Off the rip, this is a great game. I enjoyed the combat, the stealth aspect, even the crafting, all the good stuff is good. If you're looking for a story though, PLEASE look elsewhere.
If you loved the first game for the story, that's understandable. A tale of a man who essentially adopts a young girl to fill the void left by his lost daughter, on a quest to save the world only to find out what "the world" was worth. The sequel, however, uses the circumstances from the previous game to basically shovel feed you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. SPOILER ALERTS: The entire premise of the game was built off of killing the main character of the last game and replacing him with the person who kills him, which could have been interesting, but her story was so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mundane I actually went to bed when I got to her part. As soon as I saw "Seattle Day 1" pop up for the second time, I was like, "Yeah, that's enough for tonight."
On top of that, they replace the heartwarming father-daughter duo with a lesbian couple and a buff chick paired with a trans child. How does that dynamic work? Yeah, it doesn't. They each had their moments of quirky cuteness, but it just didn't sit right with me, not to sound like a bigot. Abby should've had a dog companion, and Ellie and Tommy was so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ RIGHT THERE. Not as couple, just the dynamic of seeking revenge for Joel. Dina didn't have a clue what she was getting into and it was obvious in every cinematic scene, plus the pregs. Nah, let's have Tommy be some lone wolf douchebag and give Abby some random native child. Again, not trying to sound like a bigot, that's just the ♥♥♥♥ we got served.
If you're still reading, congratulations! This positive review DOES have some positivity behind the major complaints. Despite my hatred for the story, EVERYTHING else is pretty good about this game. Combat is decent, could use some adjustments to movement like rolling. I played Nier recently and kept wanting to evade into cover, but the best there is is a quick step out the way. Crafting felt alright, nothing crazy there. You can craft arrows and shivs, which are my bread and butter in this game despite them sometimes being scarce. Besides that, I rarely remember to use my explosives and traps. The arsenal is decent, but dependent on which character you play as. Skills still felt useful, although some were redundant based on me just forgetting that the mechanics they affect existing, like the listening. I can count on my hands the number of times I used it during the story.
Last but not least, REPLAYABILITY. This game does have New Game +, but I haven't done it yet ( I HATE the story). There are difficulties that range from baby mode to realistic (get no scoped by some dumbass on the second story that you never even saw until it was too late). There is a chronological order to play the story that I haven't tried (I'm not trying it)(I HATE the story). There is also a No Return gamemode that is basically a roguelike minigame. This gamemode is basically playing the game without the god aweful story getting in the way, meaning you can sling arrows, bust shells, and rock heads with baseball bats till your heart is content. Each run is different from the last, and... If you don't know what a roguelike is, look it up. That's what it is. You earn rewards for each encounter, and you utilize these resources to upgrade gear, skills, or purchase equipment. I personally would've liked to see parts and meds for sale alongside equipment, but the way it is works as well. You start with only Ellie and Abby available to play as and can unlock other characters by completing goals during your runs. For example, finish 2 encounters with Ellie to unlock Dina, and so on.
I love this game mode. I can play this game at it's best, just raw combat, or raw stealth. The choice is yours, and it's marvelous. I forget if you need to complete the story to unlock No Return or not, but it's worth it I guess. That's all I'll be coming back to this game for, just raw combat.
