'The Last Of Us Part 2' Enemies Hate It When You Murder Their Friends

The Last of Us Part 2 gameplay impressions are now out there in the wild thanks to a hands-on event in LA where members of the press (including some of the GAMINGbible team, but not me, so whatever that's fine I don't even care) were able to spend three hours with Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic sequel. Based on the judgement of the majority of my colleagues and peers, it seems the studio very probably has another hit on its hands.

While the idea of Naughty Dog releasing an outstanding, critically-acclaimed game is pretty run of the mill at this point, what is interesting are some of the gameplay details that have come to light now that the embargo around the press demo has lifted. Most notably, everybody seems to agree that The Last Of Us Part 2 is a game that really wants to make you feel bad about all those violent killings you're doing in the name of survival (or whatever else has Ellie so damn angry).

Specifically, it seems that every NPC enemy in the game now has their own name, will chat amongst themselves amiably while they search for you, and will even react to the deaths of their friends and colleagues with anguish. While that might not sound like much, popping an arrow between someones eyes only to hear their mate screaming "DAVE, NO!" when they stumble across his bloody remains sounds like it's going to make for a fascinating experience, one that should have the player questioning themselves at every turn.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it sounds like we're also going to have to deal with our fair share of dogs, and not in a fun "give them belly rubs" kind of way. In The Last of Us Part 2 dogs can actually sniff you out and lead the humans to wherever you're hiding, so if you're going for a stealthy approach you'll have to get rid of the dogs quickly - and it doesn't seem like you can get rid of these pooches with a scooby snack.

Just as with the human corpses, if the dog's owner discovers the body of their pet riddled with bullets and covered in blood, you're going to have to listen to them break down over their hound's lifeless corpse. I mean, it makes sense, wouldn't you if someone savagely murdered your beloved pet?

Naughty Dog

I can't wait to see this systems in action for myself, although I don't really relish the thought of having to put dogs down in increasingly violent ways, especially given just how realistic everything looks. I wonder how quickly players will become desensitized to the violence in order to complete their objectives in spite of more human NPCs, and if that's one of the points Naughty Dog is attempting to make with The Last Of Us Part 2? We'll find out for ourselves on February 21, 2020.