u/Hauptfeldwebel

I'm really not the person to replay games, but the Last of Us Series is different for me. Actually on Backloggd it counts as 4 different games, because i played the two originals (on PS3 and PS4) and now the two newest versions (on PC).

For me, TLOU is peak single-player storytelling. The narrative, gameplay, and visuals all come together perfectly - it’s incredibly polished.

I know the second game is very polarizing for most people because of the story. You hate or you love it. For me it's love. I understand that it's hard to look into the mirror, reflect your own actions and to sympathize with Abby. But if you can do, you can learn from it and will have a fantastic game to enjoy.

I also understand that people hate how they wrote Ellie in the second game, it's hard, but such a good story.

For me, it’s a masterpiece.

L.A. Noire is a truly underrated Rockstar game. It has definitely aged, but with a 60 FPS patch, it was a wonderful experience on the Steam Deck. It really feels like playing GTA on the other side of the law. Especially in the early cases, you get a genuine detective feeling: inspecting crime scenes, gathering evidence, conducting interrogations, and pressuring suspects. The facial animations were way ahead of their time, making it incredibly fun to read lies right off someone's face.

In later cases, however, this gets tricky. When you spot a lie, you have to choose whether to just doubt the statement or refute it with concrete evidence. Even if you've collected all the necessary clues, it's often not logically clear which piece of evidence the game considers a 100% match for the situation. This sometimes leads to frustrating wrong choices, as the game's interpretation is hard to predict.

The version of L.A. Noire I played on Steam includes all the DLCs. These cases are definitely some of the best in the game. However, since they were retroactively inserted between the regular missions, they pad the playtime and slow down the pacing of the overarching main plot just as the story really starts picking up steam.

Ultimately, though, I can say that it's a truly unique and great game, even if it's not flawless.

Playtime: 31 hours
Playlogs: 1. March - 15. May 2026
Rating: 4 of 5