Most powerful moment?

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For me it was near the end of the game when they were yet again reunited, and it shows Joel talking to Ellie, but there's no audio. I thought it was cool that it was a completely private moment between the two that not even the player was privy to. Each player can decide for themselves what he said to her in that moment.

When I saw the giraffe scene the theme from "Jurassic Park started playing in my mind :)

But in a game with so many powerful scenes (the verbal fight in the bedroom!) I was moved when Joel is seriously wounded, and Ellie goes Nikita on ten or more hunters - not to mention when she aces the guy who was stealing their horse. Two shots in the head, end of the story. It is the turning moment: from when she was not trusted with a gun to when, in Winter, she strives to survive with an arsenal of weapons while Joel is sick.

An the flat, uncertain delivery of her "OK" which closes the game. Does she trust Joel? Does she have no other choice than to follow him? Maybe we will never know.

My choice is probably different then everyone else's. I think the most powerful moment was the whole time where Joel, Henry, Sam, and Ellie and walking through the ruins of the suburban neighborhood searching for supplies. The part right after the sewers and before the sniper section.

That was such a powerful segment, showing the utter horror of what happened to the world while also showing some very touching moments between all four characters. I loved how the NPCs reacted to everything Joel did. When I went into a house to search it, the others wouldn't just mindlessly follow me everywhere. They actually sat down on a couch and had a conversation while waiting for me, just like real people would.

I just loved how the part was relaxing and depressing at the same time. Made it all the more disappointing to lose both Henry and Sam so soon after.

Ellie killing David was a powerful moment, but, if I'm not mistaken, she nuked the whole community all alone. The "Joel" part only allows him to reach Ellie just in time to see her already butchering David.

The Lakeside part also gave me the only true laugh aloud moment in the whole game: when Ellie, with the mayhem already at its peak, and everybody is screaming "Find that girl!" "We're is she?" she says "What is wrong with this people, uh?"

But, generally speaking, to me the most shocking and powerful moments where those when, in other games, the camera would have cut elsewhere or to black. Good examples are when Joel kills the second hunter with the steel bar after the first confessed where Lakeside is, or when he puts a final bullet in the head of the guard at the hospital after already putting two in his belly. I don't remember, even in other survival horrors, such displays of violence openly shown on the screen. But I haven't played every game out there.

Emotionally... I would add all the parts when they are riding horses. It made me think that part of the game is a return to original American Frontier, when everything had to be build anew, and survival depended on your skills and quick thinking. But that's me.

Honestly, the infamous 'Giraffe Scene' didn't strike much of a chord with me. It's too on the nose for my liking. It felt like Druckmann and Straley were gilding a lily at that point. It feels false, and because of that, it ultimately didn't resonant for me. For a game that features so many genuine moments, that particular scene really sticks out (in a negative way).

I haven't played the game in some time now, but I'll list a few things that are still fresh in my mind.

1) Exploring the remnants of the underground/sewer community that Ish built. The environmental storytelling during that sequence is powerful all around. Particularly when you come across the bodies of Kyle and the children that he was forced to mercy kill.

2) David slowly and calmly revealing to Ellie that it was his crew of scavengers/cannibals who attacked her and Joel at the university. Not only was Nolan North's portrayal of David incredibly frightening and nuanced, but the tension that builds during that monologue is absolutely palpable. The reverse shots of Ellie coming to the realization of just who is in front of her are remarkable.

3) Ellie confiding in Sam, confessing that she's frightened of being by herself; scared that she'll end up alone.

4) Someone already mentioned this one, but it does stand out. Joel gut-shooting Marlene and then executing her by putting one into her head.

5) The final moment in the game is no doubt powerful. Ellie asking Joel to tell her that everything that he is claiming is true, and then him straight up lying to her face. And then her simple response, "Okay." Cut to black. That's a ballsy way to end the story.

But yeah, there's more stuff that hit home with me. There are a lot of detail and subtleties within the game, so it's difficult to pinpoint a single powerful moment. I would just say that the overall experience is a powerful one. I can do nothing but applaud Naughty Dog's efforts.