Definitely an outstanding and great game, but unfortunately not a storytelling masterpiece like the first part. I also had some technical issues, just like in the first part.

The Last of Us Part II has a lot to offer. Great graphics with a high level of detail and graphic effects. Lifelike facial expressions and animations of the characters. Beautiful and atmospheric post-apocalyptic areas and a strong soundscape. Fantastic cutscenes, a high level of violence and replay value, as well as lots of unlockables, extras, and collectibles.
And an exciting and emotional story about revenge, love, friendship, family, and values, with many surprises.

But as good as the story is, it's not a masterpiece like the first part. The spiral of violence, which is presented brilliantly here, is emotional but too superficial for my taste and lacks depth. The developers also did themselves no favors with the character Abby, neither in terms of her appearance nor her personality. Even though they managed to make me feel sympathy and understanding for her, I don't want to play her again in any future parts.

I also had a few technical issues such as lags, glitches, and crashes. The crashes were primarily due to NVIDIA Reflex. The game crashed every three hours because of this. I was lucky. Others experienced crashes at much shorter intervals. Disabling NVIDIA Reflex solved the problem.

Overall, I can absolutely recommend The Last of Us Part II. Even though there were a few things I didn't like, I still had a lot of fun playing it.

Let me be clear: this isn't bad writing. The dialogue is sharp, the performances are incredible, and when the game wants to gut-punch you, it absolutely can. The craftsmanship is there.
The problem is what they chose to do with it.
The first game built something special with Joel. We loved him because we understood his choice, even knowing how terrible it was. That's incredibly hard to pull off, making us accept a character's darkness while still caring about them. Naughty Dog nailed it.
So what does Part II do with that foundation? It uses all that goodwill to fuel a story that goes nowhere satisfying.
I get what they were going for. The cycle of violence, the cost of revenge, trying to break the chain, fine. Those are legitimate themes. But "everyone is bad and no one gets what they want" isn't profound. It's just empty.
Abby needed to die. Or Ellie needed to commit and stay on the farm. Pick one. Either give us catharsis or show us redemption. Instead, we get neither. Ellie loses everything. Her fingers, her family, her ability to connect with Joel's memory, and for what? So we can feel miserable about a choice the writers forced on us?
The game spends 25 hours telling us revenge destroys you, then takes away any sense of resolution or growth. Ellie doesn't come out the other side stronger or wiser. She's just alone and broken. That's not a meditation on violence, it's just nihilism dressed up as depth.
The writing is undeniable. But they used all that talent to tell a story that fundamentally misunderstands what makes tragedy work. You need catharsis. You need something.
This just leaves you hollow.

When this game released, i fell into the ragebait and never gave it a chance, partly cause i didn't own a PS4, finally played it with an open mind and i'm glad i did. The gameplay is incredible, the combat, stealth and atmosphere is amazing and immersive, easily that's the strongest aspects of this game. The story, however, i respect the ambition to take risks but some narrative decisions are not satisfying at all, the themes are clear but at the end of the day, it really sucks the direction they took with this game.

Great game, but not a story i loved, still worth playing.

Revenge bad.