An observant The Last of Us 2 fan has discovered a small connection between the sequel and the first game’s DLC.
Originally shared to the game’s dedicated subreddit, one fan picked up on a repeated line found in The Last of Us: Left Behind and the second game and it relates to Ellie’s love of dinosaurs.
When exploring the mall portion of the DLC, Riley tells Ellie that she has a surprise for her, to which Ellie excitedly replies: “Is it a dinosaur?” Unfortunately, on this occasion, the surprise isn’t a dinosaur and is actually just a Halloween supply shop that the pair break into.
- Naughty Dog has done it: it's remastered the PS5 controller with a Last of Us-themed DualSense announcement 24 hours after Neil Druckmann dashed our hopes for The Last of Us 3
- I'm really hopeful that The Last of Us season 2 flips a key part of the game's story – and I think the new trailer just confirmed it
However, those who are very familiar with The Last of Us 2 will already have noticed that this line is echoed in the sequel when Joel takes Ellie for her birthday surprise. This time Ellie does get her dinosaur when she gets to visit The Wyoming Museum of Science and History for the first time.
The sentimental flashback is a fan-favorite scene in the game where Ellie gets to encounter not just one but several dinosaurs, as well as sit inside a space shuttle in the abandoned museum. We’re not sure if this is an intentional reference to the DLC in The Last of Us 2 or if Naughty Dog just wants players to know that Ellie really likes dinosaurs.
This is just one of many small callbacks to the first game, with another subtle reference also being discovered in the subreddit a few days prior. Those who took full advantage of being able to explore Ellie and Joel’s Jackson base in The Last of Us 2 may already have seen the now obvious nod to the giraffe scene in the first game painted on the side of a building near the playground.
For more little nods and references in the game, take a look at our The Last of Us 2 Easter eggs list.
