Forever grateful this masterpiece got a PC port, I played it at launch after avoiding leaks for the month they were floating around, This game is simply a masterpiece, it's hard for me to put into words every little thing I adore about it but I will try anyway, just for a note I bought a PS5 JUST for this remaster because I never thought it'd see a PC release I've since used the PS5 for other amazing games but this was the driving force of my purchase.
To start I'll go over the most agreeable part of the game, the gameplay, the combat is simply perfect, it perfectly captures the survival desperation of the world that Naughty Dog crafted in part one and two, it's brutal, on the harder difficulties it's unforgiving, it's one of the few games that actually changes between difficulties instead of just damage numbers, my grounded playthrough caused my fair share of deaths, now I did play it on PS4 at 30fps, then again on PS5, and while I haven't done a third grounded run on PC I can tell it'll be easier simply due to how much easier aiming on PC is. This isn't to say the difficulty is easy. It is brutal. The lack of loot doesn't feel cheap, it feels realistic. You die in 2 - 3 hits, upgrades are scarce, bullets even more so. It changes how you approach the game itself, it goes from a run and gun occasionally having to switch weapons on normal to every shot counts, every enemy that spots you is a problem, a big one at that, getting caught isn't a death sentence but getting caught causes the enemies to shift, they are now searching and with how long it takes for them to spot you, there is no chance to slip up. Then this is where the game shines, no matter how good you are at video games there are options, accessibility options if you need them, this is one of the few games I can say a BLIND person can play, it's insane how much effort has gone into making this game as accessible as possible, through 7 difficulties including custom where players can obviously customise what they want, whether its brutal hard stealth but forgiving combat or the opposite, brutal combat with easier stealth or a mix or high loot or low, smart enemies or easier enemies, the amount of customisation here is insane.
A single shot is enough to put you down so you better not get shot, each encounter changes to a gripping stealth section conserving your ammo for a bigger threat, a more desperate situation you'll second guess every shot you fire and be frustrated with every hit you take, pair this with the visceral combat and you have the perfect survival combat. You are guaranteed to engage in melee combat during the game, and the dodges the way enemies react to being hit the way Ellie reacts to being hit is all perfect it all comes together to make an incredibly fluid and dynamic combat system, enemies and Ellie can be knocked against objects in the world, the "Brute" enemies can grab Ellie and use their size to their advantage to completely control where she goes, throwing her through shelves, over cars out of windows etc. Ellie can finish enemies with her knife and grab the enemies melee weapon if they have one to use on the enemy she just took it from It is brutal.
The enemy Ai isn't stupid either they each have names, and intelligent programming if they see you run around a corner they will try to cut you off, if they lose sight of you they tell their buddies and spread out to search for you, if you pick one off stealthily they'll see where their friend is when they don't respond. They actually react to the people you kill, calling their name informing other allies that "Phil" is dead, it makes you feel like you're actually taking a life its honestly unsettling hear them cry their names out after you shoot them. If you're being chased and they see you duck behind cover they wont mindlessly rush in they'll aim at where you last vanished from their sight and if you peek out they will shoot often before you have a chance to shoot them, and if they're more than one their friend will cover them while the other flanks, leading to sections where you are cornered with no way out forcing you to improvise, maybe you throw a bottle and grab the enemy to use as a human shield before finishing him when out of sight, maybe you use a smoke bomb to disappear from sight, maybe you just wing it and try fight and kill them it all just works so well with the combat system.
The weapon variety is great, from Glocks, to Ak's to Hunting Rifles and Revolvers there is an entire arsenal here that is useable, not even mentioning melee weapons, and the upgrades each weapon gets, the weapon variety really makes the game even better, especially on higher difficulties where ammo is scarce if you find some shotgun ammo but you don't like getting close then you're going to have to get creative with how you approach an encounter, it's great and makes you think, everyone will have their favourite weapon and they are all fun to use
The level design is phenomenal. From the drenched streets of Seattle to the snowy mountains of Jackson its all great and incorporates each area amazingly. You will sometimes be climbing high into broken down skyscrapers trying to find a way down to the street or other times be using a boat to cross flooded areas, or even diving underwater to unblock a path forward. Even the combat arenas are great, utilising gaps in-between shelves to quickly squeeze through as enemies purse you, or climbing up a ladder to another floor to get the drop on enemies, crawling under a car to hide as a patrol passes, there is almost always some way to use the environment to your advantage.
Now I'm going to talk about the main themes and how that is shown through the main characters but no major plot spoilers, go play it, trust me it's worth it.
The way the characters progress or regress in their individual arc's is so well done, there are so many amazing characters that aren't clear cut good or bad people, they're all just survivors and everyone is in some way justified. Ellie's descent is so masterfully done that by the time she's lost everything and has become a pure killing machine she is honestly unrecognisable from the 19 year old thats smoking weed and navigating teen love at the start, the Ellie we see towards the end of the game is more reminiscent of the Joel we see at the start of TLOU1 and that is implied through his time with the hunters at the beginning of the apocalypse, she is a capable survivor that is letting nothing stop her, she is using every trick she has learnt to get what she wants and honestly it's amazing she's brutal, cold and calculated, she's a very different Ellie from the end of the first game but it makes sense, she's older, and a lot has happened in the few years between games. Her character perfectly shows how obsession ruins you and how focusing on just one objective can destroy a person and those close to her. She loses friend's family and eventually her own morals by the time the credits roll and it's paced so well with such a gripping start that it's hard to disagree with her.
Abby is the perfect deuteragonist for Ellie in this story, she is the driving force of the narrative, and starts the game where Ellie ends it. At the start she has given up everything in pursuit of revenge, her relationships her friend's and is plagued by nightmares, her side of the game is her not atoning for her sins but healing as a person, when she enacts revenge you can tell on her face that she feels no satisfaction and realises the years she spent hunting this person were all for nothing she burnt bridges for nothing, hurt people she loves for nothing, her character is so tragic and relatable, that when she begins to right some of her wrongs. With Lev and Yara its honestly heart-warming and reminiscent of Joel and Ellie in the first game and she perfectly shows how someone can grow and repent after having something consume her life for so long.
