The primary focus of 2013’s The Last of Us certainly wasn’t its multiplayer mode, even though it was quite good. But, it looks like developer Naughty Dog could be going all in on the single-player story for The Last of Us Part II, as the sequel might not have a multiplayer mode upon release.
Recently, a user on Reddit uploaded a photo of a PlayStation Days of Play box, which, in the fine print, specifically said that The Last of Us Part II doesn’t support multiplayer. This could be a misprint or a mistake, but if it’s not, then some might be disappointed that Naughty Dog won’t be including an online-based mode in the sequel to TLOU.
Of course, if a multiplayer mode isn’t included upon the release of The Last of Us Part II, it could be added later as free DLC. Also, it’s likely that the studio will have a post-launch DLC for the game, much like they did for the first game back in 2013 via the Left Behind story expansion.
Even if players are disappointed at Naughty Dog leaving out the multiplayer component when The Last of Us Part II is released, the multiplayer has never been the selling point of the game, as many are eagerly waiting to continue Joel and Ellie’s story.
As of this writing, Naughty Dog hasn’t really shown much of Joel in any of the trailers. While he was included in the game’s reveal trailer back at 2016’s PlayStation Experience, his face was never shown. He was also briefly mentioned in the gameplay reveal trailer during last year’s E3 event, but he wasn’t shown or heard from in the trailer itself.
Many are predicting that the game will end up being released in February of next year, and if that ends up being the case, then Sony will likely release another trailer in the coming months. In it, players will likely get a better idea of what Joel’s role in the sequel will be, as it’d be hard to imagine that Naughty Dog would let the role of the first game’s protagonist be a complete mystery prior to Part II being released.
There are some who are still hoping that The Last of Us Part II will be released later this year but with Death Stranding set to be Sony’s big November release, Naughty Dog’s next big project could be pushed back to the rumored February release date.
