NAUGHTY DOG's anticipated sequel is set to launch on the PS4 - so here's everything you need to know about the game.
The Last of Us Part 2 Screenshots From the developers at Naughty Dog comes the sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed games of the generation. Watch the world reveal trailer that made its debut at PlayStation Experience 2016. 1 / 15
The Last of Us 2 E3 NEWS - GAMEPLAY UPDATE Show opens proper with The Last of Us II, with an older Ellie standing at the bar, cynical and looking on a bar dance. The cinematic quality definitely reminds us of Uncharted - and we get to see Ellie's more personal side (it appears she may be gay - or at least not straight). The graphics looks amazing, and the music from Gustavo Santaolalla plays in the background to really compliment the story and the narrative beats. This is Naughty Dog storytelling at its finest. The contrast to the next scene - where Ellie is stabbing a man in the neck - is staggering. Now we have gameplay. Animation is smooth, realistic. The dynamic realtime lighting engine shows the importance of light sources and stealth. Ellie's motion-capture is industry-leading - we're confident about saying that now. It's clear that there's a renewed focus on melee gameplay this year compared to what we got with The Last Of Us - stealth into melee is fluid, seems both are just as important as each other. A series of new mechanics in the game - gunplay whilst crouched, struggle mechanics, and much quicker moment-to-moment action (think of this as a 'popcorn film' - story-driven but very gameplay and action based. White knuckle. Ellie now has an exploding bow that she can use to take out clusters of enemies, and a variety of brutal takedowns with macetes, daggers and guns. She's not the girl we knew from the first game. She's terrifying... as the flashback that goes back to her shows. That was incredible. You can see the trailer above - it really speaks for itself.
SONY PLAYSTATION E3 2018 BRIEFING STARTS SOON
We're now less than five hours until the start of PlayStations E3 Showcase! So, standby for more potential news on The Last of Us Part 2, hopefully with some extended gameplay footage. As mentioned previously, it sounds as though Sony will be doing four deep dives and we're fully expecting this to be one of those games that we get a better look at. If you want to see what else is on show, you can also tune in and keep track using the Sony PlayStation E3 2018 YouTube livestream, just above. MORE INFO TO FOLLOW...
The Last of Us Part 2 - E3 Announcement Imminent? PS4 fans get ready, because we should learn more about The Last of Us Part 2 from Naughty Dog in the days ahead. That's because E3 2018 is officially here, kickstarting with EA Play on Saturday. And following that there will be a whole assortment of press conferences, announcements, interviews and more throughout the week from various publishers and developers. As fans of the game will know there's extremely limited information about the game, both in terms of its gameplay and storyline. However, chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden, last month outlined that the company would be taking a new stance this year with regards to the companies E3 press conference, telling fans: "E3 this year will feature exclusive looks and deep dives on four upcoming titles—four of our big titles." The Last of Us Part 2 is obviously one of those games and whilst we cannot say for certain exactly what we'll get - another trailer? Gameplay? A release date? - we do know that Naughty Dog's latest will play a significant part of the conference. For anyone in the UK wanted to watch, you'll have to stay up late with the conference beginning at this Tuesday at 2am BST. So for the time being, stay tuned for more official info in the coming days and potentially some leaks too. And if you want to see more of our E3 2018 coverage across the week, bookmark the following URL - www.dailystar.co.uk/latest/e3-2018 - to stay up to date. Want to know more? Keep reading to discover everything we know about The Last of Us Part 2 so far...
SONY The Last of Us 2 E3 NEWS: PS4 Release date, Gameplay Trailer and NEW Naughty Dog updates
THE LAST OF US PART 2 - OVERVIEW The Last of Us Part II is a sequel to Naughty Dog's critically and commercially successful The Last of Us, which launched for PS3 in 2013. The game will contain elements of action-adventure and survival horror, similar in tone to its predecessor. It will follow on from the events of the first game and will feature the return of protagonists Ellie and Joel five years after the events of The Last of Us. The game has already received awards, despite only being in development since 2014: the PlayStation Blog has already rewarded the game with the 'Most Anticipated Game of the Year' award, and the title has also been awarded 'Most Wanted' by the Golden Joysticks. The game was originally announced at the PlayStation Experience event in December 2016. The game will be a PS4 exclusive (undoubtedly with enhancements for PS4 Pro players) and will likely push the boundaries of what the PS4 architecture can achieve. The game will be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
The Last of Us Part II (PS4)
The Last of Us Part II (PS4) £48.00 View
The Last of Us Part 2 - Naughty Dog Announcements Naughty Dog made some big appointments in March 2018 and some of the changes inside the company relate directly to the release of the companies next big game release, which is of course, The Last of Us Part 2. Writing on a new post on Naughty Dog's website, president Evan Wells announced that Neil Druckmann - who has had key roles in the development of the first two Uncharted games and as the creative director for both The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 - has been promoted to vice president. Despite the change in role, Druckmann will remain as The Last of Us Part 2's creative director.
Wells' also revealed the joint game directors for The Last of Us Part 2, revealing that Anthony Newman and Kurt Margenau, previously lead game designers on Uncharted 4 and with experiencing working on the first Last of Us game, would take the lead. "Both Kurt and Anthony joined Naughty Dog during Uncharted 2 and have been instrumental in leading the design department, and have been key contributors on our subsequent games," Wells said. Most recently Margenau was integral as the joint director for Uncharted spin-off Lost Legacy. Finally, it was announced that Emilia Schatz and Richard Cambier will serve as the lead designers for the new Last of Us game, again having showed their pedigree previously having worked on multiple Naughty Dog games, including Uncharted 4 and the original Last Of Us title.
The Last of Us 2 Part 2 story All we know so far is that The Last of Us II takes place five years after the events of the first game. This means main character Ellie will be 19 years old in this game, and will be watched over by Joel - who is slowly ageing and losing the energy he once had. Ellie is remarkably angry - that much is clear from the marketing material released for the game so far. The game's story is written by Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross, and Druckmann has stated that in contrast with the first installment, which was centered around love, The Last of Us II will be centered around hate. Expect Ellie's story in this game to revolve around revenge or something similar - maybe we'll see more human enemies in this game than infected enemies as a result.
The Last of Us Part 2 - Development update Troy Baker speaks: The Last of Us Part 2 release date might still be some while away but after this latest news, it feels that little bit closer. According to Troy Baker, the world famous voice actor who plays Joel in The Last of Us, they've just finished a playtest for the game. Baker was speaking at a press panel - along with Nolan North - at the MCM Comic Con in Birmingham, when he revealed the news, along with usual plaudits saying how awesome the game looked. He said: "We just finished a playtest and it’s looking awesome, I can’t wait for it to be on shelves” As Redditors pointed out, a playtest is a great sign for the game. One even said: “A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before bringing it to market”. Maybe E3 2018 could be where we get to see a world first demo for the game. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
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The Last of Us 2 - CGI DOGS Hold the front page. The Last of Us 2 is probably going to include a CGI dog. In a tweet celebrating the start of the Chinese Year of the Dog, Naughty Dog director Neil Druckmann posted a picture of himself sitting with a dog in a motion-capture suit. Whilst Druckmann doesn't detail what role the dog will have in the game, it's safe to say it'll be a fairly big part - otherwise why would the studio go through the hassle of motion-capturing the animal? Whether the dog will be a friend or foe, however, is yet to be revealed. It could be that the dog is going to be your 'buddy' - something Naughty Dog is a fan of including in its games. In the first The Last of Us title, we saw Ellie act as your buddy, whilst Uncharted 4 saw Nathan's brother Sam take up that role for the most part.
The Last of Us 2 - Druckmann on his Inspiration The Last of Us 2 director Neil Druckmann took to the stage at the DICE Summit last week for a talk called Crafting Narratives for Video Games, Film, and Television. Though Druckmann touched on numerous topics, including content that was cut from Uncharted 4, he did provide something of an update on The Last of Us Part 2. More specifically the director opened up about the inspirations for the game and one of those concerned the award-winning graphic novel turned Netflix original series, The End of the F***ing World. “There’s a show on Netflix called The End of the F***ing World, which is so well written and acted and quirky, and has been totally inspiring for some of the stuff we’re doing in [The Last of Us 2]—more on the dialogue stuff.” He also noted how the studio drew a lot of inspiration from Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 dystopian thriller film, Children of Men.
Although video game graphics continue to improve every year, depicting intimacy in a human and convincing way is still tricky. More often than not, when things get hot and heavy in games, it tends to look stilted and wooden. But in its new trailer for The Last of Us Part II, Naughty Dog delivered a master class in intimate animation, and the most striking thing was how much attention the studio put into the smallest details.
Just look at Ellie’s expressions in the early moments of the footage. Notice the way she raises her eyebrows, bites her lips, how small tendrils of her hair sway naturally. It’s even more compelling for the ways it isn’t perfect: her face is lightly sweaty and her hair is slightly matted, just like it would be in a room full of people dancing and letting loose. See the way characters look at each other, the way their eyes shine when their gaze falls on a certain person; it’s almost as if there’s a real human being there, not just pixels. Then, when Ellie and the other woman kiss, look at the way Ellie’s lips pucker hesitantly and then lock with the other woman, how their necks crane and shift as the kiss unfolds.
Fans keep raving about this moment online because it is remarkable in how well it captures something so unremarkable. These subtle details are easy to miss precisely because they are so natural; they look the way people are supposed to look in our most awkward and intimate moments — something we aren’t accustomed to seeing in games, but one that creates an instant connection to the character.
Share. A new demo showcased Ellie sneaking around a forest environment. A new demo showcased Ellie sneaking around a forest environment.
Ellie has been confirmed as a playable character with brand new gameplay via the new The Last of Us Part 2 demo showcased during PlayStation's E3 press conference. Armed with a bow, a backpack, and a knife, Ellie snuck around a forest environment in the demo.
The demo featured an intense combat scenario bookended by scenes of Ellie dancing with a previously unknown character named Dina. According to an update by game director Neil Druckmann on the PlayStation Blog, "Ellie is now 19 and has found a semblance of peace and normality living in Jackson" at the time of the demo. Ellie has found some peace but it is "disrupted by a violent act."
Exit Theatre Mode
Druckmann wrote that Naughty Dog has overhauled its system, creating new combat and new stealth mechanics. Druckmann promises enemies are more sophisticated, communicating with each other and more aware of their surroundings.
Dina is played by Shannon Woodward and another new character featured in the trailer, Jesse, is played by Stephen Chang.
Sony previously announced that The Last of Us; Part 2 would be one of the four main focuses of its E3 presentation, alongside Spider-Man, Death Stranding, and Ghost of Tsushima.
The Last of Us: Part 2 was officially announced on stage at PSX 2016. Since then, we got a second trailer for the game late in 2017 at Paris Games Week, and then later at PSX 2017, Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann confirmed that some of the game would take place in Seattle, which many fans were theorizing.
The original Last of Us came out on PS3 back in 2013. We scored it a 10, calling it a Masterpiece and awarding it our Game of the Year for 2013. Since then, Naughty Dog has ported The Last of Us to PS4, as well as released a pair of great Uncharted games in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Preorder The Last of Us: Part 2 soon on Amazon.
