The Last of Us Online, which we’d all been calling Factions 2 anyway, hasbeen cancelledbySonyandNaughty Dog. It means a lot of hard work has been thrown out, and I hope the silver lining is to stop over-complicating multiplayer with live-service elements and battle passes designed to last forever. A little side game that’s just TLOU with friends (like Factions) was all we ever needed and, truthfully, wanted. But what I want to talk about today is not the past, but the future.
Naughty Dog’s statement said more than just informing players about the online game’s bleak fate. It signalled to us (and possibly, to Sony) that Naughty Dog is a single-player studio that makes single-player games. The statement seemed to underline that making the sorts of cutting edge single-player games Naughty Dog is known for is not possible while also building an ongoing multiplayer game with the longevity ofFortniteorApex Legends. It’s an either/or, andfor Naughty Dog, that’s a simple choice.
We have more than one ambitious, brand new single player game that we’re working on here at Naughty Dog, and we cannot wait to share more about what comes next when we’re ready -Naughty Dog’s statement.
Nestled in the statement is also something of a reveal - Naughty Dog is actively working on multiple single-player games. We can assume one is themuch-rumoured new fantasy IP, but what of the second? Given Naughty Dog’s recent obsession with retouching The Last of Us, it could beUncharted 4 Remastered Remastered, but this statement feels like one of intent more than just information. It doesn’t feel like a ‘we’re our own remake studio’ tone. I’m going to assume, then, that it’s a new game. And The Last of Us Part 3 is the most likely.
Uncharted was tied up in a bow, and Idon’t imagine Naughty Dog will return to it any time soon-even if another studio does. Jak is fading in the rear-view mirror, probably never to be seen again. We know this fantasy game is a new IP, so that makes it unlikely that two new IPs are in the works. New things are risks, and with plans made when a multiplayer game was also on the table, I have to imagine the overall risks were mitigated. That means, to my mind, the most likely second game Naughty Dog is working on is The Last of Us Part 3. So now we have the question of what that looks like.
Right off the bat (or golf club), it shouldn’t be about Ellie. Her story is over, her ending powerful. Naughty Dog has been brave in this regard before, killing off Joel and moving our attention (and eventually, sympathy) to his killer, Abby. The ending menu shows Abby and Lev’s boat ashore, and the epilogue gives them a clear direction and storyline, while all Ellie gets is a cold and lonely farm and one less finger.
It’s likely that the threequel is an Abby game. But that would also make it a Lev game, and this seems to be where the story is. Thematically, Abby’s story is also over. Like Ellie, she pursued violent revenge, but as she enacted it, was unable to let go of the hurt in her heart. In trying to move on, she rejected the tight militarism and extreme prejudice of her people, befriending and protecting children of the enemy. Though Yara doesn’t make it, Lev does and remains by their side through not only their escape from the Seraphite Island, but long after they have any joint goal keeping them together.
It’s not so much that the series has to move on with each new entry, but that it makes sense to. Sure, new things could happen to Abby in her journey, or even to Ellie. But as far as the series’ core themes go, those two have reached their ending. It’s Lev, still searching for a place in the world after his rejection of his religion and the death of his mother, who seems to have a story left to tell.
It would be a very brave choice, however.Lev was fairly popular as a supporting character, but that’s a very different spotlight to being the lead - and as a trans man of colour, he’d be breaking a huge barrier. Naughty Dog is the sort of studio it will take to break those barriers at a triple-A level, but it also invites criticism from the other side. There’s more pressure to do Lev ‘right’ than there would be for Abby, who (as far as player preference goes) is also probably the safer choice.
Video games tend to be slightly better than other mainstream mediums attrans male representation, and Lev has always been at the forefront of those conversations.
Lev would be the least brutal character we’ve played as, refined with a bow and sympathetic to the world’s struggles, very different to the single-minded bulky power of Joel and Abby, or the recklessly driven vengeance of Ellie. That too offers something interesting for the game to explore, and would interrogate the game’s own nihilistic themes with more precision than Abby getting back in the saddle.
We don’t know what the future holds for Naughty Dog or The Last of Us, but this statement might be hinting at a sequel in the offing. If it is, Lev brings more to the table than anyone else.
