The original concept for The Last of Us Part 2 envisioned the game as an open-world action experience heavily influenced by Bloodborne, according to co-game director Anthony Newman. In the behind-the-scenes documentary, Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2, Newman disclosed that during the initial four or five months of development, the game was exclusively focused on melee combat and featured an expanding world inspired by FromSoft’s popular adventure.
“At the start of The Last of Us Part 2 development, Neil aimed to make significant changes to the game,” explained Newman. “For the first few months, it was an open world inspired by Bloodborne, centered entirely on hand-to-hand combat.”
Lead game designer Emilia Schatz highlighted the exploration aspect, stating, “We were also looking at layout structure. Bloodborne had a very open space that kept getting bigger and bigger as you explored. I really like that feeling that you get of mastery over the world. It starts to become almost a character in the game itself. And so, that was also something we were looking at.”
This initial direction, driven by a desire to differentiate from the first game, eventually shifted, as Newman mentioned, “the open world thing didn’t work with the story we were trying to tell,” prompting a dialing back of the concept.
Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog co-president, shared that he has a conceptual framework for a third and final chapter of The Last of Us series. In the same documentary, Druckmann expressed that although the story wasn’t fully developed, he had an exciting idea comparable to The Last of Us Part 1.
In a separate report, it was revealed that Laura Bailey, the voice actor for Abby in The Last of Us Part 2, received abusive messages and death threats, including threats directed at her infant son. Bailey confirmed that the severe threats were reported to the police due to their alarming nature.
