The Last of Us is set to be the newest title from Naughty Dog and SCE exclusively made for the PlayStation platform. The game focuses on two survivors, Joel and Ellie, as they make their way through a post-apocalyptic United States.
It’s been 20 years since a fungus started killing people, re-animating their corpses, and turning them into The Infected. As you would expect, the entire existence of humanity was in serious jeopardy and civilization collapsed.
Not much is known about the game, but it was revealed that Joel is a black market dealer within a quarantine zone (the military, after the outbreak, has the United States under martial law and is keeping everyone in quarantine zones to stay away from the infection) that sells weapons and drugs. Ellie’s whereabouts, however, are unknown at this point, apart from the fact that she now accompanies Joel as they set out to escape the quarantine zone, and has a penchant toward relics from the past culture, such as books and music.
According to Naughty Dog, Joel's character is deeply influenced by Rooster Cogburn from True Grit. He is depicted as a "violent character that has gone someplace dark. He is essentially dead inside."
The fungus is known as Cordyceps, a real life fungus that can infect insects. After the insects are killed by it, the dead carcass starts pouring out some sort of infectious goo that can infect other living insects. The game shows that this fungus has mutated over time and can now infect humans, who die and their dead bodies are later reanimated.
The gameplay in The Last of Us is third-person action, and players will take control of Joel while he protects both himself and Ellie from the different threats they encounter. The game will offer a new AI system called "Balance of Power," and enemies will react differently to the different kind of weapons (which are quite scarce) you are carrying. The game's engine is meant to model human psychology during times of crisis.
Unlike Uncharted, health regeneration will not be a part of the game and Joel, in order to restore health, will have to apply health pack. There will also be the option to combine materials and craft weapons according to his needs. And these can be crafted any time the player wishes, even during a fight.
As the game will see a lot of travelling, there will a number of locations to explore. In the beginning, Joel and Ellie will meet in Boston while they make their escape from the quarantine zone. The gameplay trailer that was put up at E3 2012 (below) showed the Fort Duquesne bridge, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So it could be assumed that Pittsburgh will be one of the locations.
The Last of Us is currently scheduled for a worldwide release on June 14.