Naughty Dog‘s post-apocalyptic PS3 exclusive The Last of Us has presented an interesting and deadly duo, with Ellie appearing to be far more of a partner than someone for Joel to protect. However, whilst this dynamic looks set to serve the single player well, there are no plans to extend it into a co-op campaign.
Speaking to Gaming Examiner, Naughty Dog have revealed that they are:
“Not ready to talk about the details of how multiplayer will be implemented, however we can say that it is not co-op within the main campaign.”
The fact that it won’t appear in the main campaign does not rule out the possibility entirely. After all, the Uncharted series offered cooperative play in the form of additional episodes, and their certainly seems to be scope for it within this game. Whether or not other modes such as competitive multiplayer would even be appropriate for this title is somewhat debatable, but unless the characters we are yet to meet change the tone significantly it seems a rather unlikely addition.
With The Last of Us, what we appear to have are two characters cooperating to survive, but that doesn’t mean that a co-op element would enhance the campaign. In fact, had this news been the announcement of such a mode as opposed to its dismissal, I would have begun to question whether Naughty Dog‘s game would be worth surviving after all.