User blog comment:Inkie Twig/A Year in Gaming - A Review/@comment-1263839-20141230131906/@comment-1263839-20141230220949

It wasn't the use of cliché's that put me off The Last of Us (though I did like it), it was that I could guess how the game would go from the second town where you meet Bill. It never really seemed to evolve itself gameplay wise beyond the second town either, and I don't think having terrible aim assist helps the story given that Joel has lived like this for twenty years (still better aim assist than GTA V though). The first few zombie encounters (especially the very first) actually had me feeling tense but by the end it felt like bog standard stealth that was quite easy, and the only other trick the game had was just locking you in a tight space with zombies who know where you are anyway so you have no choice but shoot.

Start location --> Action or Stealth bit --> Meet new character and have dialogue --> Water or Different Set Piece --> Action or Stealth bit --> New character is evicted from story --> Move onto new location.

I guessed all the plot details anyway. But I think The Last of Us is trying to hide under the fact that the genre doesn't often produce much in the way of originality to make up for the fact that it's so cliché.