Chris Barnes: "Stories in video games are bad." For years, I was one of those people. It took Naughty Dog, a bearded father's slow decline to insanity, and a too-cool-for-school hipster girl to make me see the light. The Last of Us: Part I changed my mind on video game narratives as a whole, so Naughty Dog doesn't have anything to prove here. Between the various accolades for both The Last of Us and Uncharted series, they're clearly capable of delivering top-notch stories that are watermark entries in a console's life cycle. With eight years of experience working on the PlayStation 4 and a proven track record at delivering gripping narratives, Naughty Dog will once again deliver something spectacular.

Redmond Carolipio: It's natural to feel excited about the follow-up to one of the greatest games of all time. I like that Ellie gets to take center stage (at least mostly, from the looks of it) and that Joel is back to give us that undeniable yet tragic father-figure/daughter-figure chemistry that made the first installment so damn special. I also want to see how much more this world can be built — new characters, more story, etc. I'm almost intimidated to see where this could go.

Chris "Atom" DeAngelus: The Last of Us was one of the most intense and emotional games ever made, with a story that drew players in only to rip their hearts out. Now Naughty Dog is returning to the world years later, this time in the shoes of co-protagonist Ellie as she is once again forced to leave the comfort of the remnants of civilization and into the brutal wasteland of zombies and bandits that the world has become. It looks to be just as breathtaking as the first game, and it will be nice to see Ellie again. Well, it's nice for us; she's probably going to wish a sequel had never been made based on the trailers we've seen.

Rhi "StormyDawn" Mitera: It's going to be really difficult to follow up the success of the first Last of Us. It's possibly the closest thing to flawless that you can find in a video game, and it has had enough awards thrown at it to fill a studio apartment. Naughty Dog appears to be up to the challenge and hasn't shied away from the prospect or tried to play it safe, promising bigger and better and likely more heartbreaking things to come.

Andreas Salmen: Cyberpunk 2077 is certainly the biggest cross-platform title of the year, but that may not mean it'll turn out to be the biggest PlayStation release of the year. Surprises notwithstanding, The Last of Us: Part II will probably turn out to be a GOTY contender and continue (and maybe even end) the story of Ellie and Joel. What we have seen so far is incredible and heavy on the storytelling. New enemies and threats await. Graphical fidelity is one side of the coin, but the promised advances in AI, animation, and gameplay could make this a similarly impactful and disruptive title like its predecessor.