It’s 2024, and I’m currently on my 4th playthrough of The Last of Us Part 2. That’s not to say I don’t play other games because I do, but they are almost like side quests that are fun to undertake for a while, but they leave me shrugging my shoulders and scratching my head as they just don’t hit me anywhere near as hard and as satisfying as my main story, Part 2.

I’ll be honest, I initially, and innocently, thought that Naughty Dog’s savage apocalyptic title was just a game that I really loved playing and constantly talking about and that’s, of course, true, but it’s now gotten to a point where I (unfairly) compare every single player game to it to the point where I can’t overly enjoy them because I’m picking holes in everything, and it’s becoming a right pain in my ass. It’s ridiculous at this stage. Allow me to offer you a glimpse into my gaming hell.

Damn You, Naughty Dog

Let’s start with my most recent purchase, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. On paper, it’s exactly the type of game that I love; an emotionally filled story with hard choices in a world filled with loss and grief (I’m honestly a hoot at parties, promise), and credit to the developers at Don’t Nod, it’s a rich and enjoyable game with stunning environments but, yep you’ve guessed it, I spent the entire time comparing its main characters to The Last of Us Part 2’s Joel and Ellie.

I kept wanting more from its protagonists, Red and Antea, in the way that Joel and Ellie felt for each other. These two hunters in Banishers were meant to be lovers, unable to bear being apart from each other as one passes into the spirit world, but the rawness of this loss never metalized for me and ultimately fell flat, and I have Naughty Dog to thank (or curse) for putting such high standards on how they created two of their most iconic characters and the deep pain that separated them.

I’ll very quickly speak on two of 2023’s popular big hitters, Spider-Man 2 and Alan Wake 2. Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, these two games are very good and for very different reasons and I also know how unjust it is for me to compare them, or any game for that matter, to The Last of Us Part 2, but here we are. I’ll be brief, for me, Spider-Man 2 lacked depth even when Peter and Miles’ journeys took the spotlight. In my opinion, it tried to tell too much of their stories in too little time. The emotional impact of Spider-Man: Miles Morales had all but dried up in the sequel and, for me, this was its downfall.

This is in stark contrast to how I felt at the end of The Last of Us during that soul-crushing definitive Joel and Ellie ending moment, and how that same harrowing rawness seeped into Part 2, almost as if the 5 intervening years between games never happened. As for Alan Wake 2, although both games take a similar direction in level design and structure, the horror element fell completely on its face for me and never even came close to the tense and heart-stopping dread I experienced at almost every turn in TLOU2.

I found myself wandering around the forest or towns in Alan Wake 2 with my flashlight as the game prepares you for enemy encounters that then don’t happen and when it finally and rarely does, the enemies are easily dispersed, unlike in Part 2 where you have a constant variety of fierce and unforgiving foes.

Look For The Light

With all that said, you’ll be glad to know – or maybe not by the time you get to this part and just want me to stop comparing bloody games – that there is one upcoming game that I can’t wait to play that I hope will shake me from my Last of Us 2 stupor and that’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.

Not that I believe Hellblade 2 will take the place of TLOU2 but more so I hope a brutal journey of survival, deep myths, and Viking lore will allow me to enjoy what it has to offer without constantly scrutinizing its gameplay and picking apart every little thing, moulding it into what I think it should be because of my obsession with one game because let me tell you, it’s become detrimental to my love of games as a whole, and it needs to finally come to an end.

The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered

Released

January 19, 2024