The Last of Us Part 2 will have more interesting and cunning combinations of Clickers to deal with

People laughed at me, they called me mad when I’d run around town and knock bowls of Ciulama and Duxelles onto the ground. The cops weren’t happy about me making a mess of the place with my vendetta against healthy cuisine but that’s besides the point. Some decades later, and here we are in an apocalypse that’s kind of fun…gal.

Point is, out of all the creatures that could be thrown at you when society collapses, a horde of infected humans who resemble a walking buffet of Risotto ai funghi and come with a side dish of viral murder is a hell of a menace to throw at players. The Last of Us had plenty of these suicidal shrooms loitering around, infected humans who came in four variants: Cannon fodder Clickers, sneaky Runners, big boy Bloaters and HOLY CRAP SCREW THOSE DAMN STALKERS.

So what’s changing in The Last of Us Part 2? A new addition to the fungal hordes, as well as some new tactics on their part as they attempt to spread their spores with cunning new strategies. “In the first game, there is all this documentation about the different stages [of the infection],” game director Neil Druckmann said on the PS Blog.

Now we have to justify why there are different stages. Why are there mutations of these things? Without getting into it here, there is something about the environment and how much time has passed that has allowed these mutations to occur.

We have Runners that close the distance quickly. We have Clickers that move slowly but are one-hit kills. Shamblers provide this area of attack, where they have this cloud of gaseous acid that burns materials around it. It burns your skin. The way you saw it in this demo is that they’re mostly on their own. It gets really interesting because you have a cloud that hurts you when you enter it, but it also blocks your view, then Runners burst through it.

So the combinations get really interesting.

Well hello, nightmares, my old friend. The Last of Us Part 2 will be out next year on February 21, around the same time that I stock up on all manner of anti-fungal ointments. Yes it’s true, I’m not a fun guy.

Last Updated: October 14, 2019