Gamers everywhere rejoiced Saturday afternoon when the first trailer for the follow-up of the critically acclaimed hit The Last of Us was uploaded to YouTube following the announcement at the PlayStation experience in Anaheim. Winner of over 200 game of the year awards in 2012-13, TLOU offered players one of the most genuine, heartfelt and heart wrenching story lines in game history, which is what gained it so much love and praise during its first year. And after it ended, there was an obvious demand for a part two in the future, but with that comes the question: “How do you top a masterpiece?” I can only imagine the pressure the developers must have felt when trying to create a second story line that would live up to the first one. Nonetheless, even though the first trailer doesn’t answer all our questions, it’s eerie, haunting and nostalgic enough to intrigue the gaming community.     

From what we can see in the teaser, our environment is relatively the same. Nature has taken over the streets, covering cars and buildings in foliage creating a gorgeous scenery combined with some of the best graphics available  today. With the incorporated shot of the firefly pendant on a street sign i’m wondering what kind of role the Fireflies are going to be playing, if they’re even still around.

The most important thing is the trailer is the reveal of a 17/18 year old looking Ellie, playing her acoustic guitar (which Joel promised to teach her in the first game) and accompanying it with “Through the Valley” a song by Shawn James which may gives us quite a few clues as to the story line and how Ellie is feeling at that moment. She sits on a bed in a room with a window very similar to the one that was in the start menu of the first game, but it hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Bodies are strewn around the house, implying that Ellie (and Joel?) are back to their old shenanigans of enemy murder and things of that nature. At the end of the trailer we see a figure and the hear the voice of Joel asking Ellie if she “really wants to go through with it”.  To which she replies that she is going to “find and kill every single one”.  Fans have already begun to speculate what she’s talking about, who it has to do with and why Ellie has become to vengeful and angry.  I’m sure we don’t have definitive answers until the release of the game because one thing Naughty Dog is good at is keeping people waiting.