Tlou p2 is a safe game????
It's culture war criticisms and ND pedestal (for better or for worse) shows it's far from a "safe game." Nothing ND does going forward, regardless of mechanics, etc., is "safe." They are and always will be under a microscope far more than a lot of developers.
There are those that hold them to a high standard due to their tech investment, talent, highly polished, and top production value with attention to detail.
There are those that are pining at them to fail. Waiting for that "fuck up" moment. So much so that they want to conjure up reasons why they think TLoU2 is a failure.
Still, one of, if not the most successful IPs PlayStation has. More so now combined with the HBO series. Well over a billion dollar franchise that is not losing money, nor fubar'ed.
And this is coming from someone who thought the story was so depressing (not fun: I get what Druckmann meant now), that I did not bother to play it a second time for the easy plat. I did enjoy the gameplay, however. Felt satisfying when you pull off some sick moment to moment combat scenarios at a rapid pace with the hit detection and animation systems.
Fuck Druckmann for forcing us to have to kill Alice. Probably the most depressing moment, to me.