Naughty Dog Snuck A Tease For 'The Last of Us Part 2' Back In September During Outbreak Day

A lot of people were surprised when developer Naughty Dog officially announced “The Last of Us Part 2” last weekend. However, it was discovered recently that the developer actually hinted at the sequel way back in September.

On Sept. 26, Naughty Dog celebrated Outbreak Day, the fictional date when the Cordyceps Brain Infection caused the events in “The Last of Us.” The annual fan celebration featured deals on the game, as well as on its DLCs and other merch like collectibles. One of those deals was a limited edition poster made by Mondo’s Kevin Tong.

The poster shows the bite mark on Ellie’s arm with protruding branches while moths fly around as she holds a switchblade knife. If that looks familiar, it’s because that’s now tattooed on Ellie’s arm as revealed in the teaser trailer for “The Last of Us Part 2.” At the time, it seemed like a creative way to illustrate Ellie’s bite mark, but no one actually thought it was a hint at the sequel.

The tattoo also seems to serve a purpose. It effectively hides the bite mark on Ellie’s arm, as pointed out by Games Radar. This might also be a hint that Ellie might still be on the run from the Firefly militia, the same group of people who wanted to cut her open to find the cure for the Cordyceps infection in the original game.

“The Last of Us” director Neil Druckmann also shared the official render of Ellie’s tattoo on his Twitter account. The director shared the tattoo since a lot of fans actually asked for a better look at it, perhaps wanting to incorporate it into their cosplay, as pointed out by Eurogamer.

The plot for “The Last of Us Part 2” hasn’t been revealed yet, but Druckmann has hinted some things about it. “This story is about hate, through Ellie this time. The first game you play as Joel, this game you play as Ellie,” Druckmann said. The director also revealed that the sequel will be co-written by Halley Gross, a writer for HBO’s “Westworld,” and hinted that the story is going to be “intense."