The Last of Us 2 Dev Diary Explores the Details Behind the World

Following yesterday’s The Last of Us 2 State of Play, Naughty Dog has released yet another Last of Us 2 dev diary today. Last week’s look at the upcoming action-adventure game was about TLoU 2’s gritty gameplay, but this time, it’s all about the details and how the dev team made the world as immersive as possible.

The Last of Us 2 Director and Writer Neil Druckmann explains more about the new Naughty Dog engine briefly mentioned in yesterday’s State of Play.

The engine used for The Last of Us 2 lets designers and artists render almost everything in much more detail, and Druckmann says Naughty Dog’s spared no trouble making The Last of Us 2 look as realistic and incredibly detailed as possible. These efforts range from managing tears in characters’ eyes and the subtle effects that enhance emotions — like popping veins and red eyes — to making every piece of foliage look distinct.

Part of that also involves on-site research for the game’s locations. The team visited Seattle three times, using photo scans and capturing the city’s layout and infrastructure to recreate it in ruined form for the game. That extends to the interiors of buildings as well.

The diary goes on to cover more about the game’s enemies. Most of it is covers ground we’ve tread in one form or another before: Ellie’s enemies in The Last of Us 2 are designed to seem more human.

Part of that is giving NPCs names and allowing them to chat with each other, but another touch is in how they share information with each other, something players should pay attention to if they want insight into what’s coming.

There’s still one dev diary left ahead of The Last of Us 2‘s release date on June 19, so stay tuned to GameSkinny for more TLoU 2 news. If you haven’t already, check out our The Last of Us 2 pre-order guide too. It has everything you need to know about the game’s editions and pre-order bonuses.