Ill throw my hat in the ring.
At the end of the day I feel like its a 6 out of 10. The tech behind this game is very good. You cant deny that the acting and facial capture is head and shoulder about the rest of the industry.
I found the game play to be pretty much more of the same. I think the stealth gets too much praise though as the AI isn't exactly smart and it often feels like they are simply designed to look in a cone and slowly make their way towards the player rather than actually act like humans, creating this wait and kill approach since the game focuses on being realistic for the most part. I found myself to have a much better time with it by turning down the sealth and consumable difficulty. Tuns it more in to a Resident evil paced game which I like more. There is still a frantic feeling that is very compelling and makes you feel like you aren't in control in a good way. But this isn't strong enough for the length of the game. It gets old.
The story is the big issue here. While its crafted amazingly in a tech fashion, sound and video design are superb, the story written here is very poor. It relies on trying to paint a picture of a society that has been told a thousand times in any kind of post break out of some illness that causes mutation. Everyone kills and everyone has their own reasons for doing so.
Taking this approach the story tries to tell the same story from two different anlges but fails to present a good argument that each side did what they had to do. Abbys character is not one thats painted in a way that ever sees her as redeeming. She is simply a terrible person and its never told in any way to how I am supposed to find this characters actions acceptable.
Forcing me to play as Abby only hurt this further as it takes away fro the main character you know about and have seen grow and tries to cram everything it wants to in about 6 hours of game time. This isn't ideal in any way but the writing once again doesn't create any scenario where I am supposed to like and understand this character. I have see a few flashbacks of her being a normal kid but then I am never privy to her growth. I am never given a chance to see whatshe actually feels. She committed murder in a brutal fashion and whenever asked about it the player is only told "he got what he deserved." Which is not only shallow but makes no sense as based upon that philsophy of her own, Joel doesn't deserve his fate as he was simply doing what he thought was right.
There is good writing in here. Most of the flashbacks with Ellie and Joel are fantastic and help flesh out the relationship even more but it ultimately has nothing to do with the main plot. Its there to simply try and get you to feel bad from the actions that have taken place. The wiritng also tries to mimic the story of Ellie and Abby as if they are crafted from the same mold. They both lost their fathers, they both did things they arent proud of, but the difference is Abby never has an explanation for her actions other than "this is what has to be done."
The redemeption arc around Abby is shallow. Just because she has saved 2 people after literally murdering thousands isn't enough for anyone to suddenly see the light. Its cheap writing and makes no sense.
Ellie isnt given any kind of real arc here either as hers simply breaks down by the end as well. Shes driven by rage the entire game and there is no trasnforamtion of her until literally she finally get hers goal and is about to get her revenge and decides not to based upon a couple of flashbacks. Its hard to believe that she finally sees this as the mistake as she has killed many and left her family behind for this moment only to suddenly see the light? Again cheap writing and makes no sense based upon the story that had been told up to that point.
I could go on and on how this game does not make much sense in the story telling department but Ill sum it up by saying at the end of TLOU you see Joel make a choice and you can feel the weight of that choice as it has repercussions for many. You might agree with his choice, you might not, but thats the brilliance of it as it asks questions of characters that dont really have a right answer based upon the world it created.
TLOU II paints the world as a terrible place that is home to many cults and extremists that will murder you on sight, as well as groups that are not radicalized like the Wolves. There is no mercy in this universe and its shown to have no mercy through the entirety of it until suddenly is just doesn't anymore. Theres no remorse shown by either main character until suddenly there is with no change in direction of writing to drive and show the characters change.
The story sinks this game as its always been the glue that holds it together. Its the main center piece of this franchise and this story and instead of writing something that has a story and shows growth of a situation in a fucked up world. its boiled down to "killing is bad and someone has to break the cycle." Which is a tired formula in this genre and disrespects the characters that were created in the first game.