Significant single player expansions are somewhat rare in this day and age, but Naughty Dog is aiming to really expand its award-winning survival horror opus with The Last of Us: Left Behind. Speaking as part of an interview with the PlayStation Blog, lead game designer Jakob Minkoff revealed that the Californian company has really worked to further the plot of its critically acclaimed adventure with the upcoming add-on.
“We wanted to create a single player DLC that was as fully crafted as our main campaign,” he explained. “There’s a great deal that we’ve done with the content that exceeds the level of narrative density that we had in the core adventure.” Those are some strong words, but a quick glimpse at the supplement’s opening cinematic reveals that the studio may be onto something.
A portion of this footage was posted online last week, but an extended version has now been uploaded. It shows playable protagonist Ellie reconnecting with best friend Riley, who’s been missing from the boarding school in which they both reside for some time. It’s later revealed that the youngster has joined splinter group the Fireflies during her time away, a decision that’s destined to cause problems throughout the duration of the add-on.
Despite this, the developer has promised that this prologue will be more light-hearted than the main campaign – and that’s likely to stem from the environments that you’ll be exploring. “The main area is a mall,” continued Minkoff. “This is a playground of lost history, and it has this additional element layered on top of it of what survivors may have done in the mall after the outbreak.”
So far, we’ve seen the two lead characters enjoying a ride on a merry-go-round – but where do the infected play into all of this? “You’ll have some extremely challenging fights, and some of those will be showcasing some new features that we’ve added to the combat,” Minkoff added. “Multi-faction combat means that humans and infected – both enemy factions of you, the player – can fight each other.”
Rather than face your foes head on, then, you’ll need to toy with the antagonists that you encounter. “You can play them off each other, like throwing a bottle and having a Clicker kill a guy or leading the infected into an enemy to get them off your back,” concluded game designer Anthony Newman. “We did a lot of cool new things that we were trying out, and some of them were really successful.”
As previously announced, the expansion pack is due out on 14th February, and will require a copy of the core game to play. You’ll be able to download the content for free if you already own the release’s Season Pass, or you'll be able to snap it up as a standalone purchase for $14.99. There’s no word on how long the add-on will last for, but we’re expecting quite a meaty slice of content. Are you planning to make this DLC your Valentine? Lob a brick into the comments section below.
[source blog.eu.playstation.com]
Comments 13
Can't wait, glad they added a fight with both humans and infected which is something I wanted in the main game. Might even get me to play the game a second time!
Sounds more interesting than the main game. Too little too late for me. If they make a sequel or prequel then hopefully it'll be more like the dlc. I found the main game far too linear and predictable. Its nice to see they have changed things up quite a lot for dlc.
@Splat lol I don't even wanna watch the trailers (skipped thru the description in this article). "Multi-faction" should break the explore/humans/clickers/repeat rhythm from the vanilla campaign, which broke immersion for me, so yay. Glad to hear it's about as big as vanilla too. Season pass makes it feel free even tho it's not ...Cool cool cool!
@irken004 it's better the 2nd time through with all your upgrades and whatnot. Did you try it again at all? I felt the same way till I said wth and it's way easier when you recognize stuff
@charlesnarles Yeah I played through it once on easy I think, then tried out multiplayer which burnt out quickly for me. Might as well play through the dlc and then the main game again
@charlesnarles As long as the vanilla game? Nah, it won't be that long. I'm guessing three hours, maybe four.
“You’ll have some extremely challenging fights, and some of those will be showcasing some new features that we’ve added to the combat,” Minkoff added. “Multi-faction combat means that humans and infected – both enemy factions of you, the player – can fight each other.”
That's all I needed to hear. I loved how well-crafted and immersive the campaign was, but I was a little disappointed that you couldn't fight both the hunters and infected.
Hopefully this feature is implemented in a sequel, it'd make the game far more interesting while at the same time boosting the already impressive sense of immersion.
@BornOfEvil The way they talk about "trying things out" made me think straight away that this is an experiment ahead of the inevitable sequel.
I wonder if they will add new trophies for this? I'm getting it regardless but would be cool.
This is my most anticipated February release I plan on playing through the dlc and then the main game again I can't get enough of the last of us. I definitely think they will make a sequel it's one of the reasons I chose ps4 over XBone
@get2sammyb : ( I took "as fully crafted" to mean in scope, not appearance! I would assume dlc would be on par with the base. Interesting diction, guys...
@charlesnarles I think they mean it's not a half-baked dlc with that wordage. They've commited to making a dlc that's as good as the core game and won't just feel like an "add-on," but a whole new adventure if you will.
At least that's what I took it to mean.
@Cloud7794 @charlesnarles I think you're right.
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