The Last of Us 2 multiplayer – what to expect from ‘Factions 2’

Table of Contents Table of Contents

The Last of Us Part 2 multiplayer is confirmed to be in development with Naughty Dog, but otherwise remains wrapped in mystery and the unknown. We just don’t know too much, at least officially, about it.

But that doesn’t stop fans, like me, from getting incredibly excited about the game and searching for every tidbit of information, scrap of speculative detail, or anything else.

It’s maybe a bit surprising we didn’t get it when The Last of Us Part 2 came out back in June 2020, but from what’s been said about the projector growing and growing (and with the PS5 coming out a few months after Part 2 on PS4), it simply became a nonviable option. After all, we do know it started as a mode only: Neil Druckmann said that it started out life as a ‘multiplayer mode’ but ‘has evolved’ in scope and is now going to be a standalone title. So, it probably was part of Part 2 at one point as a separate mode – and maybe that’s why fans are still referring to it as The Last of Us 2 multiplayer.

Anyway, enough intro chit-chat, let’s get down to what we know about The Last of Us Part 2 multiplayer, Factions 2, or The Last of Us 2 Factions, or however you want to name it!

Is The Last of Us 2 multiplayer coming out?

First, the big, clear-cut question and answer. Yes! We absolutely know that Factions 2 – or whatever it will be called – is still in development and still definitely coming out. Phew. This was fully revealed and confirmed in a Naughty Dog blog last June, then elaborated on a little by Druckmann the same month (see below).

However, the only thing is, beyond those, we’ve had next to no news on it in months and know very little about what it will look like, what it will feature precisely, how it will play, etc. So, while we know it’s definitely coming out, we, sort of, don’t know what is coming out…

The Last of Us 2 multiplayer release date prediction

This is very hard to predict as Sony and Naughty Dog are being extremely tight-lipped – only giving us tiny bits of information. And nothing for a while at that.

One thing that Naughty Dog needs to fix first before worrying about another release is getting the port of The Last of Us Part 1 PC patched up and actually functional. Even though that is likely to be a whole separate team, of course, there’s no real chance that another release of this magnitude will be anywhere near close to a previous one.

Also, even though this has been described as a full, standalone game, this hasn’t stopped speculation that The Last of Us 2 multiplayer will release as part of some kind of The Last of Us Part 2 PS5 Director’s Cut or bundle. It would seem like the right marriage – the multiplayer sequel to the single-player sequel all in one release, for one platform. But we’ve also got no word on the highly-touted PS5 release of that game either…

The last thing to think about here might be the HBO series and if Sony wants to tie a multiplayer game release into the schedule for that show. For example, to release it strategically in the run-up to the second season’s start date or something. The problem with this would be that we aren’t expecting season 2 to be ready to air until late 2024 at the earliest.

What do we know about The Last of Us Part 2 multiplayer?

Very little, in all honesty. The most tangible thing we have is the image used in this article. The full concept art piece is below, and fans have been interrogating it since it was released.

From this, we can immediately tell a few things – or at least have good guesses. The setting looks like San Francisco – given away by the Golden Gate Bridge in the background – there are infected in the present, similar weapons for The Last of us series remain, and there are at least some humans not trying to kill each other. We also don’t know what that sandstorm (spore storm?) kind of feature is.

However, on the same day that the artwork and blog were shared, Neil Druckmann took to the stage with Geoff Keighley and did a short interview for last year’s Summer Games Fest. He described the game in a bit more detail, though didn’t reveal any specifics. He said: “The game is big. It’s as big as any of our single-player games we’ve done, and in some ways, bigger…”. This is excellent news and confirms a sizeable game worthy of being standalone. Druckmann went on to say that “It’s got a story, and the way we’re telling that story is very unique to this game…it’s got a brand new cast of characters”. Both points suggest more of a narrative being part of the game instead of just straight-up combat.

Druckmann also added “You’re going to hear a see a lot more of this game come next year” – that’s this year! And with three months already gone hopefully it won’t be long until we get more concrete details as it has all the makings and pedigree of one of the best PS5 games of a multiplayer ilk.

What about multiplayer modes?

To inject some speculation here, we think there could be several multiplayer game modes on offer. First, you’d hope, maybe even expect, that the established Factions modes will be present. Additionally, I would wager that the inclusion of a story and it being a ‘big’ game could hint at PvE and maybe co-op (think, The Division 2), with players completing missions together across a large world to progress a story. This could be backed up by what looks like humans fighting infected in the concept art above – something else that could represent PvE or an element of it. Lastly, there had been reports of a battle royale mode. While this would be ‘late’ to the battle royale party, it could still represent a highly-polished, epic take on the game style – and is that a dust or spore cloud that will limit the play area in the above artwork, for example?

Is The Last of Us 2 multiplayer coming to PC?

As mentioned above, we’ll probably have to let Naughty Dog and Sony sort out the mess that is The Last of Us part 1 on PC first before thinking about a PC release of a multiplayer game we know next to nothing about. Heck, we don’t even know for sure if The Last of Us Part 2 is coming to PC yet – though it likely is – so let’s see if that gets sorted first.

Is The Last of Us Remastered Factions still active on PS4?

Yes! If you want to join in on some Last of Us multiplayer action right now, then you can grab the PS4 version of the first game, and jump straight into Factions. It’s still got a thriving community and is still often regarded as an underrated multiplayer experience on PS4. Note it’s probably a good guess that Factions on PS4 will likely end when the new The Last of Us 2 multiplayer game launches (though this is a theory).