While Naughty Dog has made their name with big cinematic single-player experiences, they’ve let it be known that their next big thing is a The Last of Us multiplayer project. Thus far, we don’t really know much about this new take on TLOU, other than it will be a standalone title, have a story, and be as larger and more ambitious than anything Naughty Dog has done before. That all sounds fine and good, but some very basic things remain a mystery, including what kind of multiplayer format we can expect from the game. Is it PvP? Co-op? A battle royale?
Well, in a recent interview BuzzFeed interview for TLOU on HBO, Neil Druckmann may have let some details about Naughty Dog’s multiplayer project slip. In addition to reiterating that the game will have a story and fresh cast of characters, Druckmann mentions that you’ll be able to “enter the world of TLOU with your friend.” That seems to imply a co-op game, and fans have noted that the few pieces of concept art Naughty Dog have revealed have depicted pairs of two working together.
“We’ve been pretty open that the next Last of Us game is going to be this multiplayer experience, where you’ll be able to enter the world of The Last of Us with your friend and get to experience the tension and the brutality of that world — and a brand new story and cast of characters that live in another city that we haven’t seen yet in the world of The Last of Us. This is going to be another chapter in the universe of The Last of Us.”
A two-player TLOU co-op game would certainly make sense, as the series has always focused on teams of two – one has just always been AI-controlled. Of course, there’s likely some other element to the next TLOU’s multiplayer. Will multiple teams of two be able to face off against each other perhaps? Will there be some sort of elaborate PvPvE structure?
A release window and platforms have yet to be revealed for The Last of Us multiplayer project. The TV version of TLOU is currently airing on HBO and HBO Max and is a pretty major hit.