![]() #Subvert your expectations upgrade#I didn’t want it to just be a random jump scare out of nowhere, but rather subverting player expectation of a learned mechanic (the workbench upgrade menu) in order to create a memorable moment that strengthened the Last of Us Part II world and narrative through gameplay. I wanted the player to go into an apartment that was currently being occupied, take all the items from these people, then get ambushed whilst Ellie’s back was turned and she was vulnerable something that wouldn’t have happened had Dina been with her. The physics dumpster puzzle was created as a twist on the buddy mechanic of opening a garage door together. I initially thought about showing a ‘buddy boost’ opportunity to reach a higher ledge that the player couldn’t use on their own, which would require a dumpster to progress, which then led me into thinking about how I could emphasize loneliness in a puzzle. I thought about the mechanics we had that involved a buddy character and how I could use them to make the player directly feel firsthand the drawback of being by themselves. I started to think about ways I could emphasize the player’s loneliness through game mechanics as I believe the strongest way to tell a story is through engagement with the gameplay mechanics and the gameplay beats themselves a particularly strong point of Naughty Dog games. I had a brief for this level that Ellie should feel alone as she had left Dina behind in the theatre and we wanted to emphasize what Ellie would sacrifice in order to pursue revenge. I worked on 4 levels in “The Last of Us Part II”, one of which was called ‘The Seraphites’ where Ellie left the theatre by herself in search of a character named Nora whom she wanted to exact revenge on. ![]()
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