The Last of Us has perhaps one of the most intriguing worlds in gaming. More often than not, expansive universes in gaming are often restricted to the sci-fi or fantasy genres, with modern-era action games very rarely getting carefully crafted worlds. That's not the case for The Last of Us. Over the last decade, The Last of Us' horrifying world has continued to get fleshed out via both games and a new TV show, and now the upcoming The Last of Us Multiplayer spinoff has the perfect opportunity to continue the pattern.
The Last of Us Multiplayer is set to drop players into the cordyceps-infected world once more, this time with some real-world friends and foes alongside them. Though no major plot or gameplay details have been revealed so far, it seems likely that The Last of Us Multiplayer will continue to explore this desperate and dilapidated world in new and interesting ways, and there's one area in particular that the game should focus on that was brushed over a little too quickly in The Last of Us Part 2: well-rounded faction lore.
The Last of Us Multiplayer Should Explore New Factions and Gangs
The world of The Last of Us has no shortage of horrors. While Runners, Clickers, Stalkers, and Bloaters all flood the streets, they're not necessarily the most brutal foes players will face off against. Instead, much like every other popular zombie franchise, it's the rest of humanity that people need to be wary of. In the first Last of Us, players came into contact with the authoritarian military force FEDRA, as well as their direct opposition, the Fireflies. In typical Last of Us fashion, neither side is the hero of the story, with the Fireflies being willing to put innocent lives at stake in the name of "freedom," while FEDRA was content with public executions and mandated curfews.
The Last of Us 2 takes things a step further, introducing three new factions, each one more brutal than the last. The first of these is the Washington Liberation Front. Originally a group very similar to the Fireflies, the WLF, often referred to as the Wolves, grew resentful of FEDRA's rule, and decided to fight for their freedom. The WLF were one of the few groups that managed to successfully overthrow FEDRA, though this coup resulted in the brutal deaths of many soldiers. The WLF only got more brutal when they met another faction, the Seraphites.
Often nicknamed Scars due to their practice of self-mutilation, the Seraphites are a group of religious zealots that reside on an island just off the coast of Seattle. For years, the WLF and the Seraphites have been engaged in a bloody conflict, resulting in the deaths of countless people on both sides. While both of these factions share plenty of screen time in The Last of Us Part 2, with all sides of the story being explored, the game's third and final faction, the Rattlers, isn't so well-developed, with the player only really knowing that they keep any prisoners as working slaves.
The Last of Us Multiplayer should double down on its world-building and really hone in on new factions. Any new groups should have some kind of distinct trait that separates them from the other factions fans have seen so far, albeit one that's justifiable for the in-game universe. Each of these groups should also have a clear ethos that it strictly adheres to, preferably one that makes its actions seem justified from its point of view. With The Last of Multiplayer stemming from The Last of Us: Factions, it seems likely that Naughty Dog will lean closely into this element of world-building.
The Last of Us multiplayer game is in development.
