Sony's E3 2018 press conference gave us our first look at gameplay from The Last of Us Part II, and now we've learned even more. Co-writer and co-director Neil Druckmann spoke to Buzzfeed for an interview, in which he revealed that Ellie will be accompanied by an NPC companion, much like she joined Joel in the first game.
"Ellie used to be an NPC, but she's the protagonist in this story, so the player is controlling Ellie," Druckmann said. "It's safe to say with the game that we made in the past that there will be some NPC with you in this story, even though we're not showing [the NPC] in this demo."
Druckmann also talked about how Naughty Dog goes about the creation of a compelling NPC: "Our general approach [to creating an NPC] is to say, again, 'How do we treat them like people? How do we get them to behave honestly as those people? How do we give them interesting characteristics so that they can navigate the world, make meaningful actions, and surprise you in the way people do?'"
The E3 2018 gameplay demo didn't show any NPC companion with Ellie as she fought solo against a group of people. However, there were brief cutscenes sandwiching the violence that featured a woman named Mina and a man named Jessie. Could one of these characters be the companion? We'll have to wait for more information for now.
The Last of Us Part II is our headlining story in this episode of GameSpot Daily, but we also talk about potential Uncharted news and more on Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu / Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee. Yes, that's what you'll find in today's show, but be sure to tune in every day of the week at 11 AM PST/2 PM EST/7 PM BST/4 AM AEST for another episode of GameSpot Daily. We cover the most exciting gaming news in 30 minutes or less.
