Last of Us 2 Psx Panel - Play as Ellie, "This is a game about hate"

The Last of Us Part 2 was one of the two (giant) bombs dropped by Naughty Dog at PSX (almost three if you count Crash Bandicoot). The trailer brought us back to the overgrown dystopian world by way of Ellie channeling her inner Johny Cash, picking a bluesy tune after (allegedly) murdering a house full of people.

Game Informer’s Andy McNamara moderated the panel and immediately asked who Ellie was referring to when she said “I’m going to find them, and kill them, all of them”.

Druckmann (lead director of TLOU) was obviously trying to avoid spoilers as he mused “let’s see how I do this dance”.

He explained that if the first game’s theme was about “the love between these two characters” and “how we built that through story, music, interaction, gameplay, mechanics…This story is the counter of that, this story is about hate….Through Ellie this time”.

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The crowd cheered approval at the mention of playing as Ellie (portrayed again by Ashley Johnson).

Johnson echoed the fans’ excitement.

“We’ve also been waiting for this day since the day we wrapped the first game. I’m so fu… I’m so glad it’s here”

“Oh Ellie” quipped Druckmann.

For those that feel a sequel is unnecessary and could tarnish the impact of the first game, Druckmann addressed those concerns.

“So much thought went into this and I know there’s a lot of people that feel this trepidation about coming back to these characters and revisiting what that ending means and worrying whether that’s gonna spoil the first”

“I played so many of the ideas that had different characters and it never felt right. The Last of Us is about these two characters specifically…the Part 2..it’s saying this is gonna be a larger story this is..a complimentary story to the first game, but the two together are gonna tell this much larger tale.. all I ask is that fans of the first one, put some faith in us, trust us, we’re gonna do right by you.”