Originally, The Last of Us 2 was envisioned as a game with elements of an open world, inspired by “Bloodborne”

In the documentary film “Speaking in Grounded II,” which delves into the development of The Last of Us Part 2, the game developers revealed that initially, their goal was to create a sequel that would be “as different as humanly possible” compared to the first part.

“For the first four or five months, the game was essentially conceived as an open world influenced by Bloodborne. It was entirely focused on hand-to-hand combat,” noted co-game director Anthony Newman.

Lead game designer Emilia Schatz explained, “It wasn’t just about melee combat; we were also considering the structure of the game world. Bloodborne offered a very open space that gradually expanded as you explored. I enjoy the feeling of mastery over the world. It begins to almost become a character in the game itself, and that was also something we were paying attention to.”

As the development progressed, Schatz stated that the team realized the open-world structure didn’t align with the game’s narrative, leading them to step back from that concept.

“We started making it as different as humanly possible from the first game, and then gradually dialing it back. The open-world thing didn’t work with the story we were trying to tell.”

In the same documentary, creative director Neil Druckmann confirmed he has a concept for a third game in The Last of Us series and believes there is one more chapter to the story.

“I don’t have a specific story, but I do have a concept. That, to me, is as exciting as the first, as exciting as the second; it’s its own thing, yet has this through line for all three. So, it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”