The Last of Us game series needs no introduction. The series has been a critical hit and great single-player experience. After the release of The Last of Us, Naughty Dog also released a multiplayer mode for the game known as “Factions”. The mode became very popular and many fans demanded multiplayer too with The Last of Us of Part II.
However, despite the demand, Naughty Dog decided to release the single-player campaign first and promised fans that a stand-alone multiplayer for the Last of Us Part II is in the works and will be released at a later date.
So Naughty Dog is working on multiplayer officially but we know nothing else about it. No official concrete details have been revealed so far. Since there are no gameplay details for The Last of Us 2 multiplayer, a curious user datamined the file of single-player game. And interestingly, he found out some unused multiplayer files in The Last of Us Part II directory.
Among some interesting things, the user was able to find some map files that indicate the exitance of a Battle Royale mode. Names of the locations on the map suggest that various single-player locations of TLOU Part II have been merged to create a single map. So a map like that also hints that it’s for Battle Royale.
With the popularity of Battle Royale, many companies experiment on this mode to see if it will eventually make sense. So Naughty Dog could have also tested it. However, this isn’t a confirmation that we will get a Battle Royale mode for the multiplayer of The Last of Us Part II.
There were some other hints as well indicating the existence of a Battle Royale mode, like an emote wheel and a compass showing player count in development footage of the game.
While everyone wants to try out Factions II, it will be interesting to see if we can also experience battle royale in the world of The Last of Us. Let’s just hope that Naughty Dog doesn’t scrap it in the final build of The Last of Us 2 multiplayer.
For now, there is not confirmed release date for The Last of Us Part II multiplayer. According to different reports the multiplayer component of the game might release in 2022.