A sequel to The Last of Us, a game widely considered among the best ever made, is coming. And it will be all about "hate".
Developers Naughty Dog confirmed The Last of Us Part II at the PlayStation Experience event over the weekent, saying it was in early development.
While both characters from the 2013 original would return, the sequel will feature Ellie as the main playable character, not Joel, the star of the first game, said creative director Neil Druckmann.
"Joel was the star in the first, Ellie is the star in this one. Ellie plays differently from Joel," he was reported as saying.
"If the first game was really about the love between these two characters, this story is the counter of that. "This is story is about hate, through Ellie this time."
The original game told the story of a group of survivors after a zombie apocalypse, with Joel guiding Ellie - who possibly had an antidote to the virus - to safety.
It's voicework, graphics, tone, music, story and ambigious ending turned it into the best game of 2013 - and one considered among the best games ever made by critics. It is available on Playstation 3 and 4.
No release date has been announced for the sequel, but Mr Druckmann told fans to "put some faith" in Naughty Dog to handle the franchise with care.
"You have to understand that no one loves these characters more than we do, and we would not do this if we didn't feel like we didn't have the right idea," Kotaku reported him as saying.
"All I ask is that fans of the first one put some faith in us, trust we're going to do right by them."
