Obviously, the massively successful PS3 game The Last of Us is getting a sequel, but it’s still great to hear it directly from Naughty Dog!
Naughty Dog recently did a Nathan Drake-themed livestream, during which it seems that writer Josh Scherr accidentally confirmed the company’s plans for a second The Last of Us game, by referring to the 2013 original as “the first.”
An IGN reader first noticed the slip, and examining the video (available on IGN), it seems pretty obvious that Scherr was trying to backtrack after accidentally outing the sequel.
“All the facial animation in the Uncharted series was led up by Eric, here,” he said in the video, “and [on] the first The Last of Us. Uh, did I say the first The Last of Us?”
Of course, there is technically more than one TLOU game: When The Last of Us was remastered for PS4, a lengthy DLC titled Left Behind allowed players to experience the events leading up to Ellie being bitten by an Infected. And you might also consider the game’s extensive multiplayer expansion a separate game in its own right.
However, coupling this slip-up with the events of this year’s IndyPop Con (during which voice actor Nolan North talked very matter-of-factly about the game’s sequel), it’s starting to seem pretty blatant that a second game is indeed happening.
Related: The Last of Us director promises “big changes” from game to film
And honestly, as much as we enjoy The Last of Us as a standalone gaming experience, we’re itching to get back into the beautiful, horrifying post-apocalyptic world imagined by Neil Druckmann.
A second game might also offer some improvements: less linear gameplay, perhaps, or better AI interactivity with both the player’s allies and enemies.