Found absolutely nothing about the narrative to be confusing and I’m not even sure how that would be possible.

I mean, they did have two story lines that take place in parallel with one another, and affect one another. So it’s not like a standard linear timeline, I could see how someone spreading their play sessions out over many weeks or months could lose track of things. But I thought it worked well.

Joel was a piece of shit who deserved to die, it’s that simple

I don’t think that was the intended takeaway, nor would I ever dare to say “it’s that simple” about any character’s motives in this story. The entire point of a trolley problem is that it’s an ethical dilemma without a clear “right” answer.

At the beginning of TLOU2, Ellie clearly also felt like Joel was a piece of shit liar/murderer…but then learns she’s capable of being the exact same person under the right circumstances. If anything, I see the moral of the story as “it’s never simple once it’s you”.