While Naughty Dog has always been an incredibly talented studio, its games have often been criticized for their enjoyable but basic gameplay, with Jak and Daxter and the first few Uncharted games being good examples of this. The narrative and characters are often the biggest highlights of a Naughty Dog game, and while that's certainly true for The Last of Us, this series does feature the most refined and complex gameplay in the developer's history. But that might not be enough for the upcoming Last of Us Multiplayer game.
While The Last of Us features satisfying combat mechanics, and The Last of Us Part 2 improves upon the formula in just about every way, this core loop might not translate all too well to a multiplayer setting. A lot of the satisfaction found in The Last of Us' combat gameplay comes from the ability to outsmart AI opponents and use the environment to the player's advantage. That might be a little hard to replicate in a multiplayer setting, especially one that Naughty Dog wants players to return to time and time again. And if that is the case, then The Last of Us Multiplayer may want to borrow one core concept from a beloved Valve game.
The Last of Us Multiplayer Should Borrow Left 4 Dead's Versus Mode
With it being a spinoff, The Last of Us Multiplayer has a unique opportunity to take some risks and shake up the traditional Last of Us gameplay formula. While fans would expect a Last of Us mainline game to deliver a similar gameplay experience to the last two entries, The Last of Us Multiplayer has a little more leeway, and can potentially introduce game modes and gameplay concepts that would otherwise never make it into the series. And if Naughty Dog wants players to stick around for the long haul, then having additional game modes is key.
It's currently unclear exactly what The Last of Us Multiplayer is going to be. If it's anything like The Last of Us Factions, then fans can expect to be split into teams and dropped into an arena where they'll be facing off against each other in a series of classic game modes like team deathmatch and last man standing, albeit with some alternative names and some slight mechanical tweaks. But if the rumors are to be believed, then The Last of Us Multiplayer is going to offer a completely different experience altogether, instead dropping players into a PvPvE scenario, similar to Escape From Tarkov or Call of Duty: Warzone 2's DMZ mode.
Regardless of what The Last of Us Multiplayer's main mode ends up being, Naughty Dog shouldn't be afraid to take a few risks, and develop some more experimental game modes, and Valve's beloved Left 4 Dead series offers the perfect inspiration. Introduced in the very first Left 4 Dead, the "Versus" mode sees a team of four survivors go up against a team of four infected players. While the survivors simply need to complete the campaign as they normally would, the opposing infected team needs to stop them in their tracks. To do so, the infected team takes on the role of some of Left 4 Dead's iconic special infected types, including anything from the long-range Smoker to the leapfrogging Hunter, all the way up to the hulking Tank.
Left 4 Dead's Versus mode gives both teams of players a completely different gameplay experience, making it the perfect mode to play when fans have had enough of just going through the campaign again. The Last of Us Multiplayer might benefit from a similar mode. While The Last of Us' infected tends to be a bit more subtle and subdued than Left 4 Dead's, it would still be fun to take control of infected types like the Bloater and Stalker. If The Last of Us Multiplayer wanted to deliver a truly unique gameplay experience, then it could even let players take on the role of a Clicker, only being given sight when their opponents make a noise.
The Last of Us’ multiplayer spin-off is currently in development.