So I just finished. I could go on at length about what I think about the writing, the combat system, the voice acting, the graphics, and so on. But really, all I can think is this.
Did anyone ask for this? Was anyone who was a likely consumer of this product thinking, "gee, I hope they don't ACTUALLY re-make the game, it'd sure be boring to re-play one of the most beloved games ever made, despite the fact that so many people have re-played it multiple times in its ORIGINAL form"?
It was so easy... just... re-make the game. Voice acting, modern graphics and gameplay, fill out the story in a couple of places to add more depth and smooth out some of the confusing bits. That's all you had to do.
Nothing more. I don't
want an "unknown journey", as they put it at the end. I don't
want an alternate universe where the events all play out differently, as we're apparently about to receive. The whole last chapter of the game I was just... depressed. I don't even know if I want to continue playing this when the next chapter comes out. Realistically I probably will, because it's still set in the same universe, but... for ####'s sake. I'm not looking forward to it the same way I was before. When they announced this, I said I'd buy it even if they made the thing cost more than the system it plays on. But this isn't what I wanted. I can't imagine this is what
anyone wanted.
The addition of the "whispers", as the game was going on, I was like, "okay, you didn't need to add more weird #### to this, the story is weird enough", but I thought, eh, I can deal. The added stuff like the mission for Jessie and the stuff with Leslie, all good, expanding the story a bit worked pretty well. The Madam M, Andrea stuff was pretty stupid, but I could forgive it. But one it started becoming clear what they were doing with the Whispers... well, here is a video of my reaction.
In short, on its own merits, it was a pretty enjoyable game with some flaws. In context, finishing it just sucked the joy out of my day.
Fortunately I now have The Last of Us 2 to play through. Surely they can't have screwed that up, right?
... Right?