Hello Matthew Gallant. Can you start by introducing yourself, detailing your career in Naughty Dog and your role in The Last of Us Part II and its remaster?
My name is Matthew Gallant and I started at Naughty Dog over a decade ago, originally joining the team for the final year of development on The Last of Us for PlayStation 3. I worked primarily on combat design, a role I continued on Uncharted 4.
As Lead Systems Designer on The Last of Us Part II, I worked on many aspects of our core combat and AI systems. I’m very proud of my work on accessibility, working with our development team and consultants to create a suite of over 60 accessibility features. These features allow players with disabilities to overcome barriers to their gaming experience and improve gaming for everyone.
I then had the opportunity to play the role of game director on The Last of Us Part I Remastered, working with Shawn Eskeg to remake the original game for PlayStation 5. I reprized this role on The Last of Us Part II Remastered, bringing this game. On PlayStation 5 with tons of new features and improvements, including our new Roguelike Mode: No Return.
Matthew Gallant. Photo by Dr
“This game was released late in the PS4 life cycle”
It’s amazing to see a PS5 remaster of The Last of Us Part II three years after the title was released on PS4. What inspired this project?
When we released the original Part II on PlayStation 4, we really pushed the boundaries of what was possible on that console. However, the game was released late in the machine’s lifecycle and a few months before the release of the PlayStation 5. Porting the game to run natively on new hardware allows us to offer faster visuals, DualSense haptic feedback, and adaptive triggers. Loading times and native 4K graphics in fidelity mode.
The additional processing power of the PlayStation 5 allowed us to make a number of graphical improvements to the original game. We can extend the LOD distance, improve sun shadow quality, increase texture resolution, and more. The game runs at native 4K in Fidelity mode or up to 4K at 1440p in Performance mode. We also offer an unlocked framerate option for TVs that support VRR.
We’re also taking full advantage of the new immersive features of the DualSense controller. This improves combat, making weapons sufficiently heavy and tangible. We can also apply a light haptic touch to our quiet story moments: walking in the rain in Seattle or petting a friendly dog.
Bonus mode for learning to play guitar. Photo by Dr
Rogue-like and single-player challenges
A new game mode is also introduced: “No Return”. It’s a real game within a game, with a roguelike background, with a good taste for capitalizing on the game’s two main gameplay strengths: action and stealth. Was the concept easy to come by?
The past five years have seen an incredible rise in the roguelike genre. We saw several developers take their own take on the concept, and we felt it resonated deeply with the combat mechanics of The Last of Us. The combination of permadeath and random generation allows us to create new experiences exciting and unpredictable battles.
Because No Return isn’t canon (an element of the official story of both games, editor’s note) and isn’t tied to the narrative, we’re able to experiment with new combat mechanics that avoid the usual anchoring from the series. There are game modes that make enemies disappear or rain Molotovs from the sky. We want to put experienced Last of Us players in exciting new situations that will challenge them to think on the fly and develop new strategies, while allowing enough variety for new players to quickly appreciate the depth of the Last of Us combat game.
By playing No Return, players will unlock new characters, skins, game mechanics, bosses and much more. There is also a competitive “daily run” that generates runs from a synchronized random seed. Players have the opportunity to post their best score on a global leaderboard and compete remotely with their PSN friends.
We love this game and know it will always attract a growing audience of new and returning players. We’re excited to bring Part I and Part II Remastered back-to-back as an immersive experience on PlayStation 5. This is the ultimate way to experience this amazing series.
Improved graphics, optimized gaming experience
Has there ever been talk of adapting this mod to multiplayer?
No, No Return was always intended as a single-player experience.
The great strength of The Last of Us Part II is the density of its story, its atmosphere. Did the remaster make it possible to emphasize certain elements of the story to strengthen the emotional dimension of the game?
Although we hope that the improved graphics and DualSense feedback will improve the immersion of the gaming experience, this remaster will stay true to the original story of Part II. However, the game also includes bonus features that provide deeper context and understanding of the story, like behind the scenes of a movie.
These include “lost levels”: three pieces of levels in early development that were, at the time, sacrificed in the editing room. Developer comments embedded in these playable scenes reveal the design goals behind their creation and why they were ultimately removed. We’ve also included hours of new cinematic commentary from Neil Druckman, Haley Gross and some of the game’s key players.
The game also clarifies some details, like Ellie’s last name… Are there many additions like this?
This detail was included on one of the new unlockable skins in the remaster. Eli’s astronaut suit means a lot to the character, to those who know his history, and while we appreciate that fans have seen this easter egg on the suit (since typical astronaut suit designs feature the family of their bearer’s namesake), such as the new skin. Things like , lost levels, and comments aren’t necessarily intended to make major additions to the story.
Radio silence on Naughty Dog’s strategy
The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II were important games in terms of narrative, technique and maturity. What do you think the next step will be? Are there still hobby areas to be conquered? Neil Druckman recently talked about “games that can’t hold your hand…”
While we appreciate the anticipation surrounding what our teams are working on, I’m focused on the release of The Last of Us Part II Remastered and no comment on other projects.
Is our last franchise going to keep growing? If so, can you tell us more? Is game-as-a-service, which we’ve been talking about more and more in your studio, a potential development path?
We have no comment regarding the future of our franchise. Our studio’s current focus is on single-player experiences, as we stated in our recent fan update.
The Last of Us is the first video game series to be successfully adapted into a television series. Naughty Dog had already opened the cinema ball with the imperfect but beloved Uncharted. Are studios doomed to blur more and more boundaries in the coming years? Can we imagine franchises offering complementary content across all media?
Our studio’s main goal is to create incredible experiences and tell memorable stories through video games.
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