It's nearly here. Seven years after The Last of Us, Naughty Dog's sequel is almost upon us. We've spent several hours with the game, analysed its staggering tech and here, ahead of our The Last of Us Part 2 review which will be landing on June 12th at 8.01am BST, is the first part of an interview with director Neil Druckmann (a word of reassurance, too - this is spoiler free, and we'll be delving more into story details with Druckmann at a later date).
Were you always wanting to challenge players with the story you wanted to tell with this sequel?
Neil Druckmann: I think what made the first game work for us was that it's this kind of emotional journey of the first game is this idea we wanted to say like, can we through interactivity, gameplay, storytelling, music, all those things, make you feel, or come as close to feeling the unconditional love a parent feels for their child? And then the beautiful moments that come with that and the kind of insane horrific moments that could come, like how far someone's willing to go for someone they love unconditionally.