The live-action adaptation of The Last of Us franchise has surely brought more fans to play and experience the original game. The first title in the series was released back in 2013, followed by its sequel in 2020, and then finally an adaptation to a TV Series in early last year.
The franchise has managed to gather quite a following owing to its growing popularity in the past decade, but what many might not know is how The Last of Us Part 2 was originally inspired by Bloodborne, a FromSoftware game.
FromSoftware is a game studio recognized for its games with an extreme amount of difficulty. The studio’s Bloodborne is what would have inspired the world of The Last of Us 2, as revealed by the game’s co-director himself on Naughty Dog’s YouTube channel.
Why The Last Of Us 2 Took Inspiration From FromSoftware’s Bloodborne Title
The co-game director of The Last of Us sequel, Anthony Newman, revealed in a behind-the-scenes video of the game uploaded on Naughty Dog’s YouTube channel how the game was initially referenced by the standalone Bloodborne title.
Talking about the development process for the game, Anthony Newman described:
“For the first four or five months, the game was kind of an open world inspired by Bloodborne. And it was purely melee-focused like it was all hand-to-hand combat. Bloodborne had a very open space that kept getting bigger and bigger as you explored.”
The lead game designer, joining Newman, also told the watchers how it was not only the combat but the layout structure of Bloodborne as a whole that they were looking to be inspired from.
The co-game director in the end revealed how the open-world scenario of Bloodborne went against the established foundation of the first game. This unfortunately meant that they had to dial back and take another direction for the sequel.
Is The Last Of Us Game Franchise Getting One Final Installment Soon?
While The Last of Us 2’s inspiration from the FromSoftware’s title was unluckily scrapped, on a more positive note, the co-director of the series revealed information on what seems to be a possible third and final installment in the game series.
The co-director, Neil Druckmann revealed how he has a concept and an idea ready for the final title to be released in the series, and talking about the same he said:
“I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept that, to me, is as exciting as (Game 1), as exciting as (Game 2), is its own thing, yet has this throughline for all three (games). So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story,”
Druckmann unveiled how he struggled at first to come up with a concept that was on par with the first two games and had trouble at first. He also disclosed how the studio has been supportive of him and others, stating while a final The Last of Us game would be great, another project that they might want to follow is just as appreciated.
If the development team does decide to go forward with a final game for the series, fans may have to wait for some time before it comes out. Looking at how The Last of Us 2 came out nearly a decade after the first game’s release, it might be another decade from now till we get to see the final installment.
