Just under a week ago, YouTuber @Speclizer_ discovered a surprising issue in The Last of Us Part II's sniper sequence. If you run fast enough, Abby can catch up to Tommy and kill him. It's no easy feat by any means, but if you succeed in pulling off this bug, Part II stops the level, making players restart to the last checkpoint.
Several days later, having seen a Kotaku piece on this incident, Naughty Dog technical designer Asher Einhorn took to Twitter. Outlining why this can happen in Part II, they also offered wider details about the development of this sequence.
Read More: The Last of Us Part 2 Story DLC Rumoured, Alongside Multiplayer and Battle Royale Modes
Naughty Dog Technical Designer Explains The Last Of Us Part II's "Kill Tommy" Glitch
Within this, Einhorn confirms some key points. As Tommy couldn't die in this sequence, he outlines the "extremely difficult challenge" of creating an unwinnable boss fight, without letting players realise Tommy had "plot armour", fearing this would ruin any tension.
Though there's a lot of details to pour through, Einhorn essentially confirms Naughty Dog pulled off many design tricks to make Tommy uncatchable in most scenarios. As for the lobby fight, Einhorn bluntly called this "a f***ing huge pain in the a** to make work", but ultimately fun to work on, further stating "when you have to play this sequence 100’s of times to be able to do this? Ultimately I think it’s ok."
It's certainly worth reading the whole thread, making for a very interesting insight into last year's biggest blockbuster. While development has (mostly) wrapped up, Naughty Dog previously confirmed they're working on a standalone multiplayer project in TLOU's universe, too. Hopefully, it won't be long before we find out more.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!