By The Last of Us 2 marks Ellie and Joel’s long-awaited return after five years away, in a gritty yet emotional adventure exploring revenge, violence, and its effect.
Neil Druckmann wrote and directed this game that serves as Naughty Dog’s PS4 farewell. While its heartbreaking tale and exploration of violence may not appeal to everyone, it stands alone as an impressive work of art.
The Poster
When The Last of Us released in 2013, it revolutionized our perspective on video games. It ushering in a new era for survival-horror genre, modernizing it and giving gamers a powerful new protagonist – not to mention captivating fans across generations with its world and characters.
Since then, fans have become obsessed with The Last of Us world and its inhabitants – leading Naughty Dog to develop its sequel as we all wait patiently in anticipation.
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Sony Interactive Entertainment and Naughty Dog made headlines earlier this month when they teased The Last of Us Part 2 with a poster containing close-up images of Ellie’s bite mark and switchblade knife – something many saw as creatively depicting her wound, while others noticed how closely it matched Ellie’s tattoo from the first game.
Naughty Dog promptly confirmed that the poster is indeed a teaser for The Last of Us 2, though its official release date and title have yet to be released. A company statement indicated it will come “later this year,” due to quality standards set by its predecessor game.
Naughty Dog has recently confirmed that The Last of Us Part 2 will introduce a new character named Yara, as well as hinted at her involvement in its storyline. They even showed a short trailer during Paris Game Week to showcase its dark setting and brutal gameplay – though exactly where Yara fits into this scenario remains unknown; most likely it will revolve around Ellie seeking revenge against Joel while exploring her feelings for Dina.
Naughty Dog also revealed a teaser trailer at this year’s PlayStation Experience event, though not much could be gleaned about its gameplay from it. While not showing much, the trailer did show an aged Ellie playing an acoustic guitar in a run-down house and hinted that its game setting may take place five to ten years in the future and focus on her instead of Joel.
The Teaser Trailer
Trailer for “Kill the Dead,” featuring male figure entering a house and seeing several dead bodies scattered around. When approaching one of them he sees that its face bears signs of cordyceps infection- indicating it was infected with this deadly disease that transforms people into clickers with an insatiable appetite for human flesh.
He then picks up a revolver and begins firing shots into the corpses left standing after those affected by the disease had died off, including one last head before the video fades to black.
After The Last of Us Part II’s teaser trailer was unveiled in September, fans have eagerly been waiting for more. The short teaser shows footage from both The Last of Us on PlayStation 4 remaster and its sequel in one short teaser clip; its full contents remain unknown; however it has already been confirmed that both games will include new weapons as well as No Return mode.
Clips from the new game begin by depicting a young woman being held hostage by two infected captors, who ask where another apostate is held prisoner; after she does not respond, one captor begins torturing her before another character arrives and kills both of the captors, saving both hostages in equal measures.
Players in The Last of Us Part II will assume the role of Ellie, a teenage girl living in an environment overrun with cordyceps virus. Set approximately 10 years after events of The Last of Us’ first chapter, Ellie embarks on a quest for revenge against those responsible.
Sony officially unveiled The Last of Us Part II at this year’s PlayStation Experience event, but did not provide any additional details about it. A trailer may likely be released before year’s end.
The Release Date
The Last of Us is an action-adventure game set in post-apocalyptic America 20 years after civilization was devastated by a mutant fungus. The series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), two survivors being hunted by Fireflies (a group of infected individuals) after civilization collapses. It earned multiple awards including Game of the Year recognition from various outlets during its initial run.
The game’s conclusion was both shocking and heart-wrenching, yet left much room for exploration. Fans wanted more details about Joel’s past as they attempted to understand why he took such drastic actions to keep Ellie alive, while Abby, Joel’s old co-worker’s daughter who became key player in the sequel was another subject worth delving deeper into.
At E3 2018, Naughty Dog announced a second season of The Last of Us, with Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey reprised as Joel and Ellie respectively. According to reports, this season will focus on revenge after Joel confessed. Producers pledged faithful adaptation alongside purposeful deviation from its tightly plotted video game storyline.
Production for The Last of Us 2 started late 2022. While production has yet to conclude, airing of this season will take place exclusively on PlayStation 4, while it remains uncertain whether a PC version will also be developed. As well as featuring its main cast members such as Yara, Dina, and Lev, The Last of Us 2 is also expected to feature many other new characters including Yara, Dina and Lev.
In March 2024, it was revealed that Danny Ramirez from Top Gun: Maverick would join the cast as Manny; Ariela Barer from How to Blow Up a Pipeline would play Mel; Tati Gabrielle would portray Nora; Spencer Lord from Riverdale would portray Owen. Kaitlyn Dever from Justified Dopesick also recently joined as Abby; however her relationship with Joel remains unknown at this time.
Some fans were concerned about Bella Ramsey’s age in The Last of Us 2, given its original video game featuring a five-year time jump between installments one and two. Craig Mazin, showrunner for The Last of Us 2, addressed these concerns in a Q&A with Variety; in it he denied Bill and Frank would make appearances but noted they weren’t being written out entirely.
The Gameplay
As an appetizer to their forthcoming sequel, Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Part II Remastered on PlayStation4, giving PS4 owners an opportunity to experience its celebrated story again in its original form. It includes numerous extra features that expand upon its scope; these include No Return’s roguelike survival mode; guitar free-play mode; Lost Levels series; improved control scheme that mimics PS5 gameplay and enhanced visuals that take advantage of DualSense feature.
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As opposed to its predecessor, where players controlled Joel as its protagonist, this sequel will follow Ellie instead. From what has been seen so far in trailers and teasers, she appears to be on an aggressive quest against Firefly militia – something which may or may not be desirable given ethical issues she will need to consider during her quest.
Fans were also given an exclusive glimpse of Ellie’s tattoo covering her bite mark from Cordyceps outbreak, which appears to cover up her immunity against disease. Director Neil Druckmann later shared an official render of Ellie’s tattoo on Twitter suggesting it might serve other functions beyond concealing immunity – perhaps protecting her against being attacked by dogs who carried it that had killed her father?
The gameplay shown in the trailer was similar to what players experienced in The Last of Us: players will have access to bow and arrow shooting or wielding melee weapons; additionally they may take cover in prone position for protection from enemies. This key aspect of gameplay seeks to strike a balance between storyline progression and individual ability for self-defense.
The trailer also revealed that the game will feature enemy dogs as an attempt to add an element of risk and realism that’s missing from many modern action games. This approach should help players feel authentic emotions like fear or empathy when killing enemy animals; given our increasing tolerance of seeing hundreds of people gunned down like in Fast and Furious movies, this approach may make players truly uncomfortable at times.
