Earlier this month, it was revealed that today’s PlayStation State of Play stream would feature new footage from The Last of Us Part II, prompting a whole bunch of speculation around Naughty Dog’s latest upcoming game. What will we see? Will finally get a release date? Where the hell is Joel? Thankfully, the footage revealed today answers all those questions and more, providing us both with an official release and our first look at Joel.

Towards the tail end of today’s State of Play stream, Sony peeled back the curtains to reveal new The Last of Us Part II footage that was “specially made” by Naughty Dog for the stream. The footage itself serves as more of a cinematic trailer than a gameplay one, finally confirming the ‘why’ behind Ellie’s seeming quest for revenge. Check it out below (starts at 26 minutes in):

There he is! The man, the myth, the seemingly absent father Joel is finally back and looking older than ever. We can only surmise that Ellie must have taken off from the town without him knowing – or perhaps he was away when things went bad during Ellie’s patrol. Either way, at some point in the game it looks like he shows up to help Ellie out, which will make for an interesting dynamic after the player has spent the majority of their gameplay time alone against both humans and other, less sympathetic creatures.

The Last of Us Part II launches exclusively for the PlayStation 4 on February 21st, 2020.

So, thoughts on the new footage? Do you think the game will let us play as Joel at some point? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!