A group of particularly observant fans think they’ve found an easter egg depicting Naughty Dog’s next project in The Last of Us Part I.
The ultra-high fidelity remaster has only been available since last week, encouraging fans to pore over every last centimetre of the game’s lavishly decorated environments. Among these environs, fans discovered posters and photographs all related to some sort of fantasy setting. Because the posters are located in a dimly lit area of the game, players immediately set about trying to get a clear look at them.
Here’s what they found, first picked up by Eurogamer:
Fans are speculating that art in TLOU1 are indicative of Naughty Dog’s new IP. Seemingly would be a fantasy setting.
what do you think? pic.twitter.com/IV9tZZqULW
— Naughty Dog Central (@NaughtyNDC) September 5, 2022
The images above originally came from Twitter user IliaAkhavan.
These images got fans in a lather so quickly because Naughty Dog originally teased The Last of Us with this exact kind of easter egg. The studio famously concealed images of The Last of Us, then still in development, in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Observe:
Therefore, the idea of Naughty Dog teasing a future project through an easter egg within The Last of Us isn’t without precedent. The rumour was further juiced by a collection of fantasy artwork from senior concept artist Hyoung Nam. Three pieces, all depicting fantasy characters and settings, were uploaded to Nam’s Artstation account in 2021. The lead image in the set, Women of the North, depicts a warrior woman sitting atop a slain dragon.
Fans reacted to the idea of a fantasy game created by Naughty Dog with great enthusiasm. It’s a studio known for creating visually spectacular rollercoasters and character-driven epics, two storytelling building blocks that fit the fantasy genre well.
As rumours began to circulate, Nam updated each image description to state that they were nothing more than a homage to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and were not connected to any internal project at Naughty Dog.
This denial, ironically, added fuel to the fire. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, fans noted, does not contain any dragons. Therefore, they rationalised, Nam’s comments could be a bluff.
Keen to know what you think on this one. Are the fans jumping at shadows here, or do you believe the rumours have merit? Let’s discuss in the comments below.
Leave a Reply