Everything You Need to Know about The Last of Us Part II

We all remember the crowd reaction when the announcement trailer for The Last of Us Part II was revealed during PlayStation Experience 2016. It was an intense opening, with a montage of a post-apocalyptic landscape popping in and out of focus in time with the beat. Finally, the Firefly logo was revealed, sending everyone into wave of excitement, which was quickly followed up with the Naughty Dog logo.

It was a moment.

After that moment, though, information about The Last of Us Part II was slim at E3 2017, with Naughty Dog choosing instead to focus on its then-upcoming title, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Fast-forward to Paris Games Week (PGW) 2017, and we were treated to a new Last of Us Part II trailer, which introduced several new characters and hinted at the game’s new storyline. It wasn’t until last month, however, at E3 2018 that we got our first in-depth look at the game since its announcement almost two years ago. Information has been scattered since  then, so here is everything you need to know about The Last of Us Part II (so far), in one place.

It’s About Hate:

If the announcement trailer from PlayStation Experience and the one from Paris Games Week told us anything, it’s that The Last of Us Part II will be even darker than the first game. Matter of fact, after the trailer from PGW broke, many fans were questioning whether Naughty Dog is taking the violence too far in the second game. In a discussion panel from PSX, studio head and creative director Neil Druckmann explained that where the first game is about love, The Last of Us Part II is the antithesis of that. It’s a narrative “about hate”.

More specifically, it seems to be one dead-set on revenge. In the announcement trailer, we see Ellie playing her guitar in a house full of dead bodies. When Joel appears in the threshold and asks Ellie what she’s doing, without looking at him, she vows, “I’m going to find and I’m going to kill every last one of them.” Right now, it’s still not clear who “they” are, or what they’ve done to set Ellie on the path of revenge. Naughty Dog has also been pretty tight-lipped about narrative details.

Playing As Ellie (Where the Heck is Joel?):

While we got a taste of what it’s like to play as Ellie during the winter season in the first game, The Last of Us Part II will be played entirely from Ellie’s third-person pov and is set five years after the events of the first game. That would make her about nineteen now.

Since the announcement trailer at PSX 2016, Joel has been noticeably absent from any news or subsequent trailers for The Last of Us Part II, and has rarely come up during Naughty Dog’s discussion panels. The studio has really been putting the full spotlight on Ellie in the trailers, doing well to emphasize this game will largely be about her. We know for certain that Joel is in the game, because it’s no secret actor Troy Baker has come back to reprise the role; and when Neil Druckmann discusses The Last of Us Part II, he mentions how it’s still very much Joel and Ellie’s story.  How long Joel will be sticking around in this second game, though, is uncertain.

New Story, New Characters: 

From the PGW 2017 trailer, we were introduced to several new characters- siblings, Yara and Lev, a woman named Emily, and an unnamed character who is played by actress Laura Bailey (Nadine from Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy). In the brutal trailer, we hear Emily ask the unnamed, struggling woman, “where is the apostate?” Before Emily gets a response, Yara bashes her head in with a hammer, and all hell breaks loose.

The E3 2018 gameplay trailer introduced two new characters, Jesse and Dina, the latter of whom Ellie kissed (see: article cover photo). During E3, news broke on Buzzfeed that Ellie will have an NPC companion during the game, and some fans have been speculating that it could be Dina.

Over on the Naughty Dog blog, Neil Druckmann gave a brief overview of what to expect story-wise for the next iteration in the series, stating:

Ellie has found a semblance of peace and normality living in Jackson. She’s had a chance to be a teenager and forge lasting relationships. When that peace is disrupted by a violent act, Ellie is thrust into a brutal journey of retribution, fueled by a need to bring those that have wronged her to justice, pushing her to her very limits.

New Gameplay Features, New Engine: 

Naughty Dog has completely overhauled its engine for The Last of Us Part II, which will push the graphics and quality of gameplay to new limits. In the official gameplay trailer from E3 2018, we see that everything from lighting to foliage, and even characters’ facial expressions, have a stronger semblance of realism.

The E3 footage also revealed new gameplay features and combat mechanics, some which seem to be a nod to the Uncharted games. For example, now Ellie will be able to hide in the foliage to evade enemies. We also saw Ellie able to hide under cars now, and throw bottles at the bad guys while charging at them.

So, When Can We Play It? 

There is no release date for The Last of Us Part II yet. When it does launch, though, it will be available exclusively for PlayStation. But you didn’t need me to tell you that.