The Last of Us Part II State of Play broadcasted with 23 days left to go before its release date of June 19, 2020, and its in-depth look has done well in contributing to Naughty Dog’s steady build of hype after the long wait for the sequel. Hosted by Neil Druckmann, vice president of Naughty Dog and Director of the game, The Last of Us Part II State of Play treats us to new details about the overall gameplay experience, story, and a never-before-seen, lengthy gameplay sequence. It’s 23 and a half minutes that simply fly by.
Gorgeous visuals and engaging violence aside, the highlights of The Last of Us Part II State of Play definitely come from the improved personalization towards upgrading and crafting options to your weapons and overall style of play. For example, the new workbench system allowing you to modify and improve your weapon’s performance and attributes. Crafting has improved even further with extended varieties for defensive and offensive items, including proximity mines, explosive arrows, and pistol suppressors. That last one will be a real game-saver!
The Last of Us Part II has had a massive share of problems leading up to its release, however. In March 2020, a report by then-Kotaku journalist, Jason Schreier, caused Naughty Dog some bad PR. In the development of the game, the studio had been imposing a continued crunch schedule of 12-hour workdays (or longer) and even weekends. In late April 2020, there was a leak of videos online, which showed cutscenes, gameplay, and plot details. The individual reportedly responsible was later found by Sony before it being later reported that it was a group of hackers behind the leak. Now there’s even the possibility of the game being banned in the Middle East.
What did you think of The Last of Us Part II State of Play? Be sure to let us know in the comments!
