Highlights
- The Last of Us has a survival-horror perspective on gunplay, with ammunition being scarce and stealth playing a significant role.
- The Last of Us Part 2 introduces military-grade weaponry and a roguelike mode, suggesting Naughty Dog’s potential for a Punisher game.
- The core mechanics of The Last of Us could provide a foundation for a Punisher game, with its emotional storytelling and well-established gunplay.
The Last of Us has always maintained elements of gunplay that carried over somewhat from Naughty Dog’s Uncharted. However, while Uncharted’s shooter gameplay was bombastic and epically proportioned, The Last of Us marinated its gunplay in more of a survival-horror perspective with ammunition being more precious and far fewer enemies who are more imposing. In fact, The Last of Us’ gunplay has always had an element of suspense since it involves cat-and-mouse stealth, where enemies creep between waist-high cover points as much as the player does.
Of course, The Last of Us might not be readily associated with the term ‘shooter’ since not all of its combat revolves around firing guns, though that is a significant part of the combat when players are engaged fully in offensive strategies. The Last of Us Part 2 makes this even more succinct with Abby and the WLFs who are well-equipped with military-grade weaponry, rather than the handful of pistols or shotguns Joel was able to scrounge together. Moreover, The Last of Us Part 2’s No Return roguelike mode tips those scales further, and in doing so Naughty Dog has never seemed more primed to tackle a Punisher game.
The Last of Us’ Latest Remaster Can Finally Be About More Than How the Game Looks
The Last of Us Part 2’s remaster could’ve easily been another to add to Naughty Dog’s pile and yet it seems to add worthwhile content all the same.
Naughty Dog Leaning into Shooter Gameplay Could Precipitate a Marvel Punisher Game
Naughty Dog’s Long-Rumored to Be Developing a Punisher Game
Ever since Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann expressed an interest in working on a Punisher game, the possibility of Naughty Dog doing so has been highly anticipated. There’s nothing that suggests fans should be ready to hear such an announcement, either, but because Naughty Dog has been such a resounding success for PlayStation it seems like it would have its pick of an IP if offered anything.
Marvel has recently and wildly been handing out its license to developers, including:
- EA Motive’s Iron Man game.
- EA Cliffhanger’s Black Panther game.
- Skydance’s WW2-set game featuring protagonists Captain America, Black Panther, Gabriel Jones, and Nanali.
- Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine.
If Naughty Dog’s emphasis on an action-filled Last of Us mode might mean anything concerning future games, the developer’s next game may have similar shooter mechanics as well. That’s why, if Druckmann was to get his wish, a Punisher game would be right up Naughty Dog’s alley.
The Last of Us Part 2’s Gunplay Could Be a Clean Transition to Punisher
It would be difficult to imagine Frank Castle lobbing bricks around to distract enemies, but all the core mechanics that The Last of Us has as a foundation could lay the same brickwork for a Punisher game. Even though Punisher has had a bit more relevancy in popular media around the time that the Netflix Marvel adaptation came out, the character is still somewhat of a blank canvas with nowhere near as rigid of a depiction as icons like Spider-Man or Batman.
Naughty Dog could take the emotional tragedy Frank suffers and make it a harrowing tale, and gunplay is already well within its wheelhouse. No Return arrives with The Last of Us Part 2’s remaster next month; it’ll be interesting to see how that plays and how that contributes to the overall experience. It’s not to say that Naughty Dog’s next game will be a roguelike, but if gunplay is a gameplay element that the studio is honing in on then it would be exciting if those talents could transition to a Punisher game, too.
Then, if Naughty Dog truly wanted to make its take on Punisher unique, it could give him the black-and-white War Machine suit to run around in. Either way, Naughty Dog will hopefully have more to share about its next endeavors soon.
The Last of Us Part 2
The Last of Us Part II is the follow-up to the original game in the series. This time around, players control both Ellie and Abby. The game won many awards, including smashing the record for the most Game of the Year awards.
- Franchise
- The Last of Us
- Platform(s)
- PS4
- Released
- June 19, 2020
- Developer(s)
- Naughty Dog
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Genre(s)
- Action, Adventure
- Engine
- Proprietary
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Metascore
- 93
