“You think I’d let you do this on your own?” Joel asks Ellie at the end of the release date trailer.
And with that, the release date for The Last of Us II was confirmed for February 21, 2020. Today’s State of Play was short and sweet and left the most exciting announcement for last. By the looks of the footage we saw, this is going to be the darkest game Naughty Dog has ever released.
I mean it, this is going to get brutal – and I’m here for it.
Like most watching the new trailer today, I needed a bit more. Luckily, Neil Druckmann took to the PlayStation Blog to talk more about the game.
“We began working on this game over five years ago. It’s hard to describe the immense pressure of following up the first game. We know how much you love this world and its characters — especially Ellie and Joel.” says Neil Druckmann. “Believe me, we’re fans as well. We love them. Which is why we spent years crafting a game that we feel will do them justice, telling a nuanced story that deals with the core question: how far would you go to exact justice against the people that hurt the ones you love?”
We know the world within The Last of Us is a complex place and it isn’t somewhere you go to find a happy ending. As we see in the new trailer, things for Ellie quickly go from good to bad. Thankfully, Naughty Dog is up to the task to tell this herculean tale – due in part to having 35 years of history to fall back on. The Last of Us II is also the largest game in the studio’s history.
We learned of a few versions coming in February as well – The Last of Us Part II Standard Edition, Special Edition, Digital Deluxe Edition, Collector’s Edition, and Ellie Edition.
The Collector’s Edition features a neat statue of Ellie, Ellie’s bracelet (want!), SteelBook case, 48-page art book from Dark Horse, six enamel pins, lithograph art print, and a set of five stickers. The Collector’s Edition also comes with a voucher for digital content, including a PS4 dynamic theme, a set of six PSN avatars, a digital soundtrack, and a digital version of the mini art book.
The Ellie Edition gives you all of the contents of the Collector’s Edition, plus a full-sized, fully functional recreation of Ellie’s backpack, an embroidered patch, and a 7” vinyl record featuring music from the original soundtrack.
