Naughty Dog's upcoming survival game, The Last of Us, is easily one of the most anticipated titles of 2013. Following the recent announcement of its official release date, there is more The Last of Us news to share: the game's box art has been revealed, its pre-order bonuses have been announced and a multiplayer mode has been confirmed.

Players who pre-order The Last of Us at any participating retailer will get access to the Sights and Sounds Pack, which includes the game's official soundtrack (composed by Academy Award winner Gustavo Santaolalla), two PlayStation Network Avatars (Winter Joel and Winter Ellie) and a dynamic PlayStation 3 theme. In addition, all GameStop pre-orders will come with the Survival Pack, which includes multiplayer bonuses (experience points, a melee attack booster, customizable character items and extra in-game cash for multiplayer characters) and two skins for Joel and Ellie. The Survival Pack skins are single player only, and will be unlocked after beating the game's campaign.

The dynamic theme included with the Sights and Sounds Pack is based on the game's box art, which we've included down below.

Now that Sony has confirmed multiplayer for The Last of Us, we can only speculate as to what it will entail. Looking at Naughty Dog's multiplayer record, we suspect that many of the game's single player mechanics will come into play. For example, climbing was a large part of the Uncharted series, and as such it was heavily incorporated into Uncharted 2's multiplayer component. The Survival Pack's multiplayer melee booster indicates that combat won't be solely gun based; as with the game's single player campaign, it will likely emphasize the scarcity of guns and ammo. As well, it's entirely possible that The Last of Us multiplayer could include co-op - perhaps even an asynchronous mode, a la the Demon's Souls/Dark Souls series. The possibilities are endless.

Of course, some players might be worried that focusing development resources on a multiplayer mode could take away from the game's singleplayer campaign. Naughty Dog's history, however, suggests that won't be the case. Uncharted 2 incorporated multiplayer, and its single player campaign is still considered to be one of the best experiences of this generation.

Ranters, do you plan to pre-order a copy of The Last of Us? How much interest do you have in the game's multiplayer mode?

The Last of Us will release May 7th, 2013 for the PS3.

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Source: PlayStation Blog