The Last of Us Part 2’s official age rating drops story hints

David Purcell
Ellie attacked by Infected in TLOU Part 2

The Last of Us Part 2 has finally been given its official age rating, revealing just what’s in store for Naughty Dog’s highly anticipated story mode. 

It’s been an excruciating wait for fans of the franchise, with the original zombie survival game being released back in 2013, and now developers have confirmed that they’re working towards a May 29 release date.

Gameplay and cinematic trailers have given the game’s online community something to sink their teeth into so far, revealing elements of missions that have been cherrypicked to be revealed (but not reveal a lot about the story itself). Now, we have finally found out just how graphic this sequel is going to be.

The Last of Us Part 2 screenshot

According to the game’s official section on the PlayStation website, the Entertainment Software Rating Board has given it the big “M” for mature audiences, stating that the game includes: “Blood and gore, intense violence, nudity, sexual content, strong language [and] use of drugs.” People under 16 will not be admitted to play it, without a parent or guardian around.

Gameplay that we’ve seen so far for the project have shown off a number of different scenes, including characters creeping around in the darkness, Ellie intimately kissing another girl, and some fighting scenes as well.

In appears that there’s a lot more where that came from, too, based on that description from the ESRB. This would be the first time that Naughty Dog have used “sexual content” in the series, but the same can’t be said about violence, blood, and gore as it was prevalent in the first game.

The Last of Us Part 2 gameplay trailer

While details about storylines have been largely kept under wraps so far, we do know that main characters Ellie and Joel are confirmed, as well as the fact that it will take place five years after the original story.

Battling through the infected and antagonist group, the Seraphites, is going to make up elements of the campaign, but it appears that Ellie’s journey this time is actually based around hate, which could explain how we get to some of the more violent scenes this time around.

As we look forward to that long-awaited release date, it’s worth noting that the game will be a PlayStation exclusive and will be released on the PS4.

There has been no confirmation just yet about a remastered version appearing on the PS5, but if the game is anywhere near as successful as the original, we’re sure it won’t be long until something like that appears on next-gen as well. Based on this age rating, things are about to get interesting.

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About The Author

David is the former US Managing Editor at Dexerto.com. You can contact him via email: david.purcell@dexerto.com.