Neil Druckmann Can’t Ignore the Most Important Feature for the Sequel That Can Make or Break the Game (& It’s Not Just the Story)

The Last of Us fans were caught off guard playing as a new character in the controversial sequel and were even more surprised to be controlling her against an overgrown infected designated as the Rat King. The developers of Naughty Dog have begun experimenting with the idea of newer variants of the infected, which perfectly aligns with the theme of evolution. The Infected has taken over the world after Outbreak Day and survivors had to understand how their biology works.

New enemies mean new opportunities, and players are eager to dive into another harrowing journey while surviving against the infected. Director Neil Druckmann could raise the stakes with more enemies to face.

After the ambiguous ending of The Last of Us Part 2, it would make sense for Druckmann to deliver another follow-up story featuring Ellie after her bloodbath in her pursuit of justice and how it deteriorated her relationships and mental health. The gaming community would love to see the character do something good and atone for her past transgressions in the sequel.

From a game developer’s point of view, it would be prudent to introduce newer threats to elevate the gameplay experience. The sequel featured the same enemy variety as the original game except for the Shamblers and the Rat King, and it was a welcome change of pace for the player base. Naughty Dog introduced a new advanced branch of artificial intelligence used by human enemies, giving them more initiative to hunt players aggressively.

Fans of the series drew up different concepts of what infected animals would look like if the Cordyceps virus were to affect them. The sequel introduced dogs that could sniff Ellie’s scent and track her down and the WLF use them as a defense against other threats like the Seraphites but it would be a welcome change to have these creatures endure the same virus and make them a much bigger threat in The Last of Us 3.

Despite not being technically dead, the infected are in every way a zombie. It would be easy for the game developers to get creative and think of different strands and variations to expand the lore and signify the evolution of the Cordyceps virus. The games take place decades into the future giving the infected enough time to grow and evolve and that is seen throughout the overgrown foliage determining how much time has passed.

Despite not having confirmed Part 3 outright, Druckmann hinted at the possibility of another game after celebrating the fourth anniversary of The Last of Us Part 2. The franchise has resonated well with the gaming community and players are invested in this world Naughty Dog created.

The game has been adapted into live-action with HBO and the showrunners introduced a new concept about a hive mind spreading underground in the soil. This is an interesting concept that could work as a game mechanic for the potential sequel.

Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez visited the offices of Naughty Dog after his recent statements about how The Last of Us Part 2 inspired his recent film. Druckmann jokingly reminded the director of his NDA leading fans to speculate that he has seen something being kept under wraps which could be Part 3 in its early stages.

Naughty Dog always finds a way to improve and the team did not hold back with the advanced gore and dismemberment mechanics in Part 2. This new feature extends to every threat imaginable whether they are infected or humans, the studio found realistic ways to show the dark side of violence.

Would you like to fight new infected variants in The Last of Us 3? Let us know in the comments section below!