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IGN: The Last of Us Part 2: How Naughty Dog Created Its Most Terrifying Monster

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


The Last of Us Part 2's world can be brutal for its human characters, and that's before they even encounter the infected enemies that could lurk around any corner. Developer Naughty Dog outdid itself in TLOU 2 with the introduction of the Rat King, a monstrous, unique, boss fight creature, that is easily Naughty Dog's most terrifying monster yet, the star of a memorable showdown between players and the creature/

The Last of Us 2's Rat King was no easy feat to pull off, though, and so six members of the Naughty Dog TLOU2 development team spoke with IGN about the creation of The last of Us Part 2's terrifying monster. The developers walk us through the conception and design of the creature, the difficulties and ingenious tricks the TLOU 2 developers pulled off to make the Rat King an imposing foe in-game, and the gameplay and design hurdles and creative opportunities that arose as Naughty Dog created this new monster. Learn about design decisions of the Rat King's boss fight arena, how Naughty Dog sought to tease The Last of Us 2 players with clues of the Rat King's potential, and how TLOU2's sound, designers, artists, animators, and more all came together to create such a memorable fight in The Last of Us Part 2.
 

tommib

Member
I actually don't remember any of this and I loved the game. Not sure if it says more about the length of the game or my early dementia fuelled by daily Xanies.
 

cormack12

Gold Member

Came for this. Haha, was not disappoint.

bowing-down-praise.gif


The standalone design was OK. Personally I thought it went into Resident Evil territory with the design though and it felt detached from the other stages of infected - it's like the pustules are there to make you get that it's beyond the bloater but....meeeehhhhhh.

Also the boss fight lost all tension after you realised it's basically just kite around the geometry and get through the insane HP. Good introduction, but another poor boss fight in terms of design imo. Aside from the intro, I felt every encounter with the scars was much more compelling and they were always terrifying. That whistling man, fucked me up good.
 

Gaelyon

Gold Member
It was a really impressive boss fight. At first, seeing no significant damage from my weapons on it i believed it was invincible and you had to find a way to flee. No health bar on a boss can be staggering.
 

Hunnybun

Member
I remember this taking me like 10 attempts the first time, but I think that was mainly cos it's so damn frightening.

Just got done with a NG+ play through and did it on my second attempt, just spammed it with the flamethrower and a couple of pipe bombs. I only died the one time cos I got a bit cocky just standing still trying to deal damage.

But just a brilliant moment in the game still. Definitely the most memorable part of the game, for me.
 

Duchess

Member
I think we all knew to expect something nasty at that point in the game, but nothing quite like that. I believe my exact words were, "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!" as I hammered the buttons to get away from it, ASAP.
 

Venza

Banned
That whole sequence felt straight out of Resident Evil with the creepy medical setting and red lights. I never played any of those games but it felt like an RE inspired level and boss.
 

ElCasual

Member
Came for this. Haha, was not disappoint.

bowing-down-praise.gif


The standalone design was OK. Personally I thought it went into Resident Evil territory with the design though and it felt detached from the other stages of infected - it's like the pustules are there to make you get that it's beyond the bloater but....meeeehhhhhh.

Also the boss fight lost all tension after you realised it's basically just kite around the geometry and get through the insane HP. Good introduction, but another poor boss fight in terms of design imo. Aside from the intro, I felt every encounter with the scars was much more compelling and they were always terrifying. That whistling man, fucked me up good.
This is Hideo Kojima giving us a class of boss fight design.
 

Hugare

Member
It was awesome

Them giving us clues that something was there to build tension was smart

It even made sense lore wise: it mutated since Pacient Zero there, so thats why you dont find monsters like that anywhere else
 
It was a good fight for sure, and a neat design. I never found anything about TLoU "scary" though, not in the same way as a traditional horror game.

I'd love to see a sequel with a new cast of characters and an emphasis on horror instead of misery.
 
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