Everything we know so far about The Last of Us Part 2
By Mads Lennon
Despite not having an official release date yet, The Last of Us Part 2 is a highly anticipated PS4 game. Here’s everything we know about the game so far.
It has been almost 6 years since The Last of Us was released and redefined the way zombie games were created. Finally, we’ve begun getting serious details about the sequel, The Last of Us Part 2.
When we last saw Joel and Ellie, they were at a crossroads in their relationship. Joel had rescued Ellie from the Fireflies after he discovered they planned to kill her to create a vaccine against the cordyceps from part of her brain.
Ellie was never given a choice in the matter and Joel lied to her about the Fireflies’ agenda. Despite the end of the game being left somewhat open-ended, it’s clear the trust between them was irreparably broken.
With a mysterious release date (hopefully) looming closer, Naughty Dog has been releasing more and more information about the next game in the franchise, here’s everything we know so far:
Plot details
In The Last of Us, players controlled Joel for a majority of the game (except winter because winter was terrifying) but in the sequel, Ellie will be the main character. Set five years in the future from where The Last of Us ended, The Last of Us Part 2 will focus on an older Ellie coming into conflict with a mysterious cult. Sounds a little Tomb Raider-y and I’m totally into it.
According to EuroGamer, Neil Druckmann, the game’s director, stated the sequel would be “about hate” in opposition to the first game’s driving theme being about love.
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The cast
Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who played Joel and Ellie in the first game, respectively, will return to reprise their roles in The Last of Us Part 2. This is awesome news because it means we may see a reunion between Joel and Ellie at some point in the game.
It’s not clear what Joel’s role will be in the sequel (and some are predicting he may be dead based on Druckmann’s tweet) though I imagine it will be reduced since it seems like this is really going to be Ellie’s vehicle in the same way The Last of Us was Joel’s.
While we do see Joel briefly in the trailer, I can’t help but wonder if he’s a ghostly apparition (though I hope not, I’d be so sad if he died). The rapper, Logic, has also been teased in a role for the game according to GameSpot.
Along with Neil Druckmann returning as a director, he is co-writing the game with Westworld writer, Halley Gross.
Halley's my kickass co-writer. Can't wait to share more of the story with y'all. Spoiler alert: it's intense. #TheLastOfUsPartII https://t.co/KVfh66utce
— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) December 5, 2016
Ellie’s romance with Dina
In the first game it was revealed that Ellie is gay during the DLC, Left Behind. In it, we see what happened to her before she met up with Joel, how she got bit and lost her best friend, and the girl she had feelings for, Riley, during a mall chase.
Seeing as video games are much farther behind in terms of representation than other forms of media, I wasn’t sure if we would get anymore romance for Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2, but the trailer indicates differently. There is a kiss between her and a new character, Dina, played by Shannon Woodward, in it!
The kiss actually received quite a bit of praise for being animated as well as it was since it has long been a point of contention in the industry that physical intimacy is one of the more difficult items to portray realistically in a video game. However, this is TLOU, I wouldn’t hold my breath about Dina and Ellie having a happy ending but it’s nice to know the game directors aren’t just dropping that aspect of her identity.
Unfortunately, we still don’t have an official release date for Naughty Dog’s sequel to The Last of Us. Since the gameplay demo at E3, Sony has remained mum on any further news about the game’s launch.
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The last update we got was from Druckmann’s twitter where he thanked fans for their patience. Most sites are predicting we will get The Last of Us Part 2 this year, but I imagine it won’t be late fall or winter.
The Last of Us is available to buy right now, you can get a copy right here on Amazon.
Are you a fan of The Last of Us? Let us know in the comments.