The Last of Us 2 made Neil Druckmann cry, dev teases ambitious sequel

The Last of Us 2 has gone gold and is ready to ship. After years of development, crunch, and passionate work, Naughty Dog's most ambitious project to date is finished. The milestone is pretty emotional for the dev team, especially creative director Neil Druckmann.

Games take a long time to make, so when you finally submit your gold master, it's a big event for any studio. In a recent Instagram post, Naughty Dog dev Neil Druckmann highlights what this means for the team and shares the kinds of feelings that surround a game's launch. He also talks about the leaks and mentions gamers just aren't prepared for the sequel until they play it.

"We have gone gold. Back in April we told you that due to the state of the world which was way beyond our control we had to push the game, which gave us a few extra weeks to polish," Druckmann said. "Now that we have a release date, we've submitted our gold master. That means the executable has been put on the PlayStation Network and you're going to have our game in just a few short weeks."

The Last of Us 2 still makes Neil Druckmann cry. We're not sure if this is because of the subject matter--the game is a grisly tale of woe and savage revenge in a broken world, and no this isn't spoiler territory but something Naughty Dog revealed themselves--or if it's because the immense pride that comes with shipping your most ambitious project to date.

Probably both.

"I just want to take this moment to congratulate the team that has pulled off the most ambitious game we've ever made. I know I've said this before, but you won't know to what degree how ambitious it is until you get your hands-on it. When you just see the care that has gone into every detail from the level design, the mechanics, graphically how the game looks, environments, art director, characters, story, sound design--oh my god the soundtrack is incredible--that even for us, who have played this game countless times and know it inside out, we still get emotional.

"I just finished a playthrough and I was crying by the end of it.

"It's just pretty incredible. I'm extremely proud of it, and the team is extremely proud of it."

Read Also: Tons of new Last of Us Part II info revealed: story, mechanics & more

Druckmann also comments on the recent Last of Us 2 spoilers that've wreaked havoc on the internet. Nothing can prepare you for the experience, Druckmann says, because you simply haven't played it yet.

"No matter what you've seen, or heard, or read, nothing compares to playing this thing from beginning to end."

The Last of Us Part 2 releases on June 19, 2020 on PlayStation 4.