There's been a lot of rumblings about The Last of Us Part II in recent weeks, including (suspect) "leaks" of a 2019 release date. And while so much of the game is still a mystery, some relatively unnoticed character art surfaced from the Lead Character Artist at Naughty Dog. And it certainly shows the power that the PS4 is able to push, assuming we can get this definition on all consoles.
Despite being available for some time, the images were first noticed by The Last of Us official subreddit. Pulling the art straight from Lead Character Artist Soa Lee's portfolio, you can see the full image below:
If you aren't well acquainted with Yara (played by actress Victoria Grace), you likely missed the Paris Games Week trailer from 2017 where the character was first revealed:
The trailer focuses on a captured Yara as she has her "wings clipped" in some gruesome footage. The 16-year-old older sister of Lev, little else is know about the character other than she was part of the Seraphites -- seemingly a cult within The Last of Us universe built by Naughty Dog.
But entirely apart from the actual footage, let's take a moment to dig into the sheer level of detail on this character model. Naughty Dog as a developer (and Lee as a character artist) are well known for being among the top of the industry when it comes to detail and talent. And this is showcased in the headshot render, with perfectly displaced hair, evident battle scarring, and some small details that seriously blow the competition out of the water. While it isn't immediately clear whether the PS4 will be able to maintain this level of detail, it's crazy the sheer level of detail that went into The Last of Us Part II and Yara.
Of course, this isn't the only piece of art we have been looking at this week -- we previously took a deeper look into concept art that Naughty Dog released to celebrate Valentine's Day. Even better, Neil Druckmann got a bit of a laugh when Netflix ripped off The Last of Us in some recent (likely) copyright infringement.
The Last of Us Part II is supposedly "coming very soon" exclusively for PS4, but we still don't know an exact release date -- despite supposed leaks. Meanwhile, make sure to check out Lee's portfolio to appreciate the rest of her work with Naughty Dog.