53 REASONS WHY IT'LL CLICK

Still undecided about The Last Of Us Part II? We’ve got all the reasons you need to look forward to 19 June

01 ELLIE AND THE FOUR SEASONS

Like the first game, The Last Of Us Part II changes with the seasons. Trailers and hands-on time with the game reveal very different climates and environmental changes. It seems the world will reflect the mood of the story. Who will we play as? Who’s the villain? Who lives and who dies? These questions will be answered when you play it on 19 June.

One big difference this time is technical: Naughty Dog is able to represent the different seasons even better visually because this game has been developed for PS4, late in the console’s life cycle, and the developer understands the tech perfectly.

It seems that the game will begin in winter, time progressing as Ellie makes her way north to Seattle. Most of the traveling we’ve seen so far have had Ellie and her companions on horseback, riding through lush forests, golden fields, and deep snow. We’ll go beyond ruined cities to see even more rural areas this time. In the wintry portions of the game, we’ve seen how Ellie leaves footprints and pushes clumps of snow aside as she moves, suggesting its possible enemies can use these tracks to hunt her down as she tries to avoid being detected by her pursuers.

02 HORSING AROUND

Horseriding returns and it looks like it might be a bigger feature this time around. In previews we’ve seen Ellie on horseback across multiple seasons and environments, trekking through green forests and white snow. Many years after society fell apart, is this now the predominant means of long-distance transportation?

03 WEATHER REPORT

Not only does the game take place during various seasons, but the weather effects are also some of the best we’ve seen on PS4. The weather in turn affects how Ellie has to wrangle with the environment, so she gets muddy as she crawls through the undergrowth.