I'm obsessed with the reviews and the criticism of this game. I don't have a Playstation, and probably won't get one, so I really dove into watching the spoiler reviews and gameplay. I honestly cannot comprehend the criticisms of the story. Sure, there are parts that don't have the best acting, and Ellie escapes from captivity or near death situations too many times, but that's par for the course for games. The actual story, the structure and the intent is pretty good. I wouldn't say that the moral of the story, or the themes that are explored are particularly groundbreaking, but the narrative structure is very cool. You have the death of Joel which leads Ellie to pursue her revenge against.
Then you switch to play as Abbie who's own life mirrors both Ellie and Joel's. Joel is the same in the human suffering he's caused to survive, and in having made an ethically ambiguous choice to kill people to save Eliie, setting off a chain of violence he didn't expect. Abbie is the same as Ellie in that she wanted revenge for the death of her family, and in exacting it she set Ellie off on the same path. So the structure of having Abbie as a clear cut villain, who suddenly gains the complexity of Joel and Ellie is interesting. The natural reaction of playing as Abbie is negative, but it's the old "walk a mile in another person's shoes" situation, and as you play her you'll hopefully gain empathy for her life and situation. Then when the game reverts back to Ellie attempting to kill Abbie you'll hopefully see the human cost of her actions and see everything in a different light.
While I don't know if they succeeded in that, and it seems to have only worked to varying degrees for some people, I think the structure of the narrative and what they attempted to do in a video game is pretty bold and interesting. I think there's more to it thematically than "killing is wrong," but perhaps it needed some more complexity for it to overcome some of the negative feelings people get while playing. Maybe the payoff isn't enough for how cynical and gross the actions of the characters can be. I do think there was just a general unwillingness to accept something different from a portion of the fanbase. They wanted x, they got y and just couldn't get over it. A lot of the suggestions I see for what the story could have been just sound plain bad, but people are reaching for something that fits into easier territory. I think in the Last of Us 1, people could rationalize the violence because Joel is protecting a child in a cruel world. In a sense it doesn't feel ethically dubious as you're playing, and people can remain someone righteous in their actions until maybe the climax of the game.
I do think I'd struggle with the length of the game. I think the length of the game plays against the overall message. How do you make such a long game not feel like drudgery? You make it fun. You have fun exhilarating combat and suspense. That conflicts with having a game that's supposed to make you feel bad about the violence, and empathize with the foes you've killed. When the body count is so high, I don't know how those feelings can be maintained. Feel bad about killing these people, but boy is it fun to kill them. Seems odd. I think they should have gone in a bolder direction where the game was mostly puzzles and had very little action killing. Maybe make most of the game stealth where you can't win by killing, but have particular places where you have to kill to get out of a situation or proceed, and those deaths carry a heavier weight. Like, make a AAA game where combat isn't the primary focus. That in itself would be revolutionary.
Edit: I'd also like to point out the irony of all of the people complaining about the mundane themes of the "cycle of revenge" are also the people that are upset because they didn't get to kill Abby because they hated her for killing Joel sadistically.
