The first game not only told a better, far more interesting story, but it was also, at the time, unique in many ways whereas this game really doesn't add much to the gameplay. Things like going prone and rope navigation puzzles are the biggest changes to the formula and they're neigh on trivial in the grand scheme of things. The impact on gameplay adding a "jump" button had was negligible compared to what they suggested it does for the game. That said, I certainly don't hate the game as much as so many others do, justifying the events of the previous game as some sort of argument against how this one's narrative plays out.
Some of the things they were going for fell flat for me and some of the things I assume they thought were deep and meaningful I didn't give 2 seconds of thought to, but if anything I think the big controversial moment in the game is one of the ballsiest things the game does and I have no grievances with it whatsoever. I went to the subreddit and had a pretty good laugh at all the memes though. The ending is lame AF, not even because of how it goes down, but mostly in just how it's unnecessarily dragged out for way too long. The game by no means deserves the level of acclaim it's getting though. I'd give this game a 7.2 if I'm feeling generous, by no means a masterpiece. Everyone who hates it seems to only hate it because of the story, and same with those who are loving it, but the story should never be the only factor in scoring a game, so...