finished The Last Of Us 2 last night. I cried a LOT. what a fucking game. a lot of people told me the ending is trash and I won’t like it, but no, it was incredible. *heartbreaking* but entirely cathartic & thematically sound

I think a lot of people just hate seeing awful things happen to characters they love, but I’m really not sure what else they were expecting from The Last Of Us— it’s a bleak series, it’s not meant to tie things up nicely, justice is not served in any constructive way

there’s def a conversation to be had abt trends in popular media showing women being defined by their trauma, but at the end of the day I think Part 2’s message is that you don’t have to be, or SHOULDN’T be, defined by your trauma. that’s why the game finally ends when it does.

and it’s not like these women characters don’t have personalities outside of their trauma. the two main characters are shown to be compassionate & loving & funny & strong. it’s just that they’re both gripped by pain that the people around them feed into. which is realistic!!

like I am just truly getting frustrated with ppl on my social media feeds acting like “traumatic thing happens in this game” is reason enough to call it a trash game with a shitty story.

and I feel like this happens in discussions about movies and TV too, but not nearly as much. I think since video games have the audience directly controlling aspects of the media, there’s this illusion of control/autonomy, and it’s very upsetting when the illusion is broken

this, of course, is part of what makes the TLOU games so impactful. they make it clear that you, the player, are NOT actually in control. you don’t get to choose to free yourself from the grips of trauma, you have to follow these characters down the paths they’ve chosen.

and this ludonarrative element is a big part of what made me feel so caught up in the story— this feeling that you SHOULD have a choice in the matter, you SHOULD be able to turn around and walk away, but you CAN’T. like I said, it’s heartbreaking, but it’s realistic.

please don’t just write these games off as “trauma porn” with no real story to tell. not everyone can stomach this kind of game but that’s okay. if you think you can, please give it a go. there’s a point to these narratives. there’s a power in the lack of power.