Unused assets unearthed from The Last of Us Part II provide insight into the game's postponed multiplayer mode.
The assets were discovered by content creator Speclizer, revealing three sets of multiplayer armor models for Ellie hidden within the code of The Last of Us Part II. Speclizer shared a video of how these armor models look when worn by Ellie in the single-player game. "These multiplayer armour models for Ellie were left in the game files," Speclizer wrote at the start of the video. "They are likely just placeholder models that were used during multiplayer's development or it could be unfinished versions of what will be used in TLOU 2's multiplayer mode."
Speclizer lists the three armors as Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. Last year, the data miner also discovered several other unused multiplayer assets in The Last of Us Part II, including what seemed to be a potential battle royale map.
The developers originally planned for the sequel to have a multiplayer mode like the original The Last of Us' popular online multiplayer mode, Factions. However, those plans became too ambitious and, a few months prior to the release of The Last of Us Part II in June 2020, Naughty Dog announced that the development of the game's multiplayer mode had been put on hold.
Despite The Last of Us Part II's multiplayer mode being postponed, it is still in development at Naughty Dog and might also be a free-to-play experience, though this has not been officially confirmed. Naughty Dog has also noted that, when the multiplayer offering does release, it will be a standalone offering entirely separate from the core Last of Us Part II story, making it the developer's first standalone multiplayer game. The developer has yet to share any gameplay footage of what fans can expect.
While there have been few updates, it was reported earlier this year that the sequel's multiplayer option would be unveiled sooner rather than later, along with a Director's Cut edition of the game as well, though this has yet to be announced or confirmed by Naughty Dog. It was also reported that these would be released as a bundle that would also include a remake of The Last of Us Part II for the PlayStation 5.
The Last of Us, which was released in 2013, is currently being developed into a live-action series of the same name for HBO and HBO Max. Starring Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, the series isn't expected to premiere until after 2022.
Developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony, The Last of Us 2 is currently available for PlayStation 4.
Source: YouTube