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(Image: Naughty Dog)

Since the announcement of The Last of Us Part 2, gamers have been eagerly awaiting more information about the upcoming post-apocalyptic sequel. After all, we don’t even have a release date yet!

However, Troy Baker, the voice actor of Joel (the main character in TLOU), recently made an appearance at Manchester Comic-Con and commented on the game. His full recorded statement was uploaded to Reddit by user r/jubba and is transcribed below:

‘There is nothing about this game nor the revealing thereof that has not been one hundred percent carefully crafted and methodically curated. All I can tell you is that, as much as you’re clamouring for it, you’re not ready.’

A fascinating thing to say, but what exactly could Baker be alluding to? What exactly does he think fans are ‘not ready’ for?

Well, perhaps Naughty Dog is planning an unexpected twist in TLOU2’s story, or a maybe even a major character death that will devastate fans when they eventually play the game.

Indeed, when the first TLOU2 trailer featuring Joel and Ellie dropped there was speculation that Joel (Troy Baker’s character) died at some point between the first game and its upcoming sequel.

In that trailer, Joel appears after Ellie has apparently killed a houseful of people, almost like he’s acting as Ellie’s conscience – not exactly real, but possibly a fragment of Ellie’s damaged psyche and not the ex-scavenger we all came to love in the first game.

Proponents of this theory cite the fact that Neil Druckmann (Creative Director at Naughty Dog) said that Ellie ‘would be the only playable character in the game’. Is Ellie the only playable character because Joel is dead?

However, another trailer released had a character referring to Ellie’s ‘old man’. This would suggest that Joel (as Ellie’s surrogate father figure) is alive. Unless this scene is set before the scene we saw in the previous trailer, or Ellie is pretending to be someone else’s daughter and it’s all a big double bluff.

Other news reports over the past year have alluded to surprises in the game as well. In an interview between Newsweek and Kurt Margenau (Naughty Dog Co-director), Margenau stated:

‘It's a given people will be surprised by the writing, the story twists and turns, and the relationships that build throughout the game. Continuing the Joel and Ellie relationship as we get into this game and getting to see what's happened in the last five years.’

(Image: Naughty Dog)

This implies that, even though Ellie is the sole playable character, there will be a focus given to her relationship with Joel. This would allude to the fact that Joel is in fact alive in the game!

If all this is making your head hurt, you’re not alone. Speculating over what will no doubt be a huge and complex story set throughout a vast post-apocalyptic world was always going to be difficult. Especially given the limited yet tantalising clues we’ve had so far.

For now, Naughty Dog are holding their cards close to their chest. But if Troy Baker has assured fans that they won’t be ready for what happens in TLOU2, we can probably take his word for it.

Stay tuned to Daily Star Gaming for all The Last of Us Part 2 news as it’s announced.