The Last of us did irreparable damage to video games as an artform

The last of us was critically acclaimed because it mimicked the trappings of another, more established medium, that of cinema. Popular perception of video games and what they should be, and should look like, and the path AAA game development since has been narrowed, and that has been catastrophic for video games as a medium. "Prestige (photorealistic) graphics" which seem to be a prerequisite for flagship titles are unimaginative and have pigeonholed the artistic potential of 3d modelling within the AAA gaming sphere. Cinematic cutscenes have virtually completely superseded the half-life 2 days of real time narrative events and other potential forms of narrative storytelling that take full advantage of video games' unique interactivity as a medium. I could go on endlessly about this, but video games need to stop clinging to the trappings of other, more "respected" artforms. It reeks of insecurity in your medium, when that medium has so much potential for new experiences completely unique to itself. I am not arguing that I know exactly what games should be, but that there is so much more they could potentially be than what they are now, and that the Last of Us and designed by committee "cinematic" photorealistic games as a whole are responsible for that.