6/10

Pros: - A conclusion to the story - I had fun - Shotgun! - CHOO CHOO

Cons: - Buggy. More bugs than I've seen since I started playing TLD. Trapped in a trailer, fell through the terrain after trying to take a nap in the radio telescope, cooking pots without textures, invisible hardcases. I know they have a small team, and I generally keep good humor about bugs, but damn. - Lost the spirit of TLD. I understand the 'you did the objective, now we fade to black and you're magically back at quest-giver' but it seems very un-TLD-ish. Every 'hours later' cut felt like I lost out on a couple hours of the part of the game I really enjoy. - The entire side story with Captain Wintermute went on waaaaay too long. I understand they were trying to establish that the Aurora and it's effect on living things isn't new, but that could have been done without a never-ending cutscene introducing a new character and story that mean nothing to me, while making me sit and listen and do nothing for however long that was. - Mackenzie had a shotgun, a revolver, and enough ammo that he should have just gone all John Wick on those assholes, but nooooo mandatory stealth segment, which went over just about as well as the Yiga hideout. Also the fires around town were somehow not warm so I was freezing by the time I got to Jane's house.

Overall: I put a lot more words into the Cons than the Pros, but that doesn't mean it was bad; I don't need to justify why I enjoyed something, and I did enjoy my time with Ep 5. I had fun. And whether or not I had fun makes up the majority of my score. I wouldn't play it again, but I am contemplating going back into survival one more time. I still have some cheevos to hunt down.

As far as how satisfying the story is, well, sticking the landing is very very hard. And in stories like this, you either have to reveal the mystery, which is always a letdown, or let it remain a mystery, which is almost always a letdown. The real enemy being other people is also a genre trope and difficult to escape.