'Last of Us 2' Release Date, Trailer, Rumors, and Everything Else We Know

Sony’s E3 press conference on Monday started off in a church to the surprise of many that tuned in. What everyone realized once the event started was the venue was a recreation of a scene from the highly-anticipated sequel, The Last of Us Part II. From there, it was a rollercoaster experience that gamers are still talking about.

Naughty Dog’s Last of Us 2 was a hit at the Sony E3 press conference Monday. The game’s first reveal came in 2016 and last year, Sony released a second trailer showing some new characters. This E3 trailer was the first gameplay footage shown as well as hints of what happened in the time since the original game.

Story

The footage shown at the press conference starts off in a church and takes place four years after the events of the original game said writer and director Neil Druckmann. He also confirmed that Joel, the protagonist from the first game, is around in Jackson County, Wyoming, one of the locations from that game. Going by the E3 and Paris Games Week 2017 trailer, different factions of people are seemingly at war with each other. They’re taking each other prisoner and dealing with them in a violent manner. Although not shown in the E3 trailer, the Infected are still around as seen last year.

Gameplay

Ellie is seemingly the focus for Last of Us 2. Like the original, stealth is important, but a bit different this time around thanks to the different hero. She can hide and maneuver in areas that Joel couldn’t in the original as seen when she squeezes through a gap between shelves in the trailer. Even though she can hid, Ellie has access to multiple weapons with, what appears to be, a preference to a bow and arrow. The trailer also shows how she can quickly craft items, which includes an explosive arrow. Naughty Dog confirmed with Gamespot that players will be able to dodge attacks and pull out arrows out of Ellie like in the trailer. Multiplayer will also return in Last of Us 2.

Release Date

There’s no release date for the Last of Us 2 yet, but Sony could do what it did with the original game and announce the release date at the PlayStation Experience event it holds in December. If that happens then it can go for a March 2019 release date, a favorite for publishers since it’s the last month for the fiscal year for many companies. On the other hand, if it matches up with the first game, then that means the date will either be May or June 2019.

Another big hit at the Sony E3 press conference was the first gameplay footage of the remake Resident Evil 2, a game that hasn’t been seen since it was first announced back in 2015.