The Last of Us Part 2 Factions multiplayer footage leaked

If there’s one thing we’d like to see from The Last of Us Part II – aside from a meaty DLC chapter, of course – is the return of the Factions multiplayer.

Originally, developer Naughty Dog had planned to launch the sequel with this online mode included though it was eventually cut so the team could focus primarily on delivering a more polished singleplayer experience.

Well, some weeks after the launch of The Last of Us Part II,  we now have footage of the cancelled (or at least delayed) Factions multiplayer. The video above isn’t the best quality and only clocks in at 12 seconds though it does give us a glimpse at what could have been.

Although not the clearest footage, we can still glean some details from this in-development demo of Factions 2.0. It shows a four versus four skirmish set on a snowy map (Jackson, presumably) with many of the same systems in place that we saw in the original The Last of Us multiplayer.

Focusing on one player, we see them attempt to craft an item before knocked down (but not killed) by an enemy using a melee weapon. The attacker then turns their attention to another survivor but is struck with an arrow before hit with a finisher. And that’s about it.

It’s not hard to imagine how Factions would benefit from the gameplay refinements made between The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. Close combat could be more dynamic and may even have a dodge mechanic while environments may be opened up more thanks to the add jump and crawl movements.

According to Naughty Dog they still have something planned for Part II multiplayer, having made the following statement to fans:

We wanted to address multiplayer in The Last of Us Part 2. As we’ve stated, the single player campaign is far and away the most ambitious project Naughty Dog has ever undertaken. Likewise, as development began on the evolution of our Factions mode from The Last of Us Part 1, the vision of the team grew beyond an additional mode that could be included with our enormous single player campaign. Wanting to support both visions, we made the difficult choice that The Last of Us Part 2 would not include an online mode.

However, you will eventually experience the fruits of our team’s online ambition, but not as a part of The Last of Us Part 2. When and where it will be realized is still to be determined. But rest assured, we are as big a fan of Factions as the rest of our community and are excited to share more when it’s ready.

Source: YouTube (The Irishlizard)

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Senior Editor bursting with lukewarm takes and useless gaming trivia. May as well surgically attach my DualSense at this point.