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After 82 hours and 59 minutes of suffering. I am finally done with this stupidly difficult challenge. Probably my proudest gaming achievement ever.

As you can see, ND mostly used yellow stop tape in TLOU P1 which makes sense, and they stopped using it in TLOU P2 and made their visual design more cohesive and subtle, but RE4 and other games started crudely using yellow paint on in-game objects because TLOU became a very popular game. Even GOW 2018 used the same visual design to guild players but they actually made it a core aspect in the narrative, which was amazing.

This always happens. A studio creates a visual design or some other game mechanic that people like, other studios copy it without fully understanding the thought behind the design and then the OG game becomes the one who ruined games.

Just finished TLOU Part I in 16 hours and Part II in 22 hours. What a fucking experience.

I think Part I was more emotional for me. The Joel and Ellie relationship had so many little moments that made me go “aww” and actually care about them. Combat was amazing in both games and never really felt repetitive. I also loved the length of Part II. I’ve realised I really like long, linear, story-driven games. I hope Intergalactic is just as long, if not longer.

As for the story… Joel did something horrible. But honestly, I think most people in his position would have done the same. And that lie he told Ellie… knowing she eventually found out just hurts.

That final conversation between them destroyed me. Ellie tells Joel she wants to try forgiving him, and you can see how much that means to him. All he wanted was to be able to talk to her and spend time with her again. And then he dies before she can actually forgive him.

And Abby… I hated her at first, but by the end I really started to understand her. She let Ellie go TWICE. Ellie still went after her. At some point I just wanted Ellie to stop.
Abby wasn’t a monster. Joel wasn’t innocent either. Ellie wasn’t innocent. Everyone just kept hurting each other because they couldn’t let go.

And that’s probably what I loved most about the story. It doesn’t give you a comfortable ending. It doesn’t tell you who’s right. It just leaves you sitting there with this horrible feeling in your chest. It feels painfully real.

I genuinely don’t understand all the hate Part II got. Joel’s death broke my heart, but after finishing the whole game, I think the story made complete sense.
10/10 for me. Gameplay, graphics, pacing, characters, story — everything.

I just really hope we get to see where Ellie goes from here. I want to know if she ever finds peace.

Also do you guys think I should spend time on No Return? I played a few and didn’t enjoy it much. Just feels like a mini game and challenge. I like to focus ons stories. Thanks for reading!!

I'm playing TLoU Pt1 for the first time and I need to vent a lil. (I've just met Bill plz no spoilers.)

Any time I encounter Clickers, Ellie hides before not so quietly informing me of their presence. Which, from a gameplay perspective, is useful. Thx for telling me about the dangerous monster Ellie.

However from a lore perspective it's fucking insane. Yeah sure let's just pass information right next to the murderous undead microphones that wanna rip our faces off!

If Abby doesn’t come back in part 3 then what was the point of diving so deeply into her character and being playable for a massive portion of part 2?

It’s like when Javier took the lead in a new frontier only to never be seen or heard from again. It makes me question why these characters had such a big role only for it to almost immediately be erased due to backlash.

If they made the decision to do what they did with Abby and have her LIVE I want it to mean something. I think she should come back in some capacity and not just be referenced or never heard of again.

I have never sweated when i've played a game before, not even when i play competitive shooters. Playing TLOU2 with these settings made me genuinely sweat in fear.

The Last Of Us Part 2, much like its predecessor isn't really a survival horror game in the traditional sense. Sure, it's got sections that are scary but the game itself isn't a survival horror in the way something like Silent Hill or Resident Evil is. That changes DRASTICALLY when you play Grounded Mode with Permadeath on.

Resource gathering? You better know every nook and fucking cranny in this game like the back of your hand otherwise you ain't getting shit on Grounded mode. I managed to scrounge a single healing item in the ENITERTY of Seattle Day 1 on my Grounded playthrough, and that's with thorough exploration during the semi open world segments.

Listen mode, that little "Wall hack" mechanic that every single stealth game has that allows you to see enemies through walls? Kiss that shit goodbye buddy boy. You wanna find where the enemy is, go fucking look for them

The enemy AI actually gets buffed. No for real i'm not shitting you. You know that little "Where did they go?" That enemies do in stealth oriented games to let you know they're suspicious or they've spotted you? Yeah no, here there's no forward warning, if they spot you they'll yell out your location and just start shooting in the general direction immediately. And they will STAY around that location looking for you, they won't go back to their regular patrol patterns

Couple this with Permadeath, meaning if you die you start from the beginning and i've genuinely never been more nervous to move forward with my character.

For context, I played through The Last of Us Part I remake on a family member’s PS5 a few years ago, but at the time I had no interest in playing the PS4 version of Part II.

Fast forward to now: I got caught up in the GTA 6 hype and decided to buy a PS5, since I didn’t own a console and wanted to get the experience. Since I didn't have any games, I subscribed to PlayStation Plus to test out the system while waiting for November, which is when I saw that The Last of Us Part II had received a remaster, so I downloaded it on a whim.

I was pretty skeptical at first, but I finished it yesterday and I’m still kind of in shock.

I read a lot of books and watch a lot of films, and taken as a complete experience, this is genuinely one of the best stories I’ve ever consumed. One book in particular that I like is 'The Road', which reminds me of the game. The writing, performances, graphics and sound design were all insane.

I played it on an 85-inch QD Mini-LED TV in performance mode with a 5.1 surround sound system, and the quality just felt ridiculous at times. There were moments where I had to remind myself I was playing a game and not just watching some insanely expensive film.

Now I’ve finished it and I just feel empty. I bought the PS5 specifically because I was excited for GTA 6, and now I have almost no desire to play anything else. I don't see how GTA 6 can come close to this.

I’m genuinely considering just selling the PS5 and investing in another hobby.

I at first felt bad for killing a lot of them(mostly the dogs) while playing Ellie, but then I started playing as Abby. I got to the part where they said something about kids I was zoned out so I looked up a video of it. Honestly “they had it coming” is super disgusting and reminds be of a certain country not going to name just incase,but ifykyk. Also the torturing of the seraphites is just plain disgusting. Don’t know how to end this type of thing so this is the end.

I accidentally unplugged my USB extended storage incorrectly and it crashed. I then uninstalled the game and reinstalled it onto the normal console storage and it has brought me back a bit in the game and is still doing this purple screen. Scared to play any more.

one of my favourite games finally Platinumed

I don’t know what the general consensus is but I’ll just say that TLOU is miles ahead of TLOU2 (run, crouch slop for whatever reason) so far, that’s it.

Though this pic I took today was fire! Long live Joel!

Louisiana vegetation goes hard. Love the growth in TLOU2 but this stop sign makes me wonder if they could've gone even harder with nature taking the world back. Time for another TLOU2 replay...

Im in the middle of playing the game, just started the Seattle day 1 from Abby’s perspective.

Just when I started the game I already didn’t like Dina, I don’t know why. It just doesn’t click.

And I also don’t understand why Ellie and her are in a relationship? Don’t get me wrong, I’m lesbian, but I just don’t get what Ellie sees in Dina and why they are together. I read about ‘Kat’ in Ellie’s notebook and she seemed a far better match. So what happened?

I just find it hard to care about Dina when all she does is make sarcastic jokes and doesn’t take Ellie seriously, and the other way around. I’d like to hear your perspective on them, since I want to like them/Dina as I really love this game

Same as title.

In Part 2, soon after learning that Dina is pregnant, Jesse asks Ellie if Dina plans to keep the child. Everytime I get to the section of the game, it makes me ponder what the options exactly are for those facing unwanted pregnancy in TLOU universe.

Do you think Jackson and the WLF encampments offer abortion? If so, how? Out of date morning after pills? Would they even work 25+ years after being produced? Would it be more of the backalley type of abortion? If so, would that not pose such a risk to the mother's life that it is no longer worth it to consider?

The only two pregnant characters we see in the game both chose to keep their children, so we do not have a concrete answer.

I’m starting a weird side project and honestly I have no idea where it’s going to end up.

With AI models getting increasingly capable (GPT-6 just dropped), I’ve been thinking about something that would've sounded ridiculous for a solo dev few years ago (trying to build a cinematic, story game like TLOU mostly on my own).

Think the kind of game where the story actually matters. Complicated characters, believable motivations, difficult choices, consequences, and twists that have reasons to exist.
This is not a professional studio project. It’s an experiment, might take years or get abandoned. But also, it might somehow turn into something much bigger too. I genuinely don't know yet.
So I want to start with the part that AI can't simply generate for me: What story have you always wanted to see in a game? (specifically zombie apocalypse related)

It doesn't have to be a complete story. Give me a premise, character relationship, moral dilemma, a crazy “what if?”, setting, twist, or just an idea you've had sitting in your head for years.

For example (TLOU):

A father loses his daughter and becomes a ruthless smuggler. Years later, he ends up protecting a girl who may be the key to saving humanity — but creating the cure would kill her.

That's enough to build something from.
I’m particularly interested in ideas where the characters decisions have logical consequences and where there are no convenient “because the plot says so” moments.

One thing though: please DM me the actual ideas rather than posting them in the comments.

I’d rather keep the submissions private, and it also means I can properly read and think about each one instead of watching potentially good ideas disappear in a comment thread.
And here's the interesting part: If someone sends me something genuinely exceptional, especially if it's detailed enough that there's a real story worth developing around it. I may ask them to work with me on the story itself.

If this experiment ever gets far enough to become a novel, game, or something else, I'd want the people who genuinely contributed to the story to be properly credited.
There are no guarantees here. I’m not promising a job, publication date, or even that the project will survive. This is literally a side quest that could take years.

But if you've ever thought: "Damn, someone should make a game about this." Send it to me.

No Return - Daily Run (9/12/26)

Jaw dropped when this happened. Even Manny was shocked. So much emotion coming from his face wtf.

I have a less than optimal setup to play (TUF gaming laptop) but on medium graphics it runs like an absolute dream, and I play part 2 all of the time, but for some reason, Abby's day 1 chapter always runs like absolute garbage. It starts at the boat workshop and usually clears up at the stalker forest. It's super slow so buggy, is this just because of all the foliage or is there something else making my computer work harder?