June 18, 2018 by Paul Curtin
Sony cut right to the chase at E3 this year, opening their 2018 PlayStation Showcase with a first look at the game everyone has been dying to see, The Last of Us 2. We were lucky enough to experience the very first look in a replica of the church teased in the trailer… and gameplay most certainly lived up to the hype.
With no sign of Joel, other than being referred to briefly at the beginning as Ellie’s “old man,” Sony’s stunning first look focused on a now-grown-up Ellie sharing an intimate moment that beautifully transitioned in and out of yet another nail-biting stealth/action sequence that nobody does better than the team at Naughty Dog.
As with any Naughty Dog game, the visuals seem to have improved since their previous game, last year’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and gameplay has evolved by adding in new mechanics that seamlessly blend traditional cutscene moments with real-time gameplay.
Aside from obvious new features like the ability to go prone (which is sure to shake things up in the game’s superb online multiplayer mode), little details such as Ellie getting a tattoo to cover up her bite marks, picking up and throwing a glass bottle at an enemy while on the move, squeezing between narrow objects, and jumping backwards to dodge incoming enemy attacks all sum up the little things that collectively put Naughty Dog in a league of their own at the top of the industry.
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is considered by many to be the greatest game of all time, so expectations have been set very high for the team’s follow-up. And with some of the developers’ top talent leaving the studio since the first game’s release, there has been some concern among fans whether the acclaimed devs can top themselves once again.
That concern is quickly vanishing with each new look we get at the sequel. Sony’s PlayStation 4 exclusive, The Last of Us 2, was easily one of the best things at E3 2018 which has us hyped for even more jaw-dropping gameplay trailers like this one in the months to come at Gamescom, PlayStation Experience, and The Game Awards.
