The Last of Us Part 2 Director Is Fine with PC Mods, Even if They Turn Ellie into Shrek

Naughty Dog has shared a few thoughts about modding ahead of The Last of Us Part 2’s PC debut.

As we all know, PC gamers love a mod or two. Often within moments of a PC release, we are soon being met with the likes of Shrek and Thomas the Tank Engine taking centre stage, be it in a horror flavoured series like Resident Evil or the space bound Starfield.

But, what do developers think of mods in their games? Well, in the case of The Last of Us Part 2 Remaster’s game director Matthew Gallant, he is all for them and appreciates mods can make an experience more “comfortable” for players. Additionally, he understands that with games, unlike with films or books, “there’s kind of like a gradient of authorship within the medium”.

Speaking with GameInformer, Gallant said The Last of Us Part 2’s PC release will open up “the game in a way that wasn’t previously possible”. He added it will be “an interesting journey to see what players do with the game now that it’s kind of on this very, open-ended ecosystem” which means Naughty Dog will have “a lot less control” over it.

“But I feel like, in general, where we’re at is wanting to meet players where they are. We’re interested to see what players modify in the game. And, I think, [Naughty Dog head of techTravis McIntosh] said this in an earlier interview – sometimes that’s a clue to us to say, ‘Oh, we should have thought of that. Oh, that’s an interesting option,’ that sort of thing,” Gallant said.

“But that’s maybe the kind of the balance between, like, ‘Yes, we’re very, concerned about creating a player experience’. You coming along with a story. And we really want to tell you that story in the best way possible. But we’re okay if telling that story in the best way possible means you’re tweaking a bunch of things to make it the right experience for you.”

The developer said simply, if players need to make some changes that allow them “to have a good, comfortable time”, then the team supports them.

When further asked if this frame of mind would still apply if players decided to turn The Last of Us Part 2’s Ellie into Shrek, Gallant said the team just enjoys seeing the community engage with titles “in whatever way that expresses themselves in terms of funny edits or whatever is going to open up this game on PC”. So, if that means Shrek Ellie, I guess that means Shrek Ellie.

“I think part of what’s interesting with games as a medium is that we actually don’t have total complete authorship in the way that someone writing a book or directing a movie – there’s kind of like a gradient of authorship within the medium,” the game director explained.

“Games are pretty extreme, where the player [brings] a lot of themselves to the experience and how they play and the experience they have where they choose to go, completes the story that’s told through the medium of video games. I’m maybe stretching the metaphor a little bit here, but that’s kind of where my head goes to people taking any of our games and appreciating it or engaging with it in some way that maybe to us is strange, or to us is, maybe we wouldn’t want to do that… We’re just thrilled the players love these games or want to engage with them at the end of the day.”

The Last of Us Part 2 will release on PC tomorrow, 3rd April, and is officially Steam Deck Verified. You can check out the various PC specs and whatnot here for The Last of Us Part 2 here.

Elsewhere in The Last of Us news, earlier this week it was reported that another “PS5 special edition” for the series is on the way.