I played Last of Us remastered (got it along with my PS4), and thought it was a decent game, obviously not the type of game I usually go for... but it's definitely better than Uncharted and a good chunk of the "filmic" "AAA" "blockbuster" linear on rails type of games so popular last gen.
While the average AAA shootbang has you just running through environments , at least in TLOU, you can play either stealthy or with guns ablazin'. Environments are also a bit more complex than the linear corridor/big room with tons of waist-high walls dichotomy.
Resource management also comes into play with healthbars and limited healthkits/ammo. This is probably the main reason I prefer the game to its ilk.
Now the story... well the VA is quite good (though Vesperia will always be my favorite game with Troy Baker starring), but the actual conceit is - take a lot of post-apocalyptic/zombie tropes and throw them in the blender... The Road. Walking Dead. Children of Men. Life After People. Even games like Half Life 2, MGS and Ico. Apart from the plot twist (which I didn't particularly care for) at the end, it was pretty predictable.
My biggest problem with the game was that I felt that failure states seemed at random. Like, there were some parts you'd execute the exact same strategy but a Clicker grabbed onto you during attempt A and not during attempt B. Or, you'd execute the exact same motions to sneak past waves of monsters yet get caught during attempt A and not B. IMO, if a game relies on stealth it should be a bit more about pattern memorization than an attempt at AI/randomness.
