Jaicee said:
The Last of Us Part II isn't just my favorite game of 2020, it's more like one of my favorite games ever. The reasons are too numerous to even list here, of which its technical merits really are the least. I love this game for most of the same reasons that so many others despise it: because it's bold and daring, because it's nuanced and complicated and lacks clear heroes and villains, because it makes you rethink your prejudices perhaps developed from experience with the first game, because it's got lesbian love and family life as significant narrative elements (deal with it!), because they allowed Ellie to be broken by her life and her loss instead of having to be "likable", because they didn't water down the brutality of war and vengeance so people wouldn't be depressed by it, and because a game uncompromisingly addressing the topics of hatred, forgiveness, the pain of loss and the struggle to accept it and move on by finding those things in life that are good and haven't been lost (amidst a pandemic no less) just seems the timeliest, most socially relevant game there is right now at this moment of tremendous pain, anguish, loss, and anger in the world. These are the sorts of the reasons TLOU2 has proven the most controversial video game ever released, and also why I'm very glad that the Game Awards didn't take said controversy as their cue to make a less deserving choice for their Game of the Year award. This isn't just a victory for this particular game, it's a victory for art. I think the best art is challenging! I mean, as I've discussed at some length here before, I don't agree with every suggestion of this game's story myself and I have my own favorite characters and ones I connect to more than others, but that's part of what I mean about it! During the Great Depression, people generally preferred to watch musicals about affluence that bore no resemblance to their real lives. Mindless, escapist, happy entertainment. In 2020, gamers play Animal Crossing: New Horizons because it has nothing whatsoever to do with their realities because the realities of the world are painful ones. 2020 sucks and we all know it. The best art does not settle for what makes consumers feel comfortable amidst their pain, but rather helps them get to the bottom of it, find its roots and dig them up. This is a victory for that -- for art that challenges rather than just appeases. It's a victory for games that want to help you up, not just help you out. |