Highlights

  • Sony's live-service push has seen its fair share of setbacks, with only Helldivers 2 being a true success so far and The Last of Us Online's death being a low point.
  • Fans were disappointed for many reasons, one of which being that the game could have delved deeper into factions like the WLF and Seraphites.
  • HBO's The Last of Us Season 2 may offer hope for fans wanting more insight into factions like the WLF and Seraphites, but the game could have explored these two groups - or others - in an interesting way.

Sony's push into the live-service market hasn't quite gone to plan so far. All the way back in February 2022, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki announced that the company had plans to launch "more than 10" live-service games by March 2026. By November of last year, Sony had already backtracked on that initial plan, reducing that number to just six. As of the time of writing, Helldivers 2 is the only true success of Sony's live-service push, and unfortunately, The Last of Us Online is its biggest failure.

After delaying The Last of Us Part 2's promised multiplayer mode just weeks out from its scheduled launch, many fans had lost hope that they'd ever get to see another Last of Us multiplayer title, which is why The Last of Us Online's announcement was such a huge deal to many. But after a few reports concerning the spinoff's development hit the internet last year, those same fans grew wary, and right at the end of 2023, The Last of Us' multiplayer spin-off was canceled. Though little is officially known about the game, one of the biggest things fans were looking forward to was the possibility of it retroactively fleshing out some Last of Us lore, specifically relating to factions like the Seraphites and the WLF.

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The Last of Us Online Could Have Given the WLF and Seraphites More Screen Time

Though they get a good amount of screen time in The Last of Us Part 2, the Washington Liberation Front and the Seraphites still feel a tad half-baked, at least in terms of the game's main story content. While playing as Abby gives fans a much better insight into how the WLF operate on a day-to-day basis, and playing alongside Lev and Yara shines more light on the Seraphites' way of life, there's still a lot about both factions that players don't know.

Admittedly, eager players are able to find out a little more about both Last of Us Part 2 factions by finding all the game's hidden notes, some of which detail the origins of the WLF and Isaac's rise to power, as well as give better insight into Seraphite traditions. The Last of Us Part 2 also has some great environmental storytelling, with players stumbling upon WLF encampments and Seraphite shrines along their journey that further unravel the mysteries behind each faction. But while all this is good stuff, and more than enough for The Last of Us Part 2, it would have been great to see even more potentially in The Last of Us Online.

Aside from one or two screenshots, practically nothing was ever revealed about The Last of Us' multiplayer spin-off, at least not in any official capacity. That being said, if the game leaned into the same factions premise as The Last of Us 1's online mode like many expected it to, then it would make a lot of sense to see the WLF and Seraphites again, though the game would probably need to have been set before their presumed downfall towards the end of The Last of Us Part 2. Had that happened, players could have been able to live within a Seraphite or WLF camp and see the world through the eyes of a basic member of either faction.

One of the only screenshots released for The Last of Us ' multiplayer spin-off teased a San Francisco setting, which could have resulted in a completely different set of factions being used regardless.

There's Still Room for the WLF and Seraphites to be Explored in HBO's The Last of Us

Thankfully, all hope is not lost for fans longing to learn more about the WLF and the Seraphites. If it follows a similar pattern to the first season, HBO's The Last of Us Season 2 will probably end up adding quite a bit more context and detail to some of the second game's major moments, characters, and factions. This could potentially mean that the WLF and Seraphites are given more than enough time to shine, and with TLoU Online canceled, this would certainly be welcome.