I'm one of the Splinter Cell players who never knocks anybody out, so that wasn't my issue; I go through the games without ever being seen or heard if it's possible. It's been a couple years, so I would have to play TLoU again to remember the exact parts that I found poorly designed, but the one that sticks out is when you're separated from Ellie, maybe just after the sewers or in the last part of the sewers? There's a section with an upper and lower level to navigate, all in the dark. I think you have to turn on the generators and get the hell out, but if I recall right that triggers one of the larger zombies and a whole bunch of zombies and clickers. With the subjectively inferior shooting mechanics compared to other games (specifically weapon sway, which I was annoyed you had to 'upgrade' to get close to a modern standard and make hard mode somewhat less frustrating), in those cramped rooms with little space to aim effectively (intentional or not), and with the disparity between normal and hard difficulty in regards to A.I, I saw the game turn into a chaotic, trial-and-error mess a bit too often to be called incredible.
I remember enemies being drastically more aware in specific parts (uncommon as they were) to the point that I felt normal mode was a more realistic experience overall. For me, hard modes in serious games should ideally be more realistic, not just knob tweaks to artificially turn combat scenarios into purposefully cumbersome challenges. I never said it wasn't exhilarating, and it wasn't exactly notoriously difficult to overcome in spite of niggles, but at times it felt almost arcade-like. You may be about to say, "Oh, I had no problem whatsoever in that section, did it first try," but perhaps our upgrade choices at that point made it a wholly different affair. I've beaten some of the hardest games ever, but maybe I was simply not good at the game in this case, who knows. RE4 isn't dissimilar in that it's a brilliant survival horror game with what I consider inferior gun combat. The melee to me felt 'canned' at times to me -- again, not unlike RE4 thinking about it -- and got old quite fast, but I have no other memories of it. I don't remember anything incredible, certainly, other than the contextual contrast of who you're fighting and why, with a sort of desperate primal nature to it, which is pretty dope in the first few hours. That wore off for me.
Overall you say it may just not have been for me, but . . . I personally dislike that phrase. I don't believe in it, even. I like anything and everything if it plays competently and consistently, whatever the setting. As a fan of The Road, Children of Men, I Am Legend (not the movie), 28 Weeks Later, The Stand, and hundreds of other books and films, I was excited to the point of lightheadedness for this game, but it is a generic and lazy mish-mash of those stories with a less competent narrative and writing, ignoring the lovely characterization. I was literally guessing plot twists, dialogue, situations, etc., on multiple dozens of occasions. I feel like not having all of those references points would've made it seem wildly original and brilliant, probably, but it isn't. I think the main objective you've been struggling towards for 85% of the game is completely thrown out the window at one point (in the hospital). It's like oh, that thing we told you was true at the beginning -- the sole reason you're doing all of this depressing stuff -- it actually isn't. Some may view that as a progressive and brave twist. I found it an eye-rolling rug pull, personally.
I'm getting exhausted from laboriously retracing my thoughts and particular nitpicks at this point, this is hard work! I was merely saying that lots of brilliant games (like Witcher 3 for some) have these frustrating moments for people who haven't been wowed by the setting and other immersive elements, where we see negatives in a much harsher light. Still, perhaps I'll give it a third chance in a few years. I've changed my mind about many, many games.
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