'The Last of Us Part 2' news 2016: Naughty Dog finally offers first look at the much-awaited game sequel

Months after Naughty Dog was tipped to revisit its initial groundwork for "The Last of Us" sequel, the video-game-developing company surprised everyone with a first look at the title during day one of PlayStation Experience 2016.

Dubbed as "The Last of Us Part 2," sees the return of game leads, Joel and Ellie. But this time around, the post-apocalyptic survivors are more mature, which gives a very interesting new perspective in the action-adventure survival horror game. Instead of just merely announcing that the much-awaited follow-up is finally happening, Naughty Dog went further ahead and even gave the fans a glimpse of the title in a four-minute clip set in the deep woods. In it, an older Ellie hums an eerie song that talks about life and death while the perspective pans out to her background, where dead bodies are lying around with blood splatters all over. Joel then enters the room and asks her, "What are you doing, kiddo? You really gonna go through with this?"

The video obviously hints that Joel and Ellie's adventure is far from finished, and Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann teases that they will be tackling a narrative that will be worthy of everyone's interest.

"We knew that it needed to be a story worth telling and, perhaps more importantly, a story worthy of Joel and Ellie. After spending years on different ideas (and almost giving up), we finally uncovered a story that felt special — a story that evolved into an epic journey," he said in an official statement for "The Last of Us Part 2."

Meanwhile, as fans gear up for the return of the dynamic duo, one key part of the debut iteration of the game, Bruce Straley, will not be back for the sequel project. Sony confirmed the news via press release to Kotaku explaining the reason for the absence.

"Bruce recently decided to take some much deserved time off after shipping two critically acclaimed games in the last few years," the company said. "He's looking forward to returning to the studio soon and jumping back in on his next project."

No official release date has been announced for the title with Druckmann saying that it is still going to take a little bit of time before a launch happens since they are still in the early stages of production. But the confirmation that the "The Last of Us Part 2" is moving along quite nicely is enough, at least for now, for fans who have been clamoring for the sequel for quite some time now.