For whatever reason, be it the fact that The Last of Us Part II was divisive or that the franchise remains highly popular, Naughty Dog has fielded calls for a third The Last of Us game for a very long time. Since the conclusion of the second game, fans have begged for more. With the release of the television show on HBO Max, which is still ongoing, there is renewed interest in seeing what might be next.
However, as of now, it doesn’t look like there will be anything else. Creator Neil Druckmann has said he had some interesting ideas about a third game, but he feels as if Part II is a complete end to the story. For that reason and more, there won’t and shouldn’t be another sequel.
3. Not Everything Has to Be a Sprawling Franchise
It is certainly true that the best or most well-liked things become franchises. Star Wars became a franchise so huge because it was so beloved and well-done. The Legend of Zelda is still going strong to this day because there’s always been quite a demand for it.
That said, some things are better left as they are. The goal should be to be so good that people want more, but the goal shouldn’t always be to give them more. The Last of Us is a prime example of that. You could easily merge the two games into one, as they do tell two halves of one tale.
It doesn’t need to go beyond that. Milking a game to become a franchise isn’t always the right idea, especially when the focus here is narrative storytelling and not revolutionary gameplay or graphics. As we’re seeing with the television show, sometimes less is more. Things don’t have to be added onto unnecessarily. Would people play if there were five The Last of Us games? Undoubtedly, but that was never the goal for Naughty Dog.
2. It Would Have Happened By Now
The simplest answer to why there isn’t a third The Last of Us game is that Naughty Dog has spent zero time working on one. They haven’t ditched the brand, though. They’ve done remakes and remasters galore since The Last of Us Part II hit shelves in 2020. In the five years since, they’ve made four different versions of the two games for various platforms.
It’s clear that the developers still want to take advantage of fan interest in the game series. It’s also clear that there’s still very much an appetite for it, as the show remains popular despite a mixed reception to Season 2, and there was just an update for Part II earlier this week.
In all that time, they very easily could’ve been working on a third game. Game development is a little easier now than it was when they were first making the sequel, so five years is plenty long enough. If there were to be a third game, we’d have heard about it already. Instead, Naughty Dog is working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
1. The Story is Perfect and Complete
It is admittedly rare for such a moving and compelling story to be told in a video game. Even today, the medium is not known for its storytelling, though games like this do their best to undo that stigma. But here we have an example of a terrific tale told exclusively through a video game.
The most important reason there won’t and shouldn’t be a third game is because this story is complete. There’s nothing left to explore. Some have suggested a third game following the events of the second (light spoilers here), whether it’s to see where Ellie goes to find Dina and JJ, or following Abby and Lev joining the Fireflies again.
And while those things would make for a fun game, what is the narrative reason for exploring that? We have seen the conclusion of the arcs for both Abby and Ellie. The only reason to go back is if there’s another moral of the story yet untold, and it certainly doesn’t appear like there is one.
The other options are prequels exploring Ellie’s life in the QZ or the early days of the outbreak with Tommy and Joel. But those ignore the fundamental purpose of these games, which is not to give players things to do but to tell a powerful story. Sometimes, it’s better to quit while you’re ahead, and Naughty Dog is ahead right now, and there isn’t really anything more to add to the story at this point.
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