Fans think they've figured out The Last of Us 2 takes place in Seattle - here's how they did it

The Last of Us 2 is one of the most highly-anticipated games of this generation, so naturally fans are already tearing apart everything related to the game in order to learn its secrets early. One such secret that may have been uncovered: the game's setting. Reddit seems fairly convinced that TLOU2 will take place in and around Seattle, Washington.

The theorizing actually goes back to earlier this year, when user camkeys noticed the similarity in parking signs between those shown in concept art and those in real-life Seattle.

And last month, user Infamy7 also noticed the word "driftwood" on a building that, again, matches a real-life Seattle location.

This week, user Voldsby collated the existing evidence, mocked up a few images, and added their own proof to support the Seattle theory: namely, ferns.

Voldsby pointed out that the ferns seen in the trailer could be the western swordfern, which grows in the Pacific Northwest. Interestingly enough, ferns grow from spores, not seeds, which would give a new layer of meaning to Ellie's forearm tattoo. After all, she undoubtedly grew quite a bit through the outbreak that turned TLOU's world into a fungal apocalypse full of its own kind of spores.

Naughty Dog has been characteristically tight-lipped about work on The Last of Us 2, but we know the story is centered on Ellie, and there will be some very... uh, interesting mocap work.