Last week Sony held a State of Play event that focused entirely on The Last Of Us Part 2. The game was originally meant to be launching sooner than June, but a number of reasons, some of which we may never uncover, pushed it all the way back to the 19th of June. With just a couple of weeks to go, Naughty Dog gave everyone a brand new unprecedented look at the game, and some of the new features it brings to the series. I can tell you now that it was amazing, and is well worth watching.
There are a few key things to takeaway from this gameplay, the first of which is just how open the game’s world is. With Uncharted 4, Naughty Dog introduced a new kind of exploration in their games. They drop you in massive open spaces, and simply allow you to walk around at your own pace. Yes, there is an overall objective, but you can get to it as soon, or as slowly, as you want to. These areas are filled with both places to find, including story beats that you may otherwise miss entirely, and lots and lots of enemies.
A big point was made about how you can choose to avoid or go after enemies in these sections of the game. Ellie can now use ropes to access different parts of the wide open space, meaning she could get the drop on, or avoid, a bunch of infected, or find a way to get a decent weapon that will destroy them all later. This makes the game feel more like an open world one without it actually needing all of the tropes of that genre. It’s still got a core to the story, and that’s the focus, but you have a degree of freedom.
The next big thing to talk about is the infected, and combat in general. There are new types of infected, named Bloaters, and they’re disgusting. They’ll get in your face and blast you with corrosive gas, and generally suck to fight. However, there are also bigger, more terrifying things out in the world this time around. Seattle is a new location, and the human cordyceps virus has had even more years to adapt to the environment, weather, and just fester in hosts for longer.
When it comes to combat, Ellie has more options at her disposal. She can craft silenced weapons, and smash windows to open up new avenues to escape. This will make every encounter feel a lot more unique, because there are just so many different ways that you can approach them.
Finally, Naughty Dog confirmed that there will be multiple combinations of infected and humans to fight. How this plays out remains to be seen, but I do know that this is much more similar to the combat in The Last Of Us’ DLC, Left Behind. We’ll have to wait and see just what each encounter plays out like in a few weeks.