It has finally arrived! After the much awaited teaser trailer for The Last of Us: Part 2 at PlayStation Experience 2016, fans were wondering when they would be able to see a gameplay trailer. Well, this year at E3 2018, Sony delivered just that at their groundbreaking conference. The trailer not only gives us a look into the mechanics of the sequel, but it shows us more story elements, character elements, and what we might expect from the environments and the atmosphere of the gritty post-apocalyptic adventure. We’ve got you covered on all you need to know about the game, from its projected release window to news and a breakdown of the trailers.

The Last of Us: Part 2 Story

For those fans of the franchise who have played through the first game, they know that the ending leaves a few open ended questions. Though the ending is quite satisfying on its own, there is still a feeling that not all things are going to be happy in the world of Joel and Ellie. With the announcement of the sequel last year, fans grew excited, hoping to finally get the answers to these pressing questions about character and the decisions made at the end of the first game. 

Without a precise synopsis of what the story will be about, we’ve pieced together clues from the trailers and interviews from the creative director to make sense of what we’ve seen thus far. 

In the announcement trailer, we see an older, angrier Ellie playing guitar amongst a heap of bodies. As she plays, Joel enters the room softly and says, “what are you doin’, kiddo? Are you really gonna go through with this?” Ellie just responds with, “I’m going to find and kill every last one of them.” Many speculations were made about what this meant and if it had anything to do with the ending of the first game, but after Sony’s 2018 conference, we have a little more on what this might all mean. 

In the newest gameplay trailer, we watch a cutscene of Ellie at a party with what we can assume is the refuge of survivors that Joel and Ellie choose to stay with at the end of the first game. During this party, Ellie is invited onto the dance floor with a woman named Dina. They sway back and forth to a slower ballad, shedding some light on who Ellie has become and who she is to Dina. At the end of this cutscene, Dina and Ellie kiss. This immediately smashes from cutscene into gameplay, taking place at a supposed later time as Ellie hunts down a band of baddies in a forest and a rundown city street. 

Gathering these clues together, we can theorize that something may happen to Dina that leads to Ellie’s vengeful need for blood. 

The Last of Us: Part 2 Release Date

The developer, Naughty Dog, and the game’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, have yet to announce the actual release date of the game but we know that it’s been in development for some time. The first announcement was at PlayStation Experience in 2016 and had been in the development process for a couple years. With the polished gameplay trailer at E3 this year, we can only hope for a 2019 or 2020 release. 

The Last of Us: Part 2 Gameplay

In some cases, close quarters combat will be absolutely necessary. 

Last of Us: Part 2 E3 Gameplay Trailer

Nothing was more exciting at E3 than seeing a sequel to a beloved title running on the newest generation of gaming consoles. This lends to better graphics, mechanics, environments and more fluid play through.  It is also revealed by Druckmann himself that we will be playing this game through the eyes of Ellie, as opposed to the original where we played as Joel. 

In the cold open, we witness Ellie jabbing a knife into an enemy’s neck until he stops moving. From there, it transitions into player control. Ellie, crouched down, sneaks through the woods to find a spot to conceal herself from the searching eyes of the enemies in view. The sneak movement here is quite similar to the original’s. As the enemies scour the woods for Ellie, she sneaks into a brush, concealing her movement from them. This allows her to be unseen as they pass by and she moves on. 

In the next segment, we hear faint voices in the distance. As Ellie approaches, we see a man hanging from a light pole, surrounded by a group of baddies. One of the enemies takes out a knife and carves into the man’s stomach, pouring his intestines into the street. This gives us a look into the heavy and gore-ridden world that Last of Us: Part 2 will be, escalating and building off of what was established in the first game. 

Once the hanging man is dead, we hear a loud whistle in a the distance. This takes the attention of the baddies, forcing them to spread out and search for the source of the noise - some of them coming right for Ellie’s position. She has to move. Still in stealth, Ellie finds her way into an old, overgrown parking deck. She immediately finds cover behind a pickup truck as two baddies enter the garage with her. They don’t notice her at first, but they will if she doesn’t act quickly. This is where we first witness the combat. 

As the enemies face the other direction, Ellie uses this opportunity to draw her bow. The reticle lands atop one of the enemies and Ellie fires a shot, killing the baddie instantly. Here, the combat is much akin to the original’s, but with a brand new reticle for those distant stealth kills. Ellie continues to sneak through the garage, avoiding detection, but before long she’s noticed and has to go into full on close quarters combat. In this moment we see that the gameplay has evolved to more of a dynamic experience from the first game. As Ellie is spotted, quickly draws her knife and kills one enemy, but then has to avoid the violent swings of an axe-wielding enemy. It seems that while in combat, the player is able to quickly avoid the swings of the axe. The fight continues, leading Ellie to the outside where she’s shot at by multiple bad guys. Ellie draws her pistol and fights back, giving us a look at the gun combat as well. 

One element that is making a return but with more is the use of human shields. We see Ellie grab onto one of the baddies and use her to prevent from taking any more fire, but with no remorse, the human shield’s allies fire arrows into her, preventing Ellie from using her as leverage. What’s great about this scene is the reaction that Ellie has to the woman’s death, giving us more human emotion within combat as well as a dynamic gameplay experience that furthers what the first game established. 

In the last bit of the trailer, Ellie is forced to take cover in an old convenient store, but soon after the enemies follow her on the attack. This is where we get to see some of the melee combat and weapons that are available for use as well as explosive arrows that completely obliterate an enemy into red goo. The remaining enemies put up a brutal fight, nearly taking Ellie down with them, but her resolve greater. In savage anger, she finishes them off with a machete. 

The Last of Us: Part 2 will be a mostly single player game, much like the original, but many wondered if the multiplayer component known as Factions would return. In an interview with GameSpot, co-director Anthony Newman has indeed confirmed that the game type, “Factions” will be returning. What we expect from other multiplayer elements, we can only speculate. 

The Last of Us: Part 2 Trailers 

Last of Us: Part 2 Announcement Trailer

Last of Us: Part 2 PGW 2017 Trailer 

In the first announcement trailer for Last of Us: Part 2, we are introduced to a 19-year old Ellie playing guitar in a bedroom in shambles. She sings to a gentle tune and we recognize actress Ashley Johnson’s familiar voice within the song. As Ellie continues, an older Joel enters the house, revealed to be ridden with bodies. He comes into the bedroom as Ellie finishes her song. Through dialogue, we discover that Ellie is on a mission of vengeance, promising to kill, “…every last one of them.” 

In the second trailer revealed at PGW 2017, we’re introduced to a whole new roster of characters that will play into the story of the game in some way. Naughty Dog’s website even states that this scene is, “another piece of the puzzle.” From the start, the trailer is dark in atmosphere and tone, unrelenting in its violent nature. In the dark of night and in the pouring rain, two hooded figures drag a woman through the street and put a noose around her neck. They place a bucket under her feet so that she doesn’t suffocate - not yet. The dragged woman is approached by a religious zealot, who produces a knife and says that they are filled with sin. 

Before she can plunge the knife into the woman’s stomach, a whistle sounds out, much like the one we’ve hear later in the gameplay trailer. The zealot stops, but before the whistle can be investigated, the two hooded figures drag another woman before the zealot, who asks the woman, “where is the other apostate?” The woman spits in the face of the zealot, leading to a brutal and gory punishment. The goons hold the woman down and beat at her arms with a hammer. The scene is harsh and graphic and proves that the sequel will heighten the gore from the first game. 

Before the zealots can kill the woman, a flying arrow hits and kills one of them. The other two stop their torture of the woman and turn to face the dark abyss beyond the woods, giving the tortured woman a chance to kill one of the zealots. Alone in the fight, the final zealot fires wildly into the woods, forgetting the hanging woman behind her who clamps her legs around the zealot’s neck and squeezes. The tortured woman grabs the back end of the hammer and plunges it into the zealot’s temple, ending the fight.

The introduction of new characters and story elements is exciting for fans everywhere. This only adds to the theories and speculation as to who these people are and what relation they have with our Ellie and Joel. 

The Last of Us: Part 2 Development

Just like the first game, Last of Us: Part 2 is being developed by Naughty Dog, headed by creative director Neil Druckmann. The game has been in development for a few years now, giving us our first look at the game at the end of 2016. The game will bring back long time favorite voice actors, Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson as Joel and Ellie, as well as a whole new roster of characters and voice actors to fill in the world and plot. 

In part of the acting process, Troy Baker stated that the process of filling Joel’s shoes once again was “overwhelming” with Ashely Johnson adding that the process of shooting each scene was personal and she felt that she became so invested in character of Ellie and those she was working with. From interviews and even from the trailers themselves, we can see that these actors, directors, and the studio have put their best foot forward to give fans the best product possible. 

The Last of Us: Part 2 News

Looks like we’ll be seeing the return of the Fireflies in some capacity. 

In recent news it was revealed that Ellie will have an NPC companion in the gameplay. Who this is, Naughty Dog did not reveal, but many fans are hoping and speculating that this could be Joel, while others think that it could be one of the newly introduced characters. Druckmann did say that the game will be played through Ellie’s POV, so to what capacity Joel is in the game we can only assume, whether his presence will be a constant or a major story beat. 

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