Naughty Dog’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, has asked long time Uncharted and Last of Us fans to place their faith in the coveted game development studio as it makes its return to the story of Joel and Ellie for the highly awaited The Last of Us: Part 2.
Sharing thoughts during a panel held at the PlayStation Experience event, Druckmann confirmed that the teased sequel will take place just a few years after the events of the first game,(SPOILER COMING UP) when Ellie is aged 19. He further acknowledged all the worries among fans that creating a sequel tends to diminish the poignancy and magnificence of the first game’s ending and the breath taking journey that its two main characters went through.
So much thought went into this and I know there’s a lot of people that feel this trepidation about coming back to these characters and revisiting what that ending means and worrying whether that’s going to spoil the first game.
You have to understand we feel all those things as well. No one loves these characters more than we do and we would not do this if we didn’t feel like we had the right idea. The ‘Part II’ is really doubling down on that to say we believe in this so much. We’re not trying to avoid it,
said Druckmann.
According to him, Naughty Dog is treading the two games as companions that, together, depict an overarching narrative. He further explained:
I played with so many ideas that had different characters and it never felt right, the Last of Us is about these two characters specifically. So yes, the Part II is saying this is a complementary story to the first game, but the two together are going to tell this larger tale.
All I ask is that fans of the first one put faith in us and trust us. We’re going to do right by you.
Also worth noting from the panel discussion is that the main focus this time round will be on Ellie as the playable character unlike the first game where Joel was the main playable protagonist.
