Summary
Naughty Dog’s current development plans are shrouded in mystery. While it’s fairly normal for a developer to only reveal what it’s working on when the project has hit a certain development milestone, Naughty Dog’s situation is a little different from other studios. WhenThe Last of Us Part 2released back in June 2020, Naughty Dog was pretty transparent about its desire to take a bit of a break, with no games set for active development right away. ButThe Last of Us Part 2was still missing its promised multiplayer mode.
Two years later,The Last of Us' multiplayer game was officially confirmed as a standalone title, and Naughty Dog had seemingly found its next full-time project. However, it didn’t take long before reports started claiming the game was in development hell, and in December 2023,The Last of Usmultiplayer was officially canceled. But the announcement came with a silver lining, that “more than one” new single-player game was in active development at Naughty Dog, with one likely being the long-rumored new IP, and the other potentially being a thirdLast of Usinstallment.
Naughty Dog’s New IP Could Lay Some Groundwork for The Last of Us Part 3
Naughty Dog Has a History of Evolving Its Mechanics Between Games
If Naughty Dog’s long history as a video game developer has proven anything, it’s that the studio has a penchant for learning and evolving with each new title. The evidence for this goes all the way back to the studio’s earliest days, with the release of theoriginalCrash Bandicoottrilogy, where each subsequent entry tried to subtly improve upon the same formula. The originalUnchartedtrilogy did exactly the same thing in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with the leap fromUnchartedtoUncharted 2still being regarded as one of the most impressive in gaming.
Naughty Dog’s love for constant evolution only became more apparent as video game technology continued to become more impressive, with 2013’sThe Last of Usbeing a breakout hit for the developer thanks to its unprecedented level of quality storytelling, an aspect that Naughty Dog then carried over toUncharted 4. Along with more of a focus on integrated storytelling,Uncharted 4also borrowedThe Last of Us' stealth mechanics.
ButUncharted 4wasn’t without its own unique mechanics. A major highlight ofUncharted 4is its more open-ended gameplay sequences such as the one in Madagascar that sees the player drive a 4x4 around a larger map at their leisure. This mechanic was further experimented with inUncharted: The Lost Legacy, and eventually, it even found its way intoThe Last of Us Part 2, with its DNA clearly being at the heart of theopen-world Seattle segment.
Naughty Dog’s New IP Could Set Up a New Mechanic for The Last of Us Part 3
Naughty Dog is always learning and evolving, and it seems incredibly likely that the studio’s next games are going to follow the same pattern. Right now, it seems probable that the next game onNaughty Dog’s release slatewill be its long-rumored new IP, which still hasn’t been officially confirmed, but has been leaked numerous times now.
If the new IP is up next, then it seems very likely that it’ll contain some ofThe Last of Us Part 2’s DNA, both in terms of its story and gameplay mechanics. But being a new IP, it also seems plausible thatNaughty Dog’s next gameis a hotbed of new ideas for the studio, some of which will probably, in turn, make their way into an eventualThe Last of Us Part 3,inadvertently setting the stage for it.
The Last Of Us Part II Remastered
WHERE TO PLAY
EXPERIENCE ELLIE AND ABBY’S EMOTIONAL JOURNEYS, REMASTERED FOR PS5 Play the winner of over 300 Game of the Year awards, remastered for the PlayStation®5 console. Relive or play for the first time Ellie and Abby’s story, now with graphical enhancements, new gameplay modes like the roguelike survival experience No Return, full DualSense® wireless controller integration, and more. Five years after their dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, Ellie and Joel have settled down in Jackson, Wyoming. Living amongst a thriving community of survivors has allowed them peace and stability, despite the constant threat of the infected and other, more desperate survivors. When a violent event disrupts that peace, Ellie embarks on a relentless journey to carry out justice and find closure.
