The Last of Us Part II

For the sequel to The Last of Us, see other pages that may have a similar name.

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Template:Infobox VGThe Last of Us Part II is an upcoming third-person action-adventure survival horror video game being developed by Naughty Dog and will be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4.

The game acts as a sequel to The Last of Us and picks up the story of Ellie and Joel approximately five years after the events of the last game.

Plot

The Last of Us Part II takes place approximately five years after the original, about 25 years after the outbreak of the Cordyceps Brain Infection began, and will feature the return of a 19-year-old Ellie, who players will assume control of, as well as Joel in his mid-fifties. Ellie is fueled by hate, which will be a major theme within the story.^[1]

Characters

Main article: Characters

Ellie (Ashley Johnson) – The playable protagonist of the game. Ellie was formerly a denizen from the Boston Quarantine Zone and is immune to the Cordyceps Brain Infection. She returns from the original game and is now nineteen-years-old and sports a tattoo on her right arm. She is fueled by hate and wants to "kill them all."
Joel (Troy Baker) – The deuteragonist of the game. Joel is a survivor of the CBI outbreak who returns from the original game, alongside Ellie. He is now in his early to mid-fifties.

Development

In February 2014, creative director Neil Druckmann said the possibility of a sequel to the The Last of Us was "about 50/50", and the team needed to develop a story "really worth telling, and that's not repeating itself".^[2] In July 2014, community strategist Arne Meyer said that not considering a sequel "would be a disservice" to the studio and the fans.^[3]

In December 2014, character artist Michael Knowland who previously worked with Naughty Dog on The Last of Us updated his LinkedIn page to include The Last of Us 2 with him as the lead character artist who was designing head sculpts. Shortly afterwards his page was updated to remove all mention of the sequel.^[4]

At MetroCon 2015 in June, Nolan North, who portrays David in The Last of Us and Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, was asked if he was involved in any future Naughty Dog projects. He replied "For now, Uncharted 4 is the last one. I know they're doing The Last of Us 2, but my character in The Last of Us kind of met an untimely demise".^[5] Druckmann later responded to North's comments, saying that a small team at Naughty Dog had explored ideas and begun building prototypes for a sequel, but were interrupted when the team shifted development to Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.^[6]

Rumors began to rise again after GameInformer accidentally leaked images and information regarding a sequel to The Last of Us at E3 2016, specifically that Ellie would be 19 years old and that the story would transition between the present and the past.^[7] An image was also revealed on September 26, depicting a tattooed arm holding a switchblade, evidently teasing the reveal of Ellie's tattoo.^[8]

Official announcement

On December 3, 2016 at Sony's annual PlayStation Experience event, Naughty Dog closed the event by officially announcing a sequel to The Last of Us via a reveal trailer, titled The Last of Us Part II.^[9] The trailer shows Ellie, now 19-years-old, playing a guitar while singing "Through the Valley" by Shawn James in an abandoned house. Joel approaches the house and enters the room, asking "What are you doing, kiddo? You really gonna go through with this?" Slowly putting the guitar down, she replies "I'm gonna find and I'm gonna kill every last one of them." Ellie has been confirmed to be the main playable character who will "play differently" than Joel from the original. No release date has been announced and the game was noted to be in very early development by Shawn Layden.^[10]

At a panel after the reveal, Neil Druckmann was asked why Naughty Dog ultimately decided to make a sequel. He explained, "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... After spending years trying ideas, we have finally created a story worthy of Joel and Ellie."^[11]

Druckmann also confirmed that Gustavo Santaolalla will return as the composer for the game's soundtrack.^[12] It has also been confirmed that Bruce Straley, who helped Druckmann make early prototypes for the new game,^[13] will not return to assist Druckmann with directing the sequel, reportedly "taking a year out" after the pair finished working on the DLC for Uncharted.^[14] In his place, Halley Gross will be co-writing the story with Druckmann.^[15]

The game will utilize new motion capture technology for its characters as well as an entire new engine for the PlayStation 4.^[16]