initial impressions as a casual gamer:

- if you haven’t played the original The Last of Us, play that one first. This new one is a sequel.

- Beautiful looking game. It’s amazing the quality of graphics that game developers make these days.

– Great musical score. Not really songs, but video game background mood music. Very awesome.

– Too gory. I understand that I’m killing zombies (the “infected”), but I could use less gore in my kills.

- The game map seems huge.

- The main character, Ellie, looks different than the original The Last of Us game. The original look apparently was too close to the real life look of actress Ellen Page, and that actress complained about it. So they changed the main character’s look a bit.

– I would prefer less F-words, but since I’m playing it all by myself without any kids around, it’s not that big of a deal to me. This is definitely not a kids game.

-I have heard some mixed reviews about the plot development in this game, so my expectations about the overall plot and ending are somewhat low. Lower expectations will probably help me enjoy the game more.

- I like how this game has many options for me to dial in the skill level according to my own game skills and available time. I am not a 15-year-old boy with unlimited time on my hands to perfect my gameplay. This game lets me choose the second easiest out of five difficulty levels, adjust some auto aiming preferences, and turn on a couple of other options that makes the game more playable to me.

I like that I have the option to have a good game experience without being an expert gamer, but also without having to dumb down the entire game. It still tests my skills, but doesn’t require me to be a master.

- The options screens in this game seem way more complex than any other game I have tried. There are many audio options, video quality options, options for sight impaired people or hearing impaired people, close captioning, options to see the monsters and important items easier in the dark, and other choices. It’s pretty incredible how you can dial this game into your own specific system and address any physical limitations you might have.

I look forward to the future of top tier games.