The Last of Us will feature Online Component

Post-apocalyptic adventure The Last of Us will feature online capabilities, developer Naughty Dog has confirmed. “We’re going to have some sort of online component”, the game’s director Bruce Straley revealed in the latest Game Informer. But, for now, further details on The Last of Us’ online offering remain under-wraps.

“We’re working on a bunch of ideas, but we haven’t nailed anything down. We definitely know it’s going to be awesome,” Straley added.

Also, more light has been shed on the game’s characters, some details of which could be considered spoilers.

Ellie is a 14-year-old orphan fascinated with relics from the pre-apocalypse world. She lives in a boarding house inside one of the world’s many military quarantine zones and likes getting into trouble.

Her older accomplice is Joel, a gun and drugs smuggler in his late forties. He sells his wares between quarantine zones, something which brings him into contact with the viral “fungus” that now plagues The Last of Us’ world.

The game’s story begins as the two meet: Joel is asked by “a dying friend” to smuggle Ellie out of her quarantine zone to safety. The pair are discovered during their escape and the military pursue them.

The duo then begin to journey west across the country. Naughty Dog likens how their relationship will change during this adventure to that of characters in films such as True Grit and Road to Perdition.

A later sequence will see the pair attacked by bandits pretending to be survivors needing aid. Joel and Ellie beat them back with a mixture of melee attacks, bricks and wooden planks. Combat sees the duo fighting close together, passing weapons to each other.

Health packs are available, although take time to be applied. Naughty Dog hopes this will encourage players to avoid combat if possible.