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01:00You know, as an artist, as a creator, you want people to love your work.
01:04You want to cause some emotional reactions.
01:06So it just kind of leads us and encourages us to keep going in the directions that inspire us.
01:20The Last of Us, American Dreams, the graphic novel we released through Dark Horse, co-created by Faith Erin Hicks,
01:26the co-writer and amazing artist on that comic book.
01:30And it introduces the character of Riley.
01:33And in it, we get to see kind of Ellie coming out of her shell and she starts taking on
01:38these attributes from Riley.
01:39But it's just, it's the first day they meet.
01:42And it became really interesting to us to say, okay, months later, after these two have become best friends and
01:48they've had this falling out, where does that relationship go?
01:51In discussing ideas, it's like, what if we got to play through that kind of relationship?
01:56What if we saw that relationship?
01:58And it gives us an opportunity to test out various mechanics and storytelling ideas that maybe we couldn't test on
02:07the scale of the full game.
02:09But doing it in a smaller time frame allows us to try out these ideas and say, okay, that's interesting.
02:16How did that work?
02:18The comic book was kind of a great way to see a little bit of what Ellie and Riley's relationship
02:24was.
02:25So when we set out to design the world, we already had a point of reference that there had already
02:30been some great work done just in terms of some of the visuals and some of the language between Riley
02:35and Ellie.
02:37I think we had a sound story pretty early on that we felt was compelling enough to, to, okay, that
02:43justifies us moving forward with the idea of single-player DLC.
02:47Now you have a team of some burnt out, frazzled people that you're trying to say like, okay, guys, let's
02:57go again.
02:59Can we do it again?
03:00And that's a lot.
03:01That's a lot to ask of anybody after three and a half years of grind.
03:05We kind of right away knew we wanted to focus on Ellie.
03:08We wanted to tell a little bit more about who she was before all this.
03:13We also felt like some people were wondering what happened in that time span between when Joel gets really injured
03:20and then you play as Ellie.
03:22And I felt like I wanted to meet Riley.
03:25Like I want to know her.
03:26I read a little bit from like the comics.
03:28You kind of have this image in your head in the character, but you kind of really don't meet them
03:31until you start to see them.
03:32You know, once you get the actor in there, once you get these people, they really start to come out.
03:37All this time I thought you were dead.
03:41Yeah.
03:42It was interesting sort of this time around to be with someone new.
03:46When Yanni came in during casting, I was like, that's totally, that's totally who I saw in the comic book.
03:52That's totally her.
03:53That's totally who I heard.
03:54You need to cast her.
03:54I was a bit intimidated to kind of come on to something that's so big.
03:59It's different.
04:00You know, Ashley started with it and you're, you know, coming in, I guess, you know, as a sophomore.
04:05You know what I mean?
04:06Like, you feel like, oh gosh, am I going to fit in?
04:10And then will I really be able to live up to the standard that's so high?
04:15With The Last of Us, we got to see the events that led to who Joel is during the game.
04:21We never get to see that with Ellie.
04:23With Ellie, you know, we're already, we're picking her up at the outset of the journey.
04:27What this DLC really allowed us to do is focus on Ellie's life prior to that journey.
04:34And we get to see, you know, she's just a kid, ultimately.
04:38Despite, you know, the journey she's about to go on, you get to see her have fun and you get
04:42to see her playing with her best friend.
04:45And you get to see her be romantic with someone.
04:48You definitely see a very different side to Ellie.
04:53Being with another teenage girl sort of brings out that playfulness and that silliness that you see glimpses of that
05:00with Joel.
05:00But, you know, it's different hanging out with a 40-year-old dude.
05:04You know Ellie as this, like, really tough, strong kid that has gone through so many crazy things and has
05:10seen so many things to this other side of her.
05:14A little bit more vulnerable, softer side of her through the eyes of Riley.
05:19So it's a really interesting relationship there because you get to see somebody who really influenced who Ellie is and
05:27taught her how to survive and be strong.
05:29And then you see that playful Ellie and you see the events that are shaping her and changing her and
05:36how she loses the one person in this world that she cares for.
05:40And then you understand why she's willing to fight tooth and nail to not lose Joel.
05:44She's already lost this person that she loved.
05:46She's not about to let it happen again.
05:54There was a lot of gameplay where we kind of challenged ourselves to say, okay, how do we add tension?
06:03How do we add core mechanics to two teenage girls that have snuck out of this military dorm and are
06:10being playful at them all?
06:11There are large portions where there is no combat, where we're really focusing on the narrative connection between you and
06:20an allied character.
06:21What's really important to us is how we parallel the player's emotional experience in the characters and vice versa.
06:31We want you to always be feeling the way that the characters are feeling.
06:36What the fuck are you looking at?
06:38We look at contrast a lot whenever we're trying to create pacing of things.
06:44And, you know, you can't have your lights without your darks, your highs without your lows.
06:47So while we're looking at the Ellie storyline, we also want to contrast that with what's happening in the desperation
06:54of Joel.
06:55So the combat is kind of an extension of the obstacles, the barriers inside of her way that she needs
07:00to overcome.
07:05Something new we wanted to do with the combat this time was we introduced David's people, sort of the cannibals,
07:11in the university.
07:13By pulling David's crew into the mall, we also thought it would be intriguing to create some new technology where
07:21we had the infected fight, the humans.
07:24We developed a number of combat setups during the DLC where the player has the opportunity to pit those two
07:33sides against each other.
07:35And for us, this was really interesting because this allows you to use one faction as a weapon against the
07:41other.
07:42Now you're able to use these distractions almost as bait or as lures.
07:48So that creates this whole new way to think about a combat space and to think about ways that you
07:54move around.
07:55But it still drives home that idea that it's a desperate world and you're trying to survive in it.
08:04The main themes that we're playing with, I think, are love and loss and on some level devotion.
08:11What lengths do you go to to protect the ones that you care about?
08:15If you never know if you're going to die tomorrow, in the next hour, in the next few minutes, every
08:23moment spent with those you love is a moment to cherish.
08:28The relationship between Ellie and Joel, you know, it dealt with survival, it dealt with loyalty, and ultimately it dealt
08:36with love.
08:37The love of a parent to a child or a child to a parent.
08:41The DLC is not that different.
08:43In this world, all you really have are your relationships and your friends.
08:47I mean, that becomes everything.
08:50And I think that's sort of reiterated in the DLC.
08:54One of the great things about Last of Us was how much people related to Ellie and enjoyed Ellie and
08:59saw her as this strong, strong character.
09:03And here we'll get to see how her time with Riley has become that and something that propelled her to
09:09be able to go on this journey with Joel.
09:13And here we'll get to see how much stuff.
09:15And now it's not home.
09:15Yeah.
09:18It's body.
09:19Grazie a tutti
