Defeating Citizen Kane: What Lies In Store For The Last Of Us 2?

(This article will talk about The Last Of Us, a game for Playstation 3 (remastered for PS4 as well), If you do not want to read spoilers stop reading, go and buy a playstation and play the game already. No need to thank me. That is all.)

Ellie and Joel are returning. Or are they?

In another one of those 'not quite a suprise' moments, Last Of Us 2 has all but been confirmed.  Nolan North, who has worked with Naughty Dog on the previous incarnation as well as the Uncharted series before now, casually spilled the news in a recent Q&A, like neighbours might trade gossip. It might have been bigger news across the gaming community if this was a particularly big surprise, but in truth, The Last Of Us is ripe for a sequel, and perhaps more then many games, deserves one.

For those who might not know what the Last Of Us is, or those people who have been chopping wood in Siberia for seventeen years and so are behind on the big gaming talk lets reflect: The Last Of Us was a rare breed of game (these days) that set high expectations in the previews at big gaming events like E3, kept the hype train going for months and months and even then, surpassed expectations. It succeeded on every scale; it made Naughty Dog £3 million within 48 hours of release and continued to sell massively for months to come. It was amazingly received by gamers and critics, and received reams of awards. There is an article on wikipedia about the awards recieved by this game that is longer then the wiki for most towns. It was called repeatedly the 'Citizen Kane' of games.

Nolan North: Lord Of Video Game Voiceovers (And Gossip).

Cliche, yes, but it wouldn't be much better comparing this post-apocalyptic game to Shaun The Sheep (sorry); and the level of praise is not entirely wide of the mark. It is not just a good stealth-combat-scavenge game, it pulls on every string. The prologue is heart breaking, the relationships pull you in hook line and sinker. The combat is tense and terrifying and fun and how many more words can I use to make the point? For hours of your life you are fully invested/obsessed with protecting this kid, Ellie, from men and monsters, and you will love it. Not to mention, there is actually a decent multiplayer mode as well, and some highly acclaimed DLC too.

It is rare in the gaming world that such success isn't built on; It would almost be like Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil just stopping where they ended. Looking back and imagining the world without the follow ons to both of these would be a strange experience. You could certainly take The Last Of Us further. Little of the world is really revealed in game, for all the hours and detail and depth; there is plenty of unknown, plenty of story to tell.

The biggest stickler of course is the problem that will face many great games. Defeating Citizen Kane, surpassing the levels of the previous game is to most, daunting. Certainly to many gamers who would be happy with status quo as far as The Last Of Us was concerned. Why go back when The Last Of Us was as good as it is ever going to get? To paraphrase one dissenting view, how are they going to take the 'road trip' of a game with Joel and Ellie and rehash it with The Last Of Us and not make it stale? Many game can and do go down this path of no return; Alone In The Dark Being a recent, alarming example. 

For the uninitiated, these are clickers, and they appear alot in
The Last Of Us. Despite how they might look, they
are your friend and you should teat them with respect.

One of the questions however, has already possibly been answered. Troy Baker, another voice of many characters in many games, including (again) Uncharted and The Last Of Us, denied any knowledge of another Last Of Us game in the works in the days after Nolan North's off hand confession. A piece of information that suggests that the sequel with be bereft of his lovely, Texan tones. While a loss, it isn't the worst loss. While Joel was a huge character in his own right who underwent lots of growth through the first game, it was Ellie who was the hook for the game; this sassy, sweary kid who could look after herself and really just wanted an escape from loneliness, an escape from abandonment.

There is plenty of scope for her to grow as a character, and so plenty of scope to follow her in the same way that Telltale moved the story onto Clementine in their Walking Dead series. And seeing her as an adult, with years of her own story to tell would be as revitalising as any. You would hope.

It feels unrealistic certainly, that Naughty Dog would stray too far away from the two characters that were fundamental to The Last Of Us' success. One maybe, but surely not two, especially when either have room to grow even now. There is an argument maybe keeping those characters in the game will open The Last Of Us 2 up to comparison to the first game; a comparison that realistically is inescapable, new characters or no. Naughty Dog will have to face up to it's Citizen Kane one way or another. But they are one of the best gaming companies of recent years and there won't be many doubts that they are up to the challenge.

In any case, if they make a game that is even close to as good as the Last Of Us 2, it will be a very good game indeed. Let the hype train begin.