The people who were expecting The Last of Us Part 2 to bring back the innovative multiplayer modes from the original game will be disappointed to learn that the game will not feature any multiplayer content at all. The Last of Us was praised for its incredible single-player campaign, but there were also several popular multiplayer modes that brought crafting and survival mechanics into online deathmatches.
The Last of Us used many of the same gameplay features from the single-player campaign in its multiplayer mode (known as Factions MP), including the ability to listen out for moving enemies and make them appear on the radar. Factions MP tied the matches to helping a group of survivors in the post-apocalyptic world and the supplies that players gathered during matches are used to help keep them alive. The Last of Us integrated Facebook with its multiplayer, which gave survivors the names and faces of people on the player's friend list. The multiplayer modes are not active on PlayStation 3, but The Last of Us Remastered on PlayStation 4 still has functional online modes.
The Last of Us Part 2 was featured during Sony's State of Play event and journalists have been given hands-on time with the game. It has been confirmed that there will be no multiplayer content in The Last of Us Part 2. The absence of the multiplayer modes was confirmed in an interview with Naughty Dog lead game designer Emilia Schatz conducted by USgamer and was later confirmed by a Sony representative. According to Schatz, the developers wanted to focus on the single-player experience. It's unclear when the decision was made to make The Last of Us 2 a single-player game, as the developers had previously confirmed that the multiplayer mode was making a comeback.
The Last of Us 2 is on two discs due to how big it is, which is something that is almost unheard of during this current console generation. Naughty Dog is selling The Last of Us 2 on the strength of its narrative and a desire to see the next part of Ellie and Joel's story, and while the Factions MP mode was a popular addition to The Last of Us, it was never the reason why the original game was so lauded upon release.
The absence of multiplayer modes in The Last of Us 2 is sad, but understandable given the current climate in the industry. It would have taken a considerable amount of work to add multiplayer modes to The Last of Us Part 2 and the market has plenty of titles that control the first and third-person shooter genre. It's clear that the developers are putting an incredible amount of work into making The Last of Us 2 a truly cinematic experience and it seems that the addition of multiplayer content might have distracted them from this goal. The people who wish to see a return of the Factions MP multiplayer will have to stick with The Last of Us Remastered for the foreseeable future.
Source: USgamer