Sony closed their E3 2012 press conference with a full-blown gameplay debut demo of The Last of Us; it’s a demo that still resonates to this day. The shock and awe of seeing a game by Naughty Dog look so bleak and bloody was such a bone-chilling experience. We had seen the transformation of Naughty Dog right before our eyes and what a demo it was. So many memorable moments such as Ellie throwing a brick to a hunter which allowed Joel to close-line him and do painful things to his face.
One of my favorite parts of the demo was listening to the banter between Joel and Ellie, a relationship we didn’t know intimately yet, but you could already tell that these two characters had a rocky, uneasy relationship. The demo was a lengthy one too, featuring some level exploration, traversal, chin-stroking bits of dialogue and brutal combat. One notable aspect that was missing from the demo was the iconic clicker enemies as this was a demo solely focused on the struggle of humanity. With E3 2018 in just a few short days, Sony will be looking to recapture that magic from 6 years ago. We can fully expect another lengthy demo of The Last of Us Part II, but what will we see?
The last time we saw footage of The Last of Us Part II, Naughty Dog decided to questionably release a cutscene trailer during Paris Games Week 2017 featuring characters we’ve never seen before. There was no Ellie and definitely no Joel. After the show, we were treated to a tantalizing tweet from Naughty Dog hinting at our new voice actors and who they’ll be playing. We know Laura Bailey is the voice of the mysterious,hammer-wielding, muscular woman but we don’t know who the character is. This tweet alone is all we have:
I think we will see a continuation of this trailer at E3 2018. It will be revealed that this sequence is actually the beginning of the game. We’ll also learn that the mysterious woman is actually Anna, Ellie’s long-lost mother. I think the game will intercut between playing as Anna and Ellie in the present. In the first game, we were able to cut from Joel gameplay to Ellie and it was a great surprise so I see Naughty Dog doubling down on this narrative feature. It’s also likely we will get a cinematic trailer attached to the gameplay demo similarly to how Guerrilla Games debuted Horizon: Zero Dawn back in 2015. Expect to see some bloody, hammer combat as the mysterious woman goes to town on the oncoming clickers and on some humans.
Neil Druckmann has already confirmed we will, in fact, see gameplay this year at E3 so all we have to do now is simply wait. Until then, let’s take another look at that Paris Games Week trailer as we prepare for more footage.
By the way, I’m super convinced this is the beginning of the game, it just feels that way in a Naughty Dog, unexpected kind of way. Have any theories about what we’ll see? Sound off below and join in on the conversation as E3 2018 approaches.
Not sure when E3 2018 starts? Have no fear, we have compiled a constantly-updated schedule to keep you posted.
