how much more is there when you are playing Abby's lengthy flashback? The one I am at is after Abby holds Ellie at gunpoint and the into her flashback after she and Owen visit the aquarium

And THANK FUCK it wasn't spoiled for me, as something unexpected and impactful happened and made me feel something (good).

joel goes on a killing rampage at the end of the first game, to him and the players might seem like the right choice but it wasnt in the bigger picture. a young girl was shocked by the sudden death of her father that was the doctor that was operating on ellie, the horrific scene she found her dad just stuck with her. she couldnt let go and wanted to get revenge alienating people in the process, she imagined joel as some big monster since he killed so many and the amount of blood trail he left so she started to work out, also a way to cope, 4 years she had the time, and where she lived they were not scraping food day by day like other people, they had everything, living almost like normal life, thats how she managed to get big in an apocalypse. when she found joel he was just an ordinary man trying to survive, old at this point, he even saves her life, the big moment finally is here after 4 years and she tortured and killed him slowly in the most horrific manner for wat he did, for her he took everything.

ellie was so shocked by this, abby did to her wat joel did to abby. she wanted revenge and goes to find abby, fueled with grief and rage she goes on a killing rampage and kills every one of abbys friends while trying to find her, she didnt even cared about rescuing tommy at the end as she only saw red, then after she killed that pregnant woman she finally snaped out and stopped and was done with it.

while ellie was killing everyone abby retuned to normal life but was tortured for wat she did to joel, had nightmares, later after some patrolling she got knocked up and taken by another faction and almost died hanging but she got rescued by 2 young fugitives, she wanted to do good by them and helped them further and her journey becomes joels journey from the first game and she started healing just like joel did with ellie, joel might had not been the monster she imagined but her bulking up actually helped her defeat the big zombie monster at the hospital and rescued yara in the process, while killing joel only brought up ellies rampage, alienating and killing her friends. shocked by finding her friends dead she goes to find ellie and almost killed them all and repeating her mistake if it wasnt for lev.

some years pass and ellie and dina try to live a normal life but seems ellie still has ptsd and still thinks she failed joel and she still cant let go and after finding out where abby is she abandons a good life and maybe even is suicidal and goes after abby only to find out she was kidnapped by another faction and been tortured for several weeks/months and left to die and while ellie imagined a big fight with her she only found a frail very weak abby.

she sees how she cares for lev and is very conflicted not knowing wat to do now. has another ptsd moment and decided to fight abby until death, and just when she almost kills her she has a flashback to the moment when she forgave joel for wat he did and decided to let abby go, "just take him" and she finally brokes down and grieves. she then returns to an empty home only her things left behind, tries to play the guitar joel gave her but she cant anymore due to the loss of her fingers abby bit in the fight, she then remembers the moment when she saw while fighting abby, was also the last time she spoke with joel and how she was starting to forgive him and to rebuild their relationship, and then the next day he died and wasted all this time they had until then and never got the chance again, she felt robbed. she then left joel/the guitar at the house and left to find dina, she was finally moving on.

it may not work for everyone, but for those that do will stuck with u. its mostly a simple story yet very well written, very sad and emotional, very dark but with some moments of hope. im glad naughty dog took big chances with this and stick to their guts.