I have not played this yet (obviously!), and I'm only going from the reviews I've read/watched, with NO reference to the leaked spoilers, however I will spoiler this regardless, as to my early thoughts based on what I've gleaned so far.
ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
It just sounds so unremittingly fucking MISERABLE, The Last Of Us was a hard game to play at times, but what drove me forward was the development of the relationship between Joel and Ellie, and Ellie representing that chink of light in the darkness, that slowly helped Joel to emerge from his, following the absolute gutpunch of him losing his daughter at the start of the game.
By all accounts The Last Of Us 2 is all darkness, all misery, all brutality, and I'm not sure I'm in the mood for that.
It's maybe a victim of circumstance to an extent, a grindingly haunting post apocalyptic horror-fest doesn't feel like a great fit for a real world emerging from a pandemic and societal lockdown, but even without that, I'm still not sure I'd be up for it.
Then there's the fact that, and let's be honest here, The Last Of Us wasn't the best of games from the perspective of being an actual videogame. The stealth was passable, the ranged combat was basic and serviceable at best, the melee was single button mashing, the crafting was generic and shallow, the environmental puzzles were boring etc. It sounds as if The Last Of Us 2 hasn't evolved any of those areas in any meaningful way, whilst the rest of the videogame world has moved on.
What made The Last Of Us work, for me at least, was the world, its characters, and its story. It was bleak, it was dark, and it was often harrowing, but driving it forward was the hope and optimism of a child, helping to redeem a man who felt he'd lost everything and had little reason to continue. Lose that, and I'm not sure what's left.
I shall wait and see, all the reviews at the moment are heavily restricted in what they can discuss and show, the reviews after the game's been released will be more informative. Plus I'll see what BEEXers think of it, Satsuma's take in particular will be of interest to me.
I'm not writing it off, that'd be daft, but I'm not pre-ordering it or buying it at launch either.