‘The Last Of Us 2’ Reportedly Confirmed At PAX East, Will Be Announced At E3 In June
On Tuesday, a rumor began going around that the sequel to 2013’s survival-horror smash hit game The Last of Us would be announced at this June’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Now, we have a bit of a follow up to that rumor, as Huge Leak is reporting that The Last of Us 2 was confirmed at PAX East, and it’s set to be announced at the aforementioned E3 in mid-June.
The project was apparently confirmed by a source who wanted to remain anonymous, but the mystery source did reveal a ton of info about the highly-anticipated sequel.
The source is claiming that The Last of Us 2 will be released on PS4 at some point in 2018, with compatibility for the PlayStation VR Headset. Apparently Joel and Ellie will be returning in the sequel, however, they may not end up being the game’s main characters.
Naughty Dog, which is the developer for The Last of Us, is set to release Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End on May 10, and then they’ll begin working on the downloadable content for Uncharted 4.After the DLC for Uncharted 4 has been completed, it’s expected that Naughty Dog will resurrect the prototypes for The Last of Us 2.
“Our next focus is the single player Uncharted 4 DLC and then, once we have enough resources, resurrect all those prototypes [for The Last of Us 2]; see where we’re at, see where the team is at, what they’re excited for and go from there.”
Neil Druckmann, who is the creative director at Naughty Dog, told PlayStation Magazine that the studio was considering a few different ideas for The Last of Us 2, one of which was introducing new main-characters, which would mean that Joel and Ellie wouldn’t be returning.
Druckmann also said that he and his partner, Bruce Straley, were considering making The Last of Us 2 a sci-fi fantasy game.
“When Bruce Straley [the director of The Last of Us] and I moved over to Uncharted 4, we were brainstorming ideas for The Last Of Us 2.[We were brainstorming] new main-characters; ideas for TLOU 2 with Joel and Ellie; ideas for a sci-fi game; ideas for a fantasy game, and building prototypes for each one of those ideas. And just as we were getting close to settling or narrowing that list down, we were asked to work on Uncharted 4.”
The first Last of Us game ended in way that didn’t exactly call for a sequel, so many are thinking that the second game will feature brand new main-characters, which, as previously mentioned, is an idea that has been tossed around by Druckmann and Straley.
There have been a ton of rumors surrounding the production of The Last of Us 2 since the success of the first game in 2013. Of course, the first game was a massive money-maker, so a sequel seems like a no-brainer.Last June, Nolan North, who was the voice of David in the first game, said that he knew that Naughty Dog was making a Last of Us sequel. But, this past February, North apologized for guaranteeing a second Last of Us game, saying that he actually doesn’t know if there’s a sequel that’s in development.
Troy Baker, who voiced Joel in the first game, said that he has no idea if Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley are planning on creating a sequel, or if he’ll actually be involved in the sequel.
Even though Druckmann and Straley are considering making a sequel without Joel and Ellie, it would seem that they’ll eventually find a way to tell a new story with the two characters because of their popularity.
When Naughty Dog released Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception back in 2011, they hinted at their next project, which turned out to be The Last of Us, in the game’s opening scene. So, they may end up doing the same at some point in Uncharted 4.
[Image via PlayStation]