Okay. The game might be dark (too dark for some), but since it’s a Naughty Dog game, expect nothing short of awesomeness.
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!!The main game:
* Tess joins the ranks of great Naughty Dog women and turns her last stand into a DyingMomentOfAwesome.
** Tess establishes her badass credentials right from the get-go when she's introduced as having fought off two guys sent by Robert to kill her. Whether it's handling the interrogation of Robert himself or saving Joel from a Clicker, she makes it clear she's someone to be respected and feared.
* In Pittsburgh, Ellie and Joel are ambushed by a group of Hunters. Despite being outnumbered and cornered the pair survive this encounter and several more. The Hunters even remark how shocking it is that two people could take out so many groups:
-->'''Hunter 1:''' Well, at least they finally killed that couple. I was sure they made it out of the city. Now all we need to find is this fucking pickup truck duo.
-->'''Hunter 2:''' There better've been an army in that truck. How the fuck did they wipe out an entire crew over there?
* While he doesn't fight due to his overprotective brother, Sam can help out Joel with fights by throwing bottles at enemies. He also crawls through a vent and pulls a pipe out of a sewer door, ignoring Henry's frantic yells. Despite his initial timidity, Sam was gradually becoming braver and more confident.
* The sniper level, ending with Joel taking out the Humvee that's been plaguing them since downtown Pittsburgh by shooting the guy throwing Molotovs [[HoistByHisOwnPetard as he goes to throw one.]]
* The Jackson settlement. Every other settlement and even the military [[ScavengerWorld relies on scavenging for supplies (read: murdering people), and they can't exactly scavenge forever (the quarantine zones are even slowly collapsing). However, the Jackson settlement had learned how to be self-sufficient, having its own livestock and even horses to use as transport. When Joel and Ellie get there, they're in the process of getting electricity running in the power plant - and they succeed. You are even treated to a nice overhead view of the settlement later on, with lights running proudly.]]
* In a strangely zig-zagged example, Tommy standing up to his brother. [[TookALevelInBadass He's on his home turf, he knows it and he makes damn sure the others know it as well.]] The only problem is, he's standing up to you..
--> '''Tommy:''' We ain't back in Boston. You lay your hands on me again and it won't end well for you.
** For his part, Joel looks he's all set to pummel him anyway before the alarm sounds, signaling a bandit attack. Their differences are forgotten, and Tommy tells Joel to "do his thing". He does.
* As unexpected as it is playing as Ellie, it's awesome when you realize this little girl had to immediately take the responsibility to fend for herself, get food and medicine and protect the one you spent most of the game playing as.
** Ellie's kill animation is especially awesome. She basically wraps herself around some poor bastard's neck and stabs him in the heart three times.
** Also on the subject, in the UEC science building when Joel impales himself and Ellie suddenly becomes just as lethal as him while helping him escape.
** And Joel himself in the same scene, who continued to shoot and kill enemies ''while still impaled.''
* The latter part of Winter, fighting through the cannibal settlement.
-->'''Ellie:''' Ellie is the name of the little girl who ''broke your fucking finger!''
** Ellie gives a good scare to David and James when they're preparing to kill her by claiming to be infected and infecting David by biting his hand. Ellie takes advantage of their brief panic and escapes, but not before killing James with the cleaver they were going to use on her.
** On the one hand, you get Ellie fighting and ''killing'' David in what is essentially the game's ''only boss fight.''
** On the other, there's Joel moving through a snowstorm while fighting scavengers. At one point, he's proceeding on reputation alone - these people actually are afraid of the "crazy old man" and back away from him, even though he's barely recovered from getting impaled and can hardly walk.
* Even though it horribly outlines how easy it is for him to kill and injure, Joel interrogating two of David's mooks. [[GoodIsNotNice Morally Ambiguous Is Not Nice]].
** He later tops himself - he interrogates a Firefly by shooting him in the groin in the most matter-of-factly way possible. Of course, this alerts the others to his presence, but that's a minor detail.
* The final push through the Firefly lab. You go through a hospital building filled with men armed with assault rifles, bust in just before the operation, kill the surgeon stupid enough to threaten you with a scalpel in cold blood, gently unhook Ellie from the stuff she's hooked up to and run like hell to an elevator, cradling her in your arms.
** Try to do it like you're in a revenge movie, makes it even more awesome as you slam that hatchet into the last soldier who gets in your way or ambush two soldiers around a corner with a flamerthrower.
** You can also do it stealthily, picking off each of the soldiers one by one without them ever seeing you. It's the climax of ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' all over again!
** And you can even [[PacifistRun ghost it]], surgeon aside, although that's a pretty tricky effort.
** Try to do it without dying, no matter how messy it gets. It's the end of the game, so this is the one time when you don't have to worry too much about conserving resources.
* Saving up enough points to learn the ability that counter-attacks the Clickers OneHitKill move. Joel will never seem more awesome then when he pushes a Clicker back and stabs it in the throat after a whole game of being insta killed by them.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8XN7eoZr0Y&feature=youtu.be "Alternate Ending"]]. Just watch it.
** After an introduction where one of the creators talks about Joel's actor constantly dropping his gun and asking Marlene's actress to improvise, you expect an improvised alternate ending where Joel screws up, drops the gun and gets him and Ellie killed. Instead he picks up the gun perfectly, only for Marlene to break out into broadway singing. Followed by Joel singing right back. The entire scene continues this way until the end.
* Naughty Dog getting ''pissed'' when a magazine edited Ellie off of the cover. They were brutally honest about how many websites and magazines wanted to ignore Ellie because of the "Girls aren't gamers," routine, and seeing a developer not take stuff like this lying down is very awesome.
* Beating the game on Grounded Difficulty. Less than ''four percent'' of the entire playerbase on PSN have done it.
* Naughty Dog EPICLY deconstructs the DamselInDistress trope with Ellie throughout the entire game, but especially during her encounter with David. David and Ellie fight to a draw, with results in both of them losing consciousness. The perspective then briefly switches back to Joel, leading players to believe that he will be the one to save her. Then we go BACK to Ellie in time to see David attempt to kill her only for Ellie to slash him to death with his own machete. Joel arrives seconds later. The key point here is that Joel arrives TOO LATE to be a [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Hero]], but it doesn't matter because Ellie saved herself.

!!Left Behind:
* The infected and the hunters fighting each other in the last chapter. After so many encounters with them and the difficulties they give Joel and Ellie throughout the main game, it is oddly satisfying to be able to sic the infected onto hunters and watch the havoc that unfolds.
* When you spent so much time playing as Joel having to strap a mask on his face the second he notices spores, it's pretty awesome to just waltz unharmed into spore infected places as [[TheImmune Ellie.]]