New Last of Us details emerge

New details have emerged about the highly anticipated Naughty Dog game titled "The Last of Us." The post-apocalyptic thriller will have two different types of infected enemies as well as a crafting system for scavenged items.

What we already know

The Last of Us takes place two decades after the break out of an epidemic fungal virus. The protagonist is named Joel, a black marketeer living in a quarantine zone ruled under a harsh regime. Joel promises an old friend that he will escort a young girl named Ellie out of the zone and journey across the United States.
Joel and Ellie will have to survive against humans infected by the virus, and scavengers who seek to kill them and loot their bodies.

The game is one of the most beautiful games seen on this current generation and character animations are the BEST that I've ever seen. Not only does the game look good, but the AI is brilliant. Ellie will help out Joel in battles by distracting enemies, or throwing objects at them to stun them while Joel goes in for the kill. Ellie also calls out points of interest such as ladders, enemy locations and item locations.

The game will be in third person and will involve action-packed gunfights as well as scenarios that require 'dynamic stealth." Dynamic stealth means that instead of there only being one way to stealthily approach a situation, there are multiple approaches that can be made. Depending on how you handle certain situations affects how enemies react.

Enemy types revealed

 Now that we're all caught up, it's time to talk about the enemy types. There will be two different types of infected in the game. One type is called the Runner, and the other type is called the Clicker,

That handsome fellow is a Clicker

Runners are infected that have been more recently exposed to the virus. They are in the early stages of transformation, which can be seen by their puffy eyes caused by the fungus growing in their brains. If you haven't assumed already, the Runners get their name from their ability to run full speed at Joel. They can also alert other Runners which can lead to large groups of multiple enemies rushing at Joel at a given time.

Clickers are infected that have already hit the later stages of the virus. The fungus has completely bulged out of their eyes, leaving them blind. This means that they have super sensitive hearing and use sound navigation hence the name Clicker. They make a clicking sound with their mouths to see via echolocation. The sound bounces off objects and comes back to the Clicker, leaving them aware of their surroundings.

Both enemy types look extremely creepy and will be more difficult to take down than expected. In order to kill them, you need to shoot them in the head. Sounds simple enough, but when Runners are running frantically at full speed, it will be hard to get a clear shot at their head as it weaves from side to side.

Crafting

As we already know, scavenging will be a key component of game play in "The Last of Us." Recent details show that scavenging items will be important because more powerful items can be crafted with them. Crafting is not complicated and resources used for crafting are not scarce.

When you pick an item up, an icon with a pie chart will pop up. The chart will show you how much the item is worth. Once you fill in one of the pie charts, you'll have a whole new item. You will collect schematics for different items as you progress through the game. Once you have the schematics for items like med kits or Molotov cocktails, a simple click of a button will create them. 

Concept drawing of a Runner

Crafting will be done in real time. Joel will be digging through his backpack while crafting and will be vulnerable to attack, so make sure you craft in a nice secluded area.

Other details

The game will begin in a quarantine zone in Boston. Joel and his friend Tess are trying to take Ellie to a group called the Firefly, so they venture through an unprotected city that was bombed in an attempt to stop the infection.

There will be a ton of collectible items in the game. These items are comics, Firefly logs, training manuals and notes. Notes are handwritten and three dimensional. They will not be in the form of text that pops up on your screen.



The only crafting materials known as of now are batteries, blades, bindings, rags, alcohol, explosives, sugar and various melee weapons. I'm sure there will be many more in the full version of the game.