9 Ways The Last Of Us 2 Was Almost Completely Different
This was nearly a COMPLETELY different game.
No video game is ever perfect from the off. The very nature of development is iterative and collaborative, with stories and gameplay changing as the years go on and everyone from the top level to the bottom pitch in their own ideas.
The Last of Us is no exception.
The first game famously had a rocky production process, with every idea thrown at the wall and then chopped and changed to get the masterpiece that eventually released. Now, you couldn't imagine a reality where Tess was the main villain of the game, or Joel was an ageing cop with a heart condition, but those were just two of the many original ideas that were changed.
As you can imagine, coming up with a sequel that both challenged and complemented the story of the first game was even more difficult for co-writers Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross. Thanks to some excellent interviews - in particular those with Washington Post, Kinda Funny and Indiewire - we now know just how different The Last of Us 2 could have been.
Were the changes for better or worse? I'll leave that up to you...