The Last of Us to feature 'online component'

The Last of Us is a lonely story of two survivors traveling a ruined, post-apocalyptic world. It's hard to imagine how online play fits into that equation, but Naughty Dog says the game will feature some kind of online component. However, even the developer doesn't seem to know what it will be yet.

"We're going to have some sort of online component," director Bruce Straley told Game Informer (via Push Square). "We're working on a bunch of ideas, but we haven't nailed anything down."

It might seem strange, but many were skeptical about the multiplayer in Uncharted 2 as well. Online functionality is virtually a requirement for big-budget games these days, and single player experiences like Mass Effect are including online features. Naughty Dog has stated that the partner character Ellie will be A.I. controlled, but could that dynamic be recreated in a cooperative--not competitive--mode?

As far as the single-player story goes, creative director Neil Druckmann says it's "self-contained" and doesn't leave dangling plot threads. "The characters and the journey they go through ends with this story." For a game about the apocalypse, that sounds ominous.