I've just got two words to describe this game: Holy hell.

I came into this having not played any of the original TLOU games, nor having watched the TV series. I knew a little bit of the lore just from hearing other people discuss the game, but that was it. This is by far the best looking game I've ever played, though granted it is also the newest AAA game I've played. The story does not hold back it's punches, and it definitely caused me to choke up a bit a couple times. The gameplay is solid, and there's enough customization within the difficulty levels that it's enjoyable by the most casual of gamers, as well as the most hardcore achievement hunters. Only criticism I have is from the final fight of the Left Behind expansion, in which I had to replay it about a dozen times to finally get through it, but I was stubborn in refusing to turn down the difficulty to complete it. There is a strategy that you can use, that isn't talked about on any forums, but I won't spoil it here. Just play it. It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fantastic.


From all appearances, all the major compatibility issues I've seen in other reviews have been fixed, and the game optimization has been tweaked enough that a RX 6800XT is more than enough to run the game at 4k60 native rendering in HDR, with only occasional drops to 50fps. Switching FSR 2 to "Quality" (1440p upscaled to 2160/4k) gives even better performance, holding a steady 60FPS regardless of what is on screen. I have yet to suffer a single CTD, or any significant bugs that actually impact my gameplay.

Also, if you have a DualSense controller, USE IT! The game is SO much better with the haptics and ♥♥♥♥ turned on. If you don't have a DualSense, at least use *A* controller. The game supports native input from everything, including the Steam Controller, Xbox One controller, DualShock4, the Nintendo Switch Pro controller, and even the Xbox Adaptive controller