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The Last of Us Part II launch trailer shows a vengeful Ellie

The Last of Us Part II - Official Launch Trailer | PS4

With The Last of Us Part II on its way to the PlayStation 4 on June 19, Sony and Naughty Dog are drumming up as much excitement for the narrative-driven experience as possible. A new launch trailer for The Last of Us Part II was released Wednesday, which, although brief, shows Ellie as a protagonist driven by a thirst for vengeance.

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Just under a minute long, the brief launch trailer for The Last of Us Part II consists of several short video clips. It also provides footage from the story trailer for the game released last month, including Ellie violently attacking enemies, walking away from Joel, and swinging an axe. On top of it are audio clips of Ellie revealing her intentions to exact vengeance, saying she’s “gonna kill every last one of them.”

The game is just over a week away, and much anticipation has been built up. Between the visually impressive trailers, new accessibility options, and visceral gameplay, the sequel to the 2013 PlayStation 3 classic has shown a great deal of promise.

Although Naughty Dog and Sony experienced some turmoil following a host of leaks, the future seems bright for the Sony exclusive.

Brandon McIntyre
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Naughty Dog devs suffer layoffs, reportedly impacting Last of Us multiplayer spinoff
Ellie looking concerned.

A new report revealed that Naughty Dog has ended several contracts it had with developers early, laying off around 25 developers. This had a negative impact on The Last of Us multiplayer game but, more importantly, is chillingly just the latest batch of layoffs in a rough couple of months for the video game industry.
These contracted developers were informed that their contracts were ending prematurely at the end of October and that they'd get no severance afterward, according to the report at Kotaku. Reportedly, most of these layoffs at Naughty Dog, PlayStation's darling studio that employs over 400 developers, come from the quality assurance, art, and production teams. According to Kotaku, Naughty Dog asked its developers to keep quiet about it. That didn't happen, though, with developers telling Kotaku not only about the layoffs but that the multiplayer The Last of Us game "while not completely canceled, is basically on ice at this point."
Concept art for Naughty Dog's Last of Us multiplayer title. Naughty Dog
These layoffs are unfortunate but sadly not uncommon for the game industry. Throughout the last few weeks, studios like Ubisoft, Creative Assembly, Ascendant Studios, and Epic Games have all laid off people. Epic, in particular, cut a whopping 16% of its workforce despite the fact that Fortnite is one of the most popular video games. Then, there are studios like Saints Row's Volition, support studio Puny Human, and Boomerang X's Dang are closing entirely.
Although 2023 has been a year full of fantastic games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, and Baldur's Gate 3, it's unfortunate that it has been so rough for the developers who actually make the games in this gigantic industry. It's clear something needs to change.

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This might be why The Last of Us has terrible stuttering on PC
Joel looks at Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2.

The Last of Us on PC has launched in a dire state. Although I haven't experienced as many issues as some players are reporting, the consensus is clear: the game is buggy, poorly optimized, and underbaked. It's currently sitting with a Mostly Negative review status on Steam, which is typically reserved for the most broken games, like Battlefield 2042. 

Consider yourself warned if you want to jump into Joel and Ellie's story on PC, especially if you just finished off the excellent HBO series. For players who already have the game, there's a particular issue you should be aware of that relates to Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), as well as demands on your system that go far beyond the recommended specs.
A possible source of stutter

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Now that The Last of Us is over, you should watch these TV shows and movies
Pedro Pascal stands in front of Bella Ramsey in The Last of Us.

It had to end sometime. Season 1 and episode 9 of The Last of Us just finished, and a lot of people are probably bummed they can't get more postapocalyptic drama. Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the show chronicles a lonely man who guides a traumatized teenage girl across an unrecognizable America in the hopes of finding a cure for a fungal virus that has turned most of the world's population into flesh-eating zombies.

With an impressive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a steadily increasing viewership week after week, The Last of Us has already become the greatest video game adaptation ever made and now ranks among some of HBO's biggest shows. In case anyone is anxious to see more of the series, here are some shows/films similar to The Last of Us that will make the wait for season 2 easier.
A Quiet Place

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