- The Last of Us Part 2 developers took inspiration from Bloodborne.
- A recent documentary reveals that Naughty Dog almost took a full melee approach to combat.
- The studio also wanted to make the game an open-world title.
- While these changes were scrapped, influence can still be felt in the final game’s melee combat.
The Last of Us Part 2, while having a controversial ending, is loved by many for various reasons. After three years, the game was recently remastered by Naughty Dog, even though it already looked so good.
There aren’t even many graphical improvements, but the new content makes the remaster worth it for the team. The studio has also expanded the franchise with a documentary recently, which states that Bloodborne was a huge inspiration for the game.
Why it matters: Bloodborne’s atmosphere and open world are second to none for many gamers out there.
The Last of Us Part 2 is not an open-world game. However, Naughty Dog’s latest documentary reveals that it almost became one. In Grounded 2, co-director Anthony Newman said that the game was inspired by Bloodborne.
He revealed that initially:
“The game was kind of an open world inspired by Bloodborne.”
The game’s layout was initially designed to mimic a map that grew with exploration. Naughty Dog was impressed by FromSoftware’s approach, but the team ended up dropping this focus later on.
Open-world levels did not work with a linear game like The Last of Us Part 2. However, the game still offered much more open levels than its predecessor. An even bigger inspiration was taken for the combat mechanics. The co-director further said:
“It was purely melee focused. It was all hand-to-hand combat.”
While Naughty Dog also dialed this element back, melee combat still showed remnants of inspiration. The Last of Us Part 2’s combat was satisfying and hard-hitting, emanating a similar rhythm of dodging and attacking from the FromSoftware titles.
Perhaps Naughty Dog can create another game that goes all in on this approach later. In the same documentary, Neil Druckmann hinted that a new IP would be next for the team, so we are interested in learning more about the developer’s goals.
It might be hard to imagine Naughty Dog creating a Souls-like. However, with the current popularity of the genre, this may just end up becoming a reality.
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