Naughty Dog looking to add an element of strategy to The Last of Us

By: Musa Afridi

  |   July 27th, 2012   |  

News, Uncategorized

While also bringing the ‘un-put-down-able’ magic of the Uncharted series to the new IP.

Naughty Dog is making a number of hefty promises that not only promise to raise the bar but are also adding enormous levels of hype to their upcoming title, The Last of Us.

Knowing their work with the Uncharted series it will not come as a surprise if the studio does deliver on a number of those promises, however, one could also say that the studio is making some hefty promises.

According to Naughty Dog the game will make players feel the consequences of their actions and invest in the emotions the in-game characters are experiencing as well. The problem with that, according to critics, is that video games have tried numerous times to get players emotionally involved a number of times in the past but have failed on all but a few rare occasions.

The studio though does seem to have a plan and explained that The Last of Us will be different from its previous titles in a number of ways; one of which is its emphasis on brutal combat and desperate tone.

Bruce Straley, the game’s director, explained “It’s not just for the sake of blood and violence.” Before continuing, “It’s to set the tone that when you’re strategizing as the player you’re feeling like, ‘Crap. Do I go left or right? Do I go up or down? How am I going to do this and what am I going to do? How much inventory do I have?’ etc.”

As for the inventory system itself, Joel, the game’s playable protagonist, would carry a backpack with him, which would house all the items the player would collect during the game and accessing it would not pause the action, which in turn would increase the tension and add another element of strategy to the game.

However, it seems the studio is counting on deliver a similar experience to its Uncharted series when it comes to how players will not want to put the controller down no matter what during the game’s single player story mode.

He said, “in true Naughty Dog fashion, you don’t want to put down the joystick and you want to see what’s going to happen next and you want to see what’s around the next corner, what’s the next city, what’s the next adventure.”

The demo for the game blew audiences away and the game had the trademark Naughty Dog look and feel to it, but the Last of Us has been likened to being the Uncharted games but without the light hearted tone and witty humour and judging from what the gaming world has seen of the game so far.