While we’re all waiting on tenterhooks to learn when Naughty Dog will be announcing a re-remaster for the just revealed remaster of The Last Of Us Part II, in the meantime we shall make do with more news from this first reworking of 2020’s horror sequel: Three “lost levels” are to be added to the game, and one of them is simply titled “Sewers.”
News of The Last Of Us Part II Remastered first leaked last week on November 17, rapidly followed up by an official announcement from Sony and Naughty Dog, coming with information about a new roguelite mode called No Return, and an awful lot of snorting and confusion at why such a recent game was already receiving a remake.
Today, more information has appeared in the form of the game’s PlayStation Store listing, where the nature of the previously mentioned Lost Levels are becoming clearer. As GamesRadar reports internet detectives think they’ve already figured out what two of these three levels would be: One called Boar Hunt could well be Ellie hunting down the boar she mentions in her journal in the original version of the game. Another called Jackson Party is very likely to be set in the town Jackson, given the trailer gave us a glimpse of Ellie mooching through the streets. However, the store listing also mentions a third that seemingly wasn’t hinted at in the footage: Sewers.
Typically, a sewer level in a game is something to frown upon. It usually means drab, dank corridors, and it’s overdone. But in TLOU2? That’s got people freaking.
“Putting this right after the first stalker encounter and right before the first scar encounter is so fucked up lol,” says Terrible-Art on the The Last Of Us subreddit.
However, it’s important to note this isn’t going to be like a director’s cut of the game, these missing levels added to the flow. Instead, to the best of my understanding, these will be “early-development versions” of levels that were evidently cut from the game before reaching a final state. You’ll play them from the main menu as a curio, a chance to see what almost was. As another Redditor, chrchcmp, points out, “I get why they removed it for sure. That whole section is so fucking intense. Right after the scars, you’re at the hospital, and it’s just a looooot.”
Add these to a “Guitar Free Play,” the rogue-ish No Return, and a game enhanced to be PS5-forward, and clearly this is going to tempt back a lot of players, no matter how “too soon” it might feel. It’s all out January 19 next year.
