As I'm sure you're aware, Naughty Dog is moving away from The Last Of Us and Uncharted to give us a fascinating new IP - but that doesn't mean there aren't plans for The Last Us Part 3.
While Naughty Dog's main focus right now is the stunning-looking Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, a new chapter in The Last Of Us saga is all but guaranteed. The bad news? It's almost certainly going to be the final chapter.
During a recent documentary about the making of The Last Of Us Part 2, developer Neil Druckmann confirmed he has a plan for the third game, but that it will likely be the end of the story.
"The first game had such a clean concept of like, the unconditional love a parent feels for their child," Druckmann explained.
Hogwarts Legacy – Live The Unwritten Trailer – Nintendo Switch
"The second one, once we landed on this idea of the pursuit of justice at any cost, justice for the ones you love, we felt like, 'there's a clean concept here and there's a throughline from the first game, about love.' If we never get to do it again, this is a fine ending point. Last bite of the apple, the story's done."
He added: "The great thing about working at Naughty Dog is that we don't have to. It's always like, 'we would love another Last Of Us, but if you guys feel you're passionate about something else, we'll support this other thing.' Very privileged position to be in, I never take that for granted. I've been just thinking about it, 'is there a concept there?' And for now years, I haven't been able to find that concept. But recently, that's changed, and I don't have a story, but I do have that concept that to me is as exciting as 1, as exciting as 2, is its own thing, and yet has this throughline for all three. So it does feel like there's probably one more chapter to this story."
As sad as we are to know the end is coming, we can safely bet it'll be a long way off. Intergalactic doesn't even have a release date yet, which suggests to us The Last Of Us Part 3 is little more than a glint in Druckmann's eye at this stage.
The Last of Us fans spot Easter egg in Intergalactic trailer
There's a nod to Uncharted too
I sensed one would be in there and now it has finally been spotted.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is hiding a The Last of Us Easter egg, alongside other sneaky nods.
In the lead up to this year’s The Game Awards, whispers did the rounds claiming that Naughty Dog would be unveiling a new IP.
I’ll admit, I was nervous - and it’s not because I doubted Naughty Dog.
As I recently detailed in my trailer deep dive, I yearn for The Last of Us Part III - the important context here being that The Last of Us Part II is my favourite game of all-time.
Would I care about a new IP when that particular story had been left so open?
I was, dearest reader, stupid to hold such a concern as the premise of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet already has me hooked (although my desire to reunite with Ellie and Abby further down the line hasn’t faded).
In case you missed it, I urge you to revisit my trailer deep dive where I pinpoint several reasons why we should be excited about this new release.
But today, it’s the topic of Easter eggs that I want to address as several have been found hidden within the cinematic trailer.