➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: The Last of Us spin-off

• 😲 A new concept artwork for the upcoming The Last of Us spin-off is here

• 📅 The standalone multiplayer game was officially announced last year

• 🔎 Details on what exactly it will involve are scarce

• 🎮 This new image gives us… well, not much more to go on

Naughty Dog has released a single new piece of concept art for its upcoming multiplayer spin-off set in The Last of Us universe.

Co-president Neil Druckmann shared the artwork in a blog post, and said we can expect more concrete details about the project later this year, likely around the franchise’s 10th anniversary this June.

“The project is shaping up to be a fresh, new experience from our studio, but one rooted in Naughty Dog’s passion for delivering incredible stories, characters, and gameplay,” Druckmann said. “We hope this new piece of concept art below further excites you for what our team is working on.”

The image is certainly one belonging to The Last of Us. The post-apocalyptic scene is suitably grimy and overgrown, and the abandoned cruise liner plays to Naughty Dog’s penchant for bombastic environments. Will it function as the central killing field of a competitive multiplayer deathmatch? We’ll have to wait and see.

Announced last year at Summer Game Fest, the unnamed multiplayer game will feature a cast of new characters, new locations and, according to Druckmann speaking at the time, will be as big as any of Naughty Dog’s single-player games. He put a big emphasis on the game’s story, saying the way the tale will be told is “very unique to this game”.

We’re still waiting to hear a release date, or even a vague launch window, but if it does appear later this year it’ll be one of the biggest PS5 games of 2023.

Regardless, The Last of Us fans won’t be running on empty for long. Following its launch on PS5 last year, The Last of Us Part 1 is hitting PC on March 3, after HBO’s TV adaptation of Joel and Ellie’s first adventure arrives on the small screen later this month. The TV show’s full-length trailer dropped last year certainly suggests it’ll be sticking closely to the video game’s tone, as do recent comments made by its writer.