I played it on my Steam Deck, 30 FPS average with lots of audio crackling, apparently because of the CPU load. I played the game in hard mode because I was afraid survivor and grounded would break the balance.
The gameplay is great: it was insanely fun outsmarting the infected, circling around the clickers, burning the bloaters. Against those enemies, stealth really was a challenge and I had to manage my stress level (stalkers and runners were especially hard to deal with in the sewer); I’m convinced I would not be able to finish this game in permanent death as certain sequences took me 5-7 tries to do correctly (optimizing to use the least amount of gear or straight up surviving). It was really hard to aim well enough on a controller to be able to do headshot with consistency (this game with a controller and a mouse must feel like heaven to master).
Stealth against humans is way too easy though: you can easily never use your weapons and just throw a glass bottle against the wall, cleanup with a bomb or a Molotov, and you will never be punished when doing a stealthy kill if you take too long which basically means that shiv are useless for anything other than doors (I did not buy the ability to get off the grasp of clickers with shivs).
The hostage mechanic felt so cool, but I rarely used it because I felt like I couldn’t afford to waste bullets because of the resource scarcity. I would have loved the game to be more punishing and to force me to spend my gear; I was never spotted and I am horrible at stealth (hello Cyberpunk 2077).
On the writing side, the game shines even more. I was so heartbroken when Sarah was murdered, when Tess sacrificed herself, when Sam turned and Henry killed himself, when Joel said horrible things to Ellie, when he murdered all the fireflies, the surgeon, Marlene in cold blood.
And that’s where the game shines! It shows you this great dynamics between Joel and Ellie, this growing bond that is so precious. You despise and love Joel: you despise his lack of moral, his emotional immaturity (not wanting to talk about the hard stuff and lying to Ellie) but you understand where it comes from, you understand why the violence happened.
This constant tension, this gray area makes the game so real and gripping; you can only look with a mix of disgust and support as you’re ripping your way through the enemies in the hospital with savagery.
What Joel did is unequivocally wrong and selfish but I cannot judge because I know full well I’d probably have done the same thing in this situation. Well, I’m not sure but I can see it.
This game really made me understand the complexity of moral and decision, the conflicting goals and the harshness of survival. I highly look forward to playing the sequel.
EDIT; I think the right difficulty for me is the “Survivor” one, grounded looks to hard without a mouse.
The TV show is superb as well. Proving that video game adaptations can be good if you just frickin’ follow the source material.
Wish we would have got Kaitlyn Dever as Ellie though like how is was initially supposed to be
A really incredible game even if I haven’t tried the remake.
The second one is better still, but not everyone agrees.
I’m like 75% through the 2nd game and I honestly don’t understand what everyone was screaming about. The gameplay and level design are insanely detailed and better than the 1st game (which was still really good.)
Well I guess people are mad about some story decisions.
But it’s thanks to those decisions that the second is so great as you can feel the pain and the anger of the characters.
I love it. Both Ellie and Abby are in the right. And both of them are also pieces of shit, lol. I really like the internal conflicts and grey area morality that both characters operate in.
For any other steam deck players, I had luck getting rid of the audio stuttering by changing the audio options to “display speakers” and “stereo.”
I noticed using the explicit driver directly instead of pulseaudio in the game settings got my game crackless. It was an amazing experience!
Btw, just wait. The second one is even better, it’s so good.
it’s perfect. so glad they stopped there with the series.
Apparently an unpopular opinion, but I think part 2 is one of the most compelling and thoughtful examinations of the cost of violence ever made. To be clear, around the halfway point, I wanted to throw the controller across the room, but I came back to it the next day. It had to grow on me, but i think it’s a fucking masterpiece.
I agree with you. I think 2 is better than 1, and it’s not close in my eyes. Audacious storytelling, but (IMO) they pulled it off really well.
2 also manages to improve on the gameplay in big ways, hardly a moment that isn’t engaging and interesting and I never felt limited, and some very cool and atmospheric settings.
Also, grown Ellie is one of my favorite characters ever, so much well executed, human, relatable nuance, and that’s a take that has nothing to do with her sexuality.
I have heard nothing but good things about the game, though I have not tried it. But somehow I feel put off at the idea of milking a sequel from the original when its narrative ended so perfectly. I can’t argue that it is a correct or reasonable reaction, just a gut feeling. Someday I should play the sequel, if just to see how that feeling changes.
I will say I think the sequel was justified in how much more they added gameplay wise, taking advantage of advancements in processing power. It really opens up the world, the things you can do and see are incredible and are a huge jump from the first game.
Why did you want to throw your controller? Was there a very hard part? I’m playing on normal difficulty so so far nothing has been THAT hard. Only a few situations with infected where I ran out of ammo and barely got by.
It’s a reaction to a storytelling choice; you’ll know when you get there.
Edit: Just saw your other comment in here, and seems you got to the switch already. I share your opinion!
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I also just recently finished it! I can see why it got such rave reviews. I played on PC with a controller, but in scenes that required shooting I would find myself dropping the controller to use my mouse. Only having a dozen shots when you’re facing 10 enemies sucks. The scene where Ellie is trapped in a room and has to fight off a hoard mostly on her own was probably the scene I had to replay the most as I kept running out of ammo. I also hated the stalkers but I’m glad they were used sparingly throughout the game.
The writing is amazing and I also enjoyed listening to the commentary. Joel learning to rely on Ellie as an equal part of their survival team and not just a kid he has to protect is such a great arc. I also love how it’s contrasted with that weirdo religious leader who kidnaps her. He tells her not to curse and to act like an obedient daughter, but that’s not what she is. I always wondered why Joel never told Ellie to watch her language but I understood after that weirdo did it.
I bought Part 2 and am hoping to find some time to sit down and play it!
I’m very excited to play Part II too, I just need a break because they’re not the most relaxing break. And I realized when playing Left Behind that the loop became kinda repetitive because I was able to predict most of the shenanigans that happened lol
Still the best synthesis of story and gameplay I’ve seen. The game’s phenomenal at attaching you to characters through gameplay (and it tells you early what exactly it’s gonna do with that, too).
The sequel does it too, but in a very different (and very bold) way.
I liked the balance between hope and despair in the first game. The second game just felt like it went out of its way to be depressing. I played up to the first major scene and knew the rest of the story was going to play out like an academy award winning drama and just didn’t have motivation to play though that.
I played the first one as kind of a fluke. It’s absolutely not my typical interest. I usually hate games with punishing resource limits, but some quirk of fate lined things up where I was in the right kind of mood for that one. Absolutely loved it.
Haven’t (and never plan to) played the sequel. Just don’t think I’ll ever be able to top how magical the first one was for me and I was pretty happy with the original ending.
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The multiplayer was actually fun too back in the day. Truly a masterpiece.
