I disagree on re-playablitly...
The gameplay, graphics, and world building is all on point but this is a linear story driven game with multiple flashbacks you cannot skip...For someone who hated Abby, the story and felt unrewarded by its ending, where does the desire to replay this game come from? trophy hunting?
The situation with Abby is very similar to MGS2 with Raiden minus the political pandering...Did a second playthrough with Raiden help MGS2? I have never replayed that game past the tanker...Most people hated the play as Raiden swerve, nobody asked for a final fantasy white boy to replace Snake...The character bombed with the majority of the fanbase and Kojima had to kill him off and turn him into a cyborg ninja to redeem him in MGS4...MGS2 didn't bomb though, most people still liked the game despite Raiden and the convoluted story...Imagine though if Raiden chopped off Snakes head after the tanker level...The outrage would of been through the roof, much worse than this Abby/Joel shyt...
Its a big deal and huge gamble to decide to kill off a franchise character to pass the torch to a new character...The fact the new character only came into existence to appease a twitter internet mob, most of whom didn't even play the first game, severely hurts your chances of success...
What is this based on? I'm not saying it isn't true but I would like to read whatever you read that gave you this information.