The world of The Last of Us isn't exactly forgiving. If it's not another group of humans who are violent, just trying to survive, or are seeking revenge, the Infected are out there too. In The Last of Us 2, a few new Infected were introduced due to the effect time and environment had on the Cordyceps Brain Infection. The Last of Us 2's Rat King may be one of the highlights of its ongoing development, but Shamblers were newly introduced too.
Shamblers develop when Infected are exposed to large amounts of water, while more dry environments lead to the creation of Bloaters. Shamblers will spray a damaging gas at The Last of Us 2 players and can take some serious damage, making them a sizeable threat. They cannot bite due to the puss spores that warp and mutate their body, yet they are formidable nonetheless. And, when they are killed, they explode and spread spores that are highly damaging. This explosion is noteworthy, as while the spores just seem to spread out of the body, they were originally more concentrated.
Matthew Gallant, who did systems and combat design in The Last of Us 2, has a short pre-alpha gameplay posted on his portfolio (seemingly first discovered by Technclub). In it, Ellie is shown battling some pre-Alpha Shamblers who look significantly different. In contrast to the Shamblers the game launched with, these seemingly had a concentration of spores on their lower backside. These would grow and explode in combat, when shot, and when they fall to the ground, basically meaning these Shamblers featured miniature explosions from their butts constantly.
Especially in the early stages, video games are always changing and tweaking designs. It's not really surprising that the Shamblers that made it into the game did not feature explosive butts, instead just wholly releasing spores upon defeat. However, no information for exactly why the design change was made, but it was likely the right call for The Last of Us 2 regardless.
Now, all eyes are on what Naughty Dog is up to next. It's known to be working on a standalone multiplayer mode for The Last of Us 2, while reports of a remake for the first game made the rounds earlier this year. There's even The Last of Us 3 to be considered, especially given the sheer number of records TLOU2 broke, but nothing is known to be in development there right now. There is an initial outline, but that's all that's known. Nonetheless, if The Last of Us 3 ever enters development, it too will likely feature new Infected, just not likely those with exploding bottoms.
The Last of Us 2 is available now on PS4.
Source: Matthew Gallant (via Technclub)