The Last of Us 2 was one of the biggest video game releases in the industry last year, garnering multiple awards for its narrative and technical achievements while also stirring up a bit of controversy regarding how Joel’s storyline was treated in the sequel. Even with these criticisms specifically geared towards the storyline aside, the gameplay, tone and overall feel of this post apocalpytic landscape were elements considered at the top of the class in gaming experiences.
Even with this praise aside, there is an elephant in the room concerning one of Sony’s hottest properties, being the long anticipated multiplayer mode for The Last of Us 2. Interest in this new gameplay mode reached a fever pitch when The Last of Us 2 multiplayer gameplay leaked online, only to be swiftly removed, adding some credibility to the fact that the footage was indeed the real deal.
Whatever the reason may be for Naughty Dog and Sony, fans are scrounging for any new information about the leak, even hoping it would be a surprise inclusion during February’s PlayStation State of Play, only to be left disappointed. Although a single player developer first and foremost, there remain a number of reasons why Naughty Dog should shed some light on this secretive game mode.
Although story based single player games are alive and well, even those titles still opt to include a multiplayer component for players to enjoy long after the credits roll. Rockstar games seemingly prides itself on not only being able to create compelling storylines for gamers, but also supplying robust multiplayer features as well. Grand Theft Auto Online continues to be supported to this day, well after the original launch of the game seven years ago, and Red Dead Online was launched a mere month after its own base game became available.
The campaigns in both of these Rockstar titles were by no means small in comparison to the multiplayer counterpart either, with both taking dozens of hours to complete. Much like The Last of Us 2‘s seven year development, Rockstar spent extraordinary amounts of time fine tuning the single player adventures in both of these open world titles. However, the development team was also able to launch multiplayer for both games not long after release, while The Last of Us 2 is nearing a year old with still no sign of the multiplayer mode.
Rockstar is a massive company and perhaps comparing them to Naughty Dog, both in terms of business practice and creative choices, may seem like apples and oranges. However, when another first party PlayStation studio, Sucker Punch, completely surprised everyone and announced a multiplayer component called Ghost of Tsushima: Legends for its smash hit samurai game, many fans raised an eyebrow at how at the same time. Naughty Dog still hasn’t even officially shown off a sliver of its own multiplayer mode.
Although many gamers were already pumped for the launch of the original The Last of Us at the end of the PlayStation 3’s lifespan, Naughty Dog shocked many by revealing that a fully fledged multiplayer mode called ‘Factions’ was to be included with the release. While the studio had previous forays in multiplayer content with the release of the Uncharted series prior, the extremely violent tone of trailers and narrative-heavy focus the game seemed to have led many to believe it was strictly meant to be a single player adventure and nothing more.
The single player storyline of the game is undoubtedly what many would consider the biggest standout of the original title. However, the multiplayer mode seemed to have just as much care and attention poured into it, with a legion of fans still playing it well until the original PS3 servers for ‘Factions’ shut down in 2019.
Sony’s latest console has been on the market for a few months now, and while many still struggle to buy PS5 consoles, those lucky gamers that have managed to snag one are ushering in the next generation of games. While Demon’s Souls and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales have proven to be impressive showcases for the hardware and other big releases like Returnal are on the way, there is a lack of first-party multiplayer content for early adopters to enjoy. Godfall’s many bugs and technical issues have held it back from being the big hit it wanted to be, a spot that can be easily filled by Naughty Dog.
The long-anticipated addition for The Last of Us 2 has been long teased, with Neil Druckmann saying multiplayer is worth the wait, but considering that statement was issued last September, fans grow anxious awaiting new details. Of course, if the multiplayer mode simply isn’t ready to be launched yet, then Naughty Dog should continue to take its time to ensure a stable and polished product. But even so, even the simplest of teaser trailers would more than suffice and acknowledge the existence of something for PS5 players to look forward to.
The Last of Us 2 is available for PlayStation 4.
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