I thought it was really good overall, as a huge fan of the games.

That said, I think it was more an adaptation of the cutscenes from the game than the game itself. All the cinematic beats were there and they nailed each one every time. But a lot of key character development that makes the story of the games land as hard as it did comes from interactions and implications in the gameplay.

Bits of dialogue as you’re going from point A to point B, having to survive an intense encounter where Joel’s brutality has to come out to protect Ellie, Ellie slowly becoming a more capable partner and learning about the way the world is and how it once was.

The Kathleen storyline seemed like an attempt to add depth where it wasn’t really needed imo, and I would have preferred more of the above than time spent fleshing out something that didn’t really need it.