You can't find a protagonist more imperfect than Joel in TLOU.
If you divide the game into three segments, he was pitiful in the first part, heroic in the second and nearly a villain by third. His choices - DAMN. Killing Marlene and that Doctor at point blank and swearing a lie to Ellie right in her innocent face, The last of us are really not all that nice. Plus that crazy group of human flesh eaters......damn that was some disturbing stuff. The military, the rebels, the rekindling of humanity by Tommy and his gang, the Pittsburg gangsters plus various other survivors we saw.
I mean this game has SO much thought provoking moments that you can easily get lost. That's beyond the experience of reading a good book. Then you got the best graphics ever seen on a console and art style blowing any PC game to smithereens in terms of visual presentation. The animation, the context aware movement and the super smooth controls, the whole gameplay design and crafting system and leveling up and weapons upgrading......damn this game has everything! And not just that, the weapons are SO punchy and loud and gory! And blood..THAT BLOOD. Plus all the disturbing stuff like the dead bodies of children, Sam's death, Sarah's death, Joel murdering Marlene and the doctor brutally, Ellie's segment in that crazy town......I'm at a loss for words and expressions to state how this game has redefined the standard of quality in every department when it comes to videogames.