The rumours have been swirling for years, dating as far back to before The Last Of Us‘s 2013 release. But it’s now finally official: we’re getting a sequel.
The Last Of Us: Part 2 was revealed at The PlayStation Experience in New York, lifting the lid off the sequel to the award-winning Naughty Dog-developed classic.
There have been murmurs for a number of years, but it was perhaps voice actor Nolan North‘s admission back in 2015 that all but confirmed we’d be getting another entry in the post-apocalyptic tale.
“For now I know they’re doing Last of Us 2, but my character in Last of Us kind of met an untimely demise,” he said at the time.
Interestingly, Troy Baker, who voiced the character of Joel in the first game, was quoted as saying he didn’t know if Sony was going to make another one. Perhaps he was just playing dumb.
The Last Of Us was, as Naughty Dog described it, a story about the relationship between a man and a girl — Joel and Ellie — and how their father-daughter bond pushes them through a world ravaged by pain and suffering.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Wnvvj33Wo[/youtube]
Part 2 will be a “counter” to that tale, according to creative director, Neil Druckmann, with the game being “about hate and how we use all of those same things to make the player feel that.”
So what’s The Last Of Us: Part 2 going to be about? The trailer gives up some not-so-subtle hints.
It sets a familiar scene of buildings overgrown by nature, death and gore. Ellie sits on a bed, stroking a guitar and singing a folk song about revenge. It would be beautiful if it wasn’t so eerie. Towards the end of the trailer is a special guest: Joel, her friend and father-figure in the first game.
“I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to finally be able to say that Ellie and Joel are back for another intense, harrowing, and emotional adventure,” Druckmann said. “Like many of you, we have a deep love for the world of The Last of Us and its characters, and while a sequel may have seemed like a foregone conclusion, that wasn’t the case. We knew that it needed to be a story worth telling and, perhaps more importantly, a story worthy of Joel and Ellie. After spending years on different ideas (and almost giving up), we finally uncovered a story that felt special — a story that evolved into an epic journey.”
More information for The Last Of Us: Part II has been promised for the coming months. Just don’t expect the game itself anytime soon, with Druckmann admitting that it was still “a ways off”.
