Rumors have come and gone about The Last of Us' sequel but there have been no confirmations for it. Well, gamers, gossip no more as The Last of Us: Part 2 is confirmed at the PlayStation Experience 2016 held over the weekend. The game has no timeline yet but the fact that it was officially announced has made all gamers, especially PlayStation fans, jump for joy.
Ellie is returning to the game as a 19 year-old young adult, singing a song after seemingly killing someone for survival. If you find that too brutal then you must be new to the game. Joel is also in the upcoming title as he enters the first ever scene at the PSX 2016 trailer for The Last of Us: Part 2. The reason why they put 'Part 2' instead of plain '2' or other suffix title is that both titles would complement each other to make one big story.
If there's one PlayStation franchise that has bagged the status we consider "legendary" it would be The Last of Us. It could have been Uncharted but the post-apocalyptic game just nailed it in all aspects. From drama, to action, to how everything is tied up together, it just came out as a masterpiece. Today, we know that there will be a sequel, and the risk about it being a flop is part of the expectation, stakes are high since fans are very eager about it.
On the other hand, Uncharted 4 just put icing on their three-layered Uncharted trilogy cake. The game has been adored for years and the fourth title just brought together long-time fans in a huddle. The thing is Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us are made by the same crew. This assures that although there are risks about The Last of Us: Part 2 being a disappointment, the fact that Naughty Dog has 4 main titles for the Uncharted franchise and still keeping the quality of the game assures that The Last of Us: Part 2 will do just fine.
With all the success Naughty Dog has achieved, it is safe to say that they are currently doing risk assessments and what not before pushing through with The Last of Us: Part 2. A lot of stuff needs to be considered before green lighting a game. I have handled some very small games back then and having it greenlit is a pain in the butt. This goes to show that approving a game for production is a tedious process.
Provided that Naughty Dog will handle The Last of Us: Part 2 the same way they did with Uncharted 4 and its predecessors, anticipating gamers should not be afraid about the game failing or worse, being cancelled. There may have been swaps of roles like changing its director and what not but this is how things go. Change is not always bad, sometimes we need it to evolve.
Speaking of evolution, Uncharted 4 has this grapple thing, which was not present from the previous 3 games. I believe Naughty Dog will also evolve the mechanics of The Last of Us: Part 2 to give players something new, not just reskin games and release every year (cough, Call of Duty, cough...).
In summary, both The Last of Us and Uncharted give and take innovations. This is one good strategy for Naughty Dog. A company that makes masterpieces in a timely manner.
