It's no secret that The Last of Us 2 is aiming to be an even bigger game then the 2013 original. Outside of the knowledge that The Last of Us 2 reportedly spans two-discs and that it is Naughty Dog's biggest game yet, a more specific playtime hasn't been nailed down. That is, until a recent interview with The Last of Us 2 co-writer Halley Gross, which may very well offer a better idea of how long the upcoming game will take to beat.
Speaking to GamerBraves, Gross said that The Last of Us 2 is about 50% bigger than the first game. "The game I think we're saying is about 50% bigger, but it is massive, not just in length, but in like, all of our levels are bigger and wider, we have more cinematics, we have more characters, we have more animations. We have larger melee systems. In every way, the game is bigger and better."
According to playtime aggregate site How Long to Beat, the first Last of Us can be completed, on average, in about 15 hours. This means that if Gross's comments about the size of The Last of Us 2 are accurate, fans are looking at roughly 30 hours of playtime for The Last of Us 2. Of course, this will depend on a variety of factors, including player skill, difficulty level, and how thoroughly one explores the game world.
Of course, it's possible that Gross just means that the game is bigger in terms of scope, not in game length. It's possible that The Last of Us 2 is bigger in the sense that the levels are larger and things like that, but perhaps it will still take roughly the same amount of time to get to the end credits.
However, considering the scope of The Last of Us 2 and other comments developers have made about the game's size, it's unlikely that the game would be as long as the first one. This is especially true when one takes into account the added resources put into the single player campaign that have come at the expense of The Last of Us 2's multiplayer mode. With no multiplayer this time around, Naughty Dog has been able to focus entirely on the single player story, so it should almost certainly be longer than the original.
We'll find out for sure how long The Last of Us 2 takes to beat come the game's release date early next year.
The Last of Us 2 will launch on February 21, 2020, exclusively for PS4.
Source: WCCF Tech