The Last of Us 2 is set to come to fans this year, despite the game being one of many major games delayed on October 24th. From what little has been shown, it seems this new game is likely to be even darker, grittier, and scarier than the first. There are many factors that differentiate this game from the first, like Ellie now being the main playable character, the five year time jump, smarter enemies, and new infected, but one thing in particular is the advancements made to gameplay mechanics.
For those unaware, The Last of Us 2 will follow Ellie’s quest for revenge against a faction which has somehow wronged her, presumably by harming her friend and love interest Dina. Some gameplay footage has been shown, and although it is not a lot, it does give some clues as to what differences in gameplay will be present when the game finally releases. Ultimately, gameplay of The Last of Us can be broken down into four major components: survival, stealth, traversal, and combat. These four core concepts transfer into The Last of Us 2 with some new features to make them feel all the more immersive.
Survival
The Last of Us is a tale of how Joel learns to become human again, transitioning from simply surviving to actually living. That said, there is plenty of surviving that must happen along the way. This mostly takes the form of scavenging for resources and crafting. Unfortunately, resources are quite scarce and the player must search diligently to find anything. The main resources in the first game include blades, binding, rags, alcohol, explosives, and sugar, all of which can be combined in various manners so Joel can craft shivs, more deadly melee weapons, health kits, molotovs, nail bombs, and smoke bombs.
The Last of Us 2 is likely to be just as, if not even more, hard on the player in regards to resources. As more time passes since the infection began, resources from pre-infection time begin to run low due to looting and spoiling. This screenshot of Ellie crafting in the gameplay demo shows a few things. Certain recipes, namely the molotov, health kit, and smoke bomb, seem to return. The explosive, alcohol, and blade ingredient symbols are shown too, along with what looks to be gasoline possibly and a new material called scrap.
Scrap may relate to the parts from the previous game, but given that 15 are required to craft one explosive arrow, it seems they’ll function in a different capacity. The developers have confirmed that certain recipes will be unlocked via character upgrades in The Last of Us 2, meaning that there is likely much and more yet seen that players will be able to craft.
Stealth
One thing which really set The Last of Us apart from other games like it is the potency and viability of stealth. While there are some scenes in which combat is required to progress, most of the game can be completely bypassed through stealth, even without killing very many enemies. Joel’s unique “superpower” of being able to see enemies through walls thanks to his excellent hearing certainly helped with this, but Ellie has some new tricks. Whether or not the hearing ability will carry over into this game is unclear, but it seems unlikely given that the grounded mode removed this ability and is claimed by developers to be the way they intended the game to be played.
Beyond that, Ellie is now able to army crawl through tall grass or underneath vehicles in order to hide. She is far more nimble and able to utilize different escape routes now, and will desperately need to, as human enemy’s AI has been significantly upgraded in The Last of Us 2.
Traversal
Solving puzzles and navigating the landscape proved to be one of the easier parts of The Last of Us. Lacking a dedicated jump button, most puzzles in The Last of Us were relatively two dimensional and were easy enough to figure out. Exploration proved important because of the need for materials, but was never too threatening or challenging.
This seems to be changing some in The Last of Us 2. Ellie is smaller, more nimble, and a lot younger than Joel, a fact seen in Ellie’s gameplay trailer and talked about by the developers at length. Players will be able to climb, jump, and traverse the environment in all new ways in the upcoming game, allowing for more complex, three dimensional puzzles and areas. Additionally, Ellie’s size allows her to squeeze through places some of her assailants may be unable to, an ability which proves useful in combat.
Combat
By the start of The Last of Us, Ellie was mostly untrained in combat. All that is known is that she did attend military school and partake in drills where “we learn how to kill fireflies,” and that she killed at least one infected before she and Riley were bitten. That said, she clearly is a quick learner, as during winter she is capable of not only escaping David’s crew, but killing almost all of them. Her agile form makes her more adept at dodging, as shown in gameplay footage of her narrowly avoiding machetes, infected (including the Shambler, a new infected class), and sledgehammers.
Crafting seems to allow for new kinds of weapons like exploding arrows and there will likely be more options as players progress. Additionally, certain returning weapons have different mechanics; the bow’s crosshair is much different, and perhaps more realistic, than the arcing line which players were fortunate enough to have in the first game. Thankfully, Ellie still has her trademark knife, and seems just as skilled with it as ever.
There are bound to be many more changes to the game beyond these, but these are the notable ones that have been shown in trailers and discussed by the developers. The Last of Us 2 is certainly throwing new challenges at players, but thankfully they are also providing players with new means of conquering said challenges. One goal of Naughty Dog for the new game is to make it as realistic as possible, and a lot of these changes are things that fans were frustrated they couldn’t do before. With how complex of a character Ellie is, one thing is for certain: The Last of Us 2 is shaping up to be an incredible game.
The Last of Us 2 is expected to release on May 29, 2020, for PS4.
