The Last of Us Part II is unlike anything I've ever experienced before in all my 3+ decades of being a gamer. It challenged me emotionally in a way I never thought possible outside of either literature or long form television series.
It's a fantastic game. Not perfect, of course (what is?), but as I've said before, it's a masterclass of game design, and the way in which it approaches engaging the player beyond the usual (ie, tapping into our feelings beyond just excitement, or adrenaline, or a rush of serotonin). Not to mention that, for Naughty Dog, specifically, the latter half of the game is some of the best game design and level design they've done yet. I'm excited for whatever they have planned for the future.
I feel like, after TLOU2, they will need some recovery time (you just don't make a game this emotionally taxing and come away unscathed; if it was this draining for us, imagine how it must have been for the team that made it! lol), so I think their next game is going to be something tonally different, but still very much in their wheelhouse of what they're good at.
EDIT: Furthermore, I think TLOU2 works as well as it does precisely because it's a video game. There is a level of connection that we, the player make, being active participants in the forward momentum of the gameplay experience, that passive mediums simply can't provide. TLOU2 (and the first), hit as hard as they do because we are the ones pushing Joel and Ellie through the linear narrative being told, and the tense combat encounters they experience.
I think very few games marry their gameplay and narrative as strongly as TLOU2 does, but it's also a piece of interactive entertainment, and is stronger for it. It's why, for me, I can't just watch someone else play TLOU or TLOU2, and come away with it with the same feelings I had when I was playing them myself. However, after I've already beaten the games, it is very much fun to watch a Let's Play and see how other players react to the experience. It's mainly why I hold off on watching Let's Plays until I've played the game for myself.
