Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II seems to be next in the line of products the developer looks to remaster. A major oversight in a LinkedIn profile that has since been edited, a Naughty Dog Outsource Artist accidentally let slip that they were working on The Last of Us Part II: Remastered.
Of course, news of a The Last of Us Part II remaster didn’t entirely come out of the blue, Gustavo Santaolalla a composer for the series, had previously stated during an interview with Blender: “In the new editions you can make me play certain themes and well, I can’t tell you anything else.” This was in regard to his personal cameo in the game, so the news of a new version or edition of The Last of Us Part II has been circulating for a little while now, but this latest slip up seems add more certainty that there will indeed be a remaster to a game that only just released in 2020.
It seems a bit ambitious to release a remaster of a game that only released 3 years ago, and indeed this news will likely not be received too well. Naughty Dog had been previously heavily criticized for remaking the first The Last of Us in 2022, with the first game having come out in 2013, with many feeling that the game didn’t need a remake, since it had only come less than a decade ago with a remaster that came soon after it. If the news of The Last of Us Part II being remastered is true then that would be much more indulgent that the remake of their first game, and it will be interesting to see public perception of the official announcement of this, should it be true, especially right now when Naughty Dog is in a bit of hot water for being one of the many developers mass culling their staff, doubly so since Naughty Dog is infamous for overworking said employees in periods of crunch.
Though there is some benefit of the doubt to be given here, The Last of Us Part II is locked to the Playstation 4 for now, and a remaster could simply mean that Naughty Dog is looking to push the game onto the Playstation 5 or maybe even the PC, likely with some polish and new content to better sell the extra purchase. Regardless, while this rumor seems very likely it still isn’t concrete, though if it is, it will be interesting to see how well it’s perceived in an era of remakes and remasters, both from the fans and the industry alike.