The Last of Us Part 2 Reveals Two Incredibly Immersive Features

The Last of Us Part II on PS4 has revealed and detailed new features that are designed to add another level of immersion to the experience. One of these features is that every character -- human, infected, dog, and living thing -- has a pulse that Naughty Dog is tracking. So, what does this mean? Well, things like breathing will change depending on what a character's heartbeat is. And this ties directly into the gameplay. If you're quiet, you can detect enemies by their breathing. Meanwhile, if you just got done sprinting with Ellie, she's going to be breathing loudly, making stealth difficult.

"What's happening behind the scenes is that [Ellie] has a heart rate that is oscillating up and down," said co-director Anthony Newman while speaking with Polygon. "It goes up when you sprint, it goes up when you melee, it goes up when you take damage, and goes up into the presence of enemies. And that modulates the bucket of breathing sounds that she's able to use. It's been incredible because I found myself able to play cat and mouse with Clickers better than ever before because I can kind of understand them by the noises that they're making. And the humans will do the same thing with breathing and sprinting and stuff."

Meanwhile, every character in the game has a name, including dogs. So, for example, if you kill a dog while stealthing around an area, and it's found by the other bad guys, they will remark about the death, which will include mentioning the name of the dog. Of course, this is an even smaller detail, but it's a pretty impactful one that fleshes out the world and adds weight to your slaughter.

"I think the game is kind of a conversation about the cycle of violence, and I think as you play through the game, it becomes clear that the pursuit of vengeance has tremendous cost, not only against the people you're exacting vengeance on, but on the player themselves," said Newman while speaking to GameSpot. "And I think one of the really interesting ways we're playing with that is with our named NPCs. All of the human enemies in the game have names, and they'll refer to each other by name when they're coordinating, like when one is telling one to flank, or to search a building, and they'll also react in anguish and call out each other's names when they see one of their friends die."

Newman continued:

"I think that makes it clear that these aren't just faceless goons that you're fighting against. These are real people who care about each other, and you are committing these heinous acts against them. I think that through the gameplay, this is what's so awesome about video games as a medium. This is something you couldn't do in film or in any other way. You are complicit in these horrible acts, and it really drives home what this high cost of humanity is."

As you know, it's the small details that make games immersive, and it sounds like The Last of Us Part II recognizes this. How much it will impact the game's quality, remains to be seen, but at the very least, it sounds like the PS4 exclusive will do its best to completely immerse players in the moment.

The Last of Us Part II is in development for PS4, and is set to release worldwide on February 21, 2020. For more news, rumors, media, and information on the game, click here.