You know, it's arguable that so many people describing a person Joel murdered in cold blood as a nameless npc is why we needed a story like this in the first place. TLOU aims to present a world that feels quite human, even if it's stylized stakes that we as people can empathize with are on full display. And on more than one occasion, whether through npc dialogue or a character like David, it's explicitly pointed out that we are NOT just killing npcs ala Call of Duty or Battlefield. Every person killed is related to someone else, has friends, wants, needs, agency etc. even if WE, as an agressor or defender don't personally know the people we are killing. In the same way that we don't think "wow, every person I pass on the street has their own lives, families, wants, etc." What better way to emphasize that but to have someone who's state of life was ruined by Joel, come back and kill him? When he nearly ALREADY lost Ellie just five years prior for the same reason. It's a very confrontational way to tackle a narrative. And it doesn't stop and end at the story itself. It's ingrained in the design of the game. You aren't supposed to feel dopamine while killing
people. People being the operative word. At the end of the day it's still a video game and there are limitations because of design goals, (i.e., things will feel fun because it's a AAA video game, meaning you can craft an arrow with an explosive that makes people literally explode), but they absolutely want you to at least
feel that you are killing people.
THEME:Every kill=another potential Abby who'd hunt and kill Ellie years later
. Every npc has a name, they react to you killing their friends, their DOGS, their dogs react to you killing their owners and vice versa:
I genuinely can't see how this isn't compelling stuff. There are surface level similarities with other games, (Nier), but no one has really attempted this level of humanization in games to prove a point. Especially not in the AAA sphere and ESPECIALLY not the guys behind uncharted:
Just the premise of this concept feels so much more compelling than Uncharted 4. Where nothing of consequence ever happens to Nathan, Sam, or anyone else they care about. They straightforwardly beat the bad guys. They make mistakes and experience zero consequences. Where Nathan is revealed to have at some point learned that he is the son of one of the greatest modern explorers ever and Nathan ends the tale with infinite riches and a private island.
I hope everything i've said has alleviated some concerns about how this can be interesting. There's still some things left up in the air, (the leaker who said Ellie dies apparently said that Jesse lives, that is not the case and raises suspicion that there is some FUD in their leak).
