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Just as The Last of Us 2 was crystalizing in the conceptual phase, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End threatened to derail the entire thing.
Last week, February 2, Naughty Dog released Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2, which you can see in full just below. Near the beginning of the documentary, around the six minute mark, game director Neil Druckmann talks about finally getting The Last of Us 2 off the ground in terms of having concept art and story ideas banded around for the sequel.
Unfortunately, this was around the same time Uncharted 4 needed "all hands on deck," according to Druckmann. Lead game designer Emilia Schatz says that Naughty Dog doesn't make multiple games at once - it works entirely on one game, then moves onto another once it's wrapped up. Schatz recalls how, when Uncharted 4 was coming "down to the wire," practically everyone at the studio pivoted to working on the Nathan Drake-led game to get it finished.
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Druckmann insisted that before he came over to Uncharted 4, he wanted to get one trailer nailed down for The Last of Us 2. That would be the trailer below, used to announce the new game all the way back in 2016. "During the entire production of Uncharted 4, that's all I could think about," Druckmann said of the trailer just below.
"I had a lot of investment in Uncharted 4, but the day we were done with Uncharted 4, I went right back to that trailer to wrap it up," Druckmann continued. Having completed motion capture on the trailer, the director went on to say that he even had nightmares about it leaking early, such was his investment and focus on it.
Druckmann then goes on to talk about the early concepts for The Last of Us 2, around the 11 minute mark in the Grounded 2 documentary. He recalls that he became fascinated with the cycles of violence that in turn perpetuate more violence, and this became the underlying focus for the entire game.
Elsewhere in the documentary, Druckmann recalls how he wanted Abby actor Laura Bailey to bulk up for her role, which was then thrown into chaos when the actor suddenly got pregnant. The director also admitted that Naughty Dog has a "reputation for crunching," and said that's something the studio can't do anymore going forward.
Druckmann also commented on the possibility of a third Last of Us game, teasing that he thinks there's probably one more story to be told.
