Naughty Dog is sharing some new details about The Last of Us' upcoming Left Behind DLC. A new developer interview shares some insight from voice actresses Ashley Johnson (Ellie) and Yaani King (Riley) about their characters and their history. On top of that, a couple of the studio's designers also reveal some of what can be expected from Left Behind, in terms of gameplay.
The Last of Us will soon be getting a new single-player campaign with "Left Behind," a prequel tale that goes over the events of the American Dreams comic. The adventure will introduce Riley, Ellie's best friend before she encounters Joel. In a new cinematic video, you'll get a glimpse of how the two interact with one another.
At PAX Prime this year, Naughty Dog showed off an unused "alternate" ending for The Last of Us. It's quite special--but unless you've already seen the original ending, you may want to avoid it for now.
The opening moments of The Last of Us are filled with unexpected surprises. One of them is the title sequence--a first for a Naughty Dog game.
According to creative director Neil Druckmann, plans for the title sequence came very late in production, after all the scenes were already in the game. However, given the significant time lapse that happens between the prologue and the rest of the story, Druckmann thought the break would ease players into the experience.
While The Last of Us' single player captured the attention of the gaming world, the multiplayer is none too shabby. Our biggest complaint was the lack of modes in the game's online offering--a problem that's being addressed with the upcoming 1.03 title update.
The free patch adds a brand new multiplayer mode to the game: Interrogation. It's a two-part objective game mode where rival teams must try and interrogate opponents to get intel on a lockbox. Interrogations can only be triggered by sneaking up on an unsuspecting opponent and beating it out of them. This will take some time, leaving you exposed to counterattack.
The Last of Us draws a lot from Naughty Dog's Uncharted series. Both are third-person cover shooters utilizing the same engine. And for a while, it did seem like The Last of Us would be merely "Uncharted in hardcore mode." (Thankfully, the end result was much more inspired.)
Neil Druckmann, lead designer of Uncharted 2 and creative director of The Last of Us, talked about how a cut idea from the Uncharted games led to the genesis of their survival horror world.
The Last of Us is a rather unforgettable experience. Days and weeks after finishing the campaign, I still couldn't stop thinking about the ending. However, things could have ended differently, creative director Neil Druckmann explained in a very revealing interview.
Spoilers ahead.
Updated with response from Naughty Dog.
The Last of Us is great. But not so great that you'll want to start over from the beginning as your save magically disappears.
Apparently, the game is currently bugged, preventing players from auto-saving the game. Some players are reporting that manual saves are impossible too, once the debilitating glitch afflicts the system. Given that reviewers didn't face this issue when issuing their near-perfect scores for the game, it's likely that the culprit is a day one patch.
I died over 75 times playing The Last of Us on Hard difficulty. You don't have to suffer the same fate! After playing through the campaign, here are some helpful hints that should give you the edge.
Obviously...
Use Listen Mode. It will help you detect enemies and give you the upper hand in a battle. Also, don't rush into battle. Stealth is generally the better approach. And make sure you scavenge the environment. You won't be able to craft as many items, or upgrade your weapons, or level up Joel without the goodies hidden in the environment. Perhaps the most valuable items you'll find are training manuals. These will help you upgrade your crafted items. For example, finding the manual on "knots" will allow you to enhance your melee weapon to withstand two lethal hits instead of just one.
At first glance, The Last of Us embodies the tired nature of gaming at the end of this generation. It's a third-person cover shooter with zombies (or as the game calls them, "the Infected"). Perhaps the only genre more thoroughly exploited in the past few years is the modern military first-person shooter.
While it would be easy to dismiss Naughty Dog's latest as simply an "undead Uncharted," The Last of Us does so much to separate itself from its predecessors. This is the most mature title to come from the Santa Monica studio, and not simply because of the violence and gore on display. Even in the confines of such a familiar genre, The Last of Us dares to challenge many modern gaming tropes. The end result is a journey that is as thoughtful as it is exhilarating, and easily stands as Naughty Dog's best work to date.
"I'm not sure how you expect me to read this without a big number at the top out of 10."
- ForcedEvolutionaryVirus
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Yesterday, we gave you an extensive preview on the long-hidden multiplayer modes of The Last of Us. But words can rarely do video games justice, so thankfully a video has made its way onto the internet.
As previously detailed, TLOU's online offerings are limited to two variations of team deathmatch between humans only. And while the Infected may not come into play in this initial release, something has us thinking that the game's upcoming DLC may change all that.
Ever since The Last of Us was revealed, Naughty Dog has promised that its upcoming game would feature a multiplayer component. Yet, although we're just a week away from the game's release, there's been little revealed on what that would entail. In fact, we knew more about multiplayer DLC than how it actually plays.
Well, until now. Last week, Sony invited us to play the game's two multiplayer modes. We walked away impressed by how well the survival action gameplay of the campaign translates in a competitive environment. However, with only two modes, we're concerned about the longevity of the game's online offerings.
After our last go at it, we boldly proclaimed that The Last of Us is still good. Naughty Dog's survival horror game has been long-awaited, and if you want a taste before its June 18 release, you best dust off your copy of God of War: Ascension. Today, owners of the disc will be able to access a special early demo.
As is standard for big-budget AAA games, The Last of Us will have DLC. It will also have a Season Pass, so that you can pre-order DLC at a discount. And as with any game that includes a multiplayer component, post-release content will expand the game's competitive modes. However, Naughty Dog has announced that it also has plans on releasing single-player DLC after launch--a first for the studio.
There will be three pieces of DLC after the game launches: two multiplayer, one single-player. "The journey and cast of characters in The Last of Us lends itself to thorough narrative exploration and we've got more of the story to tell," Naughty Dog says in the announcement.
The Last of Us takes place in an apocalyptic world, one where resources are tight and scavenging is a way of life. In the game, you'll explore the environment, foraging for materials you can use to craft new items and equipment. Half-empty bottles of liquor, discarded towels, broken razor blades, and even sugar can all be transformed into deadly tools for Joel to use on his journey.
"Yay! I was wondering how they were going to address combat, since they made a big deal in the ..."
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