Joel obviously isn’t a good guy, but there’s a kindness in him and he does care about Ellie. She’s with this group who feel like side characters, but you really bond with them over the game. You control her quite early on and you don’t understand her motives. I just wanted to soak in it.Ībby’s introduction is smart. I had to laugh because the game is like, “press L1 to gallop”, and I was like, “I don’t think I will”. KM: Yeah, that opening is beautiful - the writing and the visuals. You get introduced to Abby, and of course, Joel faces a squelchy demise. What did you think of the way the game deals with the next few hours? A lot happens. Also, the entire opening sequence, when you’re riding through the sunset, is just stunning. And it sets up this tension that Ellie is, at some point, going to find out. You know from the get go that the game is going to deal with this lie. I loved it, though I do think the actual "game" has a significant jump in quality once the human enemies are introduced.
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His lie to Ellie at the end of the first game was arguably his biggest sin - outside of potentially dooming the world - but now he’s lying to himself as well. “I saved her,” he tells Tommy, his brother, as the camera cuts to footage of the corridor, slick with blood and dead Fireflies piled up. It’s really understated - a stark contrast to the prologue of the original - but it tells you more about Joel as a character than the opening of the original. But no, it opens by directly dealing with the end of the first game: Joel killing the Fireflies and lying to Ellie. I fully expected the game to open with the winter dance, something bad to happen, and for a revenge story to spawn from that. Kirk McKeand: It’s interesting how Naughty Dog left this breadcrumb trail to follow in the trailers, misleading players a bit.