The Last of Us Part II. We’re all extremely excited. We all have questions. Some of you took the time to put those questions to us via social media in the hopes that we would know the answers after our hands-on preview of the game in Los Angeles, California. While we still don’t know everything, and Naughty Dog are rightfully playing their cards close to their chests, we did come away having learned a decent amount about the game, and we’ve been able to answer a few of your burning questions. So let’s do it!
THE LAST OF US PART II COVERAGE
- The Last Of Us Part II Hands-On Preview
- Here’s 37 Glorious The Last Of Us Part II GIFS To Blow Your Mind
- Your The Last Of Us Part II Questions Answered
- Four Major Ways That The Last Of Us Part II Improves On The Original
- We Spoke To Naughty Dog’s Lead Game Designer About TLOU: Part II
Zak Dunn asked: ‘Does it pick up right where [the first game] left off?’
While I’m not completely sure about the game’s actual opening and whether it might fill in any gaps, the game itself starts out roughly five years after the events of the original game, with Joel and Ellie having made a home in the settlement in Jackson, Wyoming that they found at the end of The Last of Us.
@asoiafgendry asked: ‘What is the core message of Part II’?
In a short address before our hands-on session, game director Neil Druckmann explained that the team wanted to expand on the themes of survival, family and love in the first game by taking a look at what happens when those things are threatened or taken away. Part II will look at things like rage, and revenge, borne from a (still mysterious) tragic event that Ellie experiences early in the game.
Will the game have multiplayer?
Unfortunately, both Naughty Dog and Sony have confirmed that the game will not have multiplayer.
Nathan Montgomery asked: ‘They mentioned previously that the enemies will adapt to your attacking methods and change the way they will come after you. How much will this affect gameplay situations and will it give the game extra life for replayability?’
After playing a couple hours of the game and also talking to lead designer Emilia Schatz, I’ve got a fairly good idea of how this works in practice. Essentially, the game has a kind of AI ‘director’ baked into its enemy encounters that takes a player’s actions and their chosen and uses that to guide the encounter to suit that playstyle while also ensuring they remain on track to progress. In my preview I detail a specific instance of this where I approached a section differently to the person next to me and had a wildly different experience.
Jeremy Downs asked: ‘Will there be much of a difference in gameplay from the first? Have they upped the stakes in the horror aspect? And will there be new enemies or groups to face?’
As far as what I played, gameplay feels very similar to the first, albeit obviously expanded and improved upon in many ways. It’s a comfortable medium between updating the game and still giving people the experience they loved the first time around. As far as new enemies go I contended with attack dogs as well as a new Infected type called the Shambler in my session, which you can read about here (insert link) but there are sure to be more new enemies in the final game. ‘Horror’ probably isn’t the right word to describe a lot of the encounters I had in the demo, but ‘Tense as all Hell’ is definitely accurate.
Ivan Unsworth asked: ‘Have they expanded on the crafting system and/or is it still in game?’
Functionally, crafting is very much the same as it was last time, but there are definitely new tools and items to craft. The main one I noticed was a makeshift (and very breakable) pistol silencer but we’ll have to wait to see how much more is in the final game. No more crafting shivs though (thank God), Ellie has a very handy switchblade now, instead. Read more about that here
Todd Yates asked: ‘Does the gameplay feel as fluid as it looked in the early trailer?’
Obviously a pre-recorded gameplay trailer is always going to show things in the best light possible but, honestly, it really does. There are so many tweaks and improvements, both major and minor, to gameplay that I never felt like I was fighting the game or the controls when exploring or fighting enemies. The dodge and prone stance are probably my favourite new mechanics.
Cory Johnston asked: ‘How do the level sizes compare to The Last of Us and Uncharted 4? Is there more replayability to them like in Uncharted The Lost Legacy?’
It’s hard to say just from the two sections we played this week, but there is definitely an openness and a degree of player agency that builds on what Naughty Dog started with Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy. The Seattle demo especially allowed for a multitude of paths and approaches that I’m sure would lend themselves quite well to repeated playthroughs.
Tyler Rollinson asked: ‘How much of my hard drive am I going to have to sacrifice for this art?’
While we don’t have an exact number on the game’s filesize yet, we do know that this will be Naughty Dog’s ‘biggest and most expansive game yet’, and will ship on two discs! Best start deleting stuff now, then.
Marcus McIntyre said: ‘Absolutely nothing’
If you’re reading this answer to your question it’s already too late. Sorry.
Everyone asked: ‘What’s the release date?’
February 21, 2020! So soon!
Also everyone: ‘Is Joel in the game? Is he alive?!’
It certainly seems that way! Joel not only features in the game’s new trailer, looking appropriately old and grizzled, but he did make an appearance at the very end of our hands-on demo of the game.
