Earlier this week as part of Sony’s State of Play event, The Last Of Us Part 2 took centre stage in the world of Playstation once again. The game, a highly-anticipated sequel, has been out of the spotlight for almost a year, only to have a release date announced within the next five months.
Today, the 26th of September, has brought the game to the front of many media outlets even more, because it’s what is known as Outbreak Day. The outbreak in the universe of The Last Of Us, which saw a human variant of the cordyceps fungus spread around the globe, started on the 26th of September. Ever since the first game launched, this day has been celebrated by The Last Of Us community, and today developer Naughty Dog is joining in.
On the 24th of September, the same day as Sony’s State of Play, journalists were invited to play a small two-hour demo of The Last Of Us Part II. The embargo for details on that demo ended today, and a video of said demo has even been released by Naughty Dog. Check the video out below and read on for more details.
Amongst the slew of new information about the game came a saddening piece of news that the incredible multiplayer mode from The Last Of Us, Factions mode, won’t be returning in the sequel.
This news originally came from Naughty Dog’s lead game designer, Emilia Schatz, in an interview with USGamer. The information was later confirmed by a Sony representative via email. It’s unfortunate that both the biggest authorities on The Last Of Us Part 2 have weighed in on the matter, since it leaves no room for doubt, and little room for hope that Factions mode will return in some form at some point in the future.
The Last Of Us Factions was a multiplayer mode released with a very single player focused title, at a time when most games were seeing multiplayer shoehorned into them. However, Factions was a brilliant addition to the game. Players had to battle others across large maps in team deathmatch style games, crafting equipment from resources found in the map, and using the same weapons found in the single player mode.
Outside of each match was a small meta game, which showed players the camp of survivors they were responsible for. Players had specific goals, such as killing three enemies with a particular weapon, which would award them with more survivors and supplies. If they failed these goals, then their survivors would suffer, something that was made all the more hilarious when players linked their Facebook account, prompting small messages about their mothers having dysentery.