Naughty Dog’s new game could be closer to Neil Druckmann’s original idea for The Last of Us 2 and give the player more freedom.

A former Game Informer sheds more light on Neil Druckmann’s new project at the helm of Naughty Dog, which may move away from traditional single-player storytelling.

What are you cooking Naughty dog? One of the major PlayStation studios, responsible for sagas such as Uncharted and The Last of Us, has been immersed in its new game for several years after the cancellation of The Last of Us Online (rumored to be Factions 2).

Since then, Neil Druckmann has been leaving little clues everywhere, but not revealing anything concrete. Some people think that we may have the first announcement at The Game Awards 2024which is celebrated on December 12 next year.

We know from Druckmann himself that Naughty Dog’s new title is “very stressful” for the development team and that it could “redefine the overall perception of the video game.”

It could even include artificial intelligence tools, although perhaps this element is more geared toward Naughty Dog’s future. It seems that It won’t be The Last of Us 3 or Uncharted 5.but other than that, everything else remains a mystery (except for the concept design unveiled a few months ago).

Former gaming informant, Ben Hansonquit new details about the next game from the Californian studioon the latest episode of his podcast MinnMax (via YouTube).

While there’s no official confirmation, it looks like Naughty Dog’s new title could distance itself from the linear narrative and be more similar to the original idea for The Last of Us 2 (it was supposed to be an open-world game inspired by Bloodborne).

New clues about the upcoming Naughty Dog game

Another game from Neil Druckmann’s studio could approach the concept of an “open world game”. Maybe not as much as GTA or Elden Ring (a game the studio co-founder cited along with Inside), but certainly more than The Last of Us.

Ben Hanson, former editor of Game Informer, reports on his MinnMax podcast. He even claims that a source close to Naughty Dog made a comparison with a famous game of the genre.

”I heard from someone who knows a lot about this and who worked on Naughty Dog’s next game saying, “Oh my God.” The tone was, “You’re not ready for how amazing this is going to be.””.

”I won’t mention the game they linked to for comparison because I don’t want people saying “MinnMax said it would be like this!” But they compared it to a game that gives the player more freedom. Like, “Did you like this game?” And I said yes. And it’s like: “Well! It will be good!‘”

Immediately after this, Hanson confirmed that It’s not about Hitman (referential comparison game), and that the concept of “player freedom” cannot be a sandbox conceptbut something more “half-open”.

A good example is the original idea for The Last of Us 2, of which some remnants remain (especially in the Seattle areain the first chapter of the game).

Nothing more is known about Naughty Dog’s new project, so we’ll have to wait. Of course, you can now download a new patch (1.2.0.) for The Last of Us Part II Remastered, which optimizes the game for the PS5 Pro and its PSSR technology.

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