10 but as a TLOU game, it's a 6/10.
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