The Last of Us 2 gets new co-op mod one month after Sony shuts down multiplayer expansion

The Last of Us players have gotten a glimpse of a new co-op mode mod in development for The Last of Us Part 2.

One of the biggest sore points about The Last of Us Part 2 for fans (well, aside from that) is the fact that the game never launched with working multiplayer, unlike the first game.

Several multiplayer projects have been in development for the game over the years, but none have been able to get off the ground. However, a brand new mod revealed earlier today might just give fans a glimmer of hope for working co-op.

Revealed on the Last of Us Reddit page, user leiden_core showed off an early demonstration of a co-operative mod for The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, which is currently titled ProjectSync.

The mod is aimed at the No Return bonus game mode, which was added in the remaster, using a roguelike structure to pit players against a variety of different challenges.

Co-op multiplayer was not available for this mode, even though it's something fans feel would have been perfect due to its drop-in-drop-out nature.

The demo video for the mod shows the player as Dina making preparations in the safe house, with another player as Ellie also moving around in the same space. The mod seems to be pretty functional, though it's worth pointing out that getting everything to work during the No Return missions is likely a much bigger task, which is why leiden_core hasn't shown off any gameplay from there yet.

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The Last of Us Part 2 co-op mod is less likely to be shut down by Sony

Setting expectations for what the project will be like when it's finished, the modder says that the first goal is to get co-op working in No Return. After that, they intend to do the same for the story campaign, and then finally a working PvP multiplayer mode.

Right now, the mod synchronises player movement and animations between both clients, as well as other actions such as weapons, backpacks, and flashlights, as well as all attacks done via melee.

This also applies to enemies and their AI, both human and infected, which are synchronised across both games, and damage done to the player is also tracked.

ProjectSync is not yet available for download, but this is a pretty important first step. Leiden_core teases that a future post will show the two players loading into a map, playing through it, and finishing an encounter together.

When the project eventually releases, it'll be completely free and open source.

Prior to this, the most known multiplayer mod for The Last of Us Part 2 was created by Speclizer, who spent the better part of a year working on a versus and co-op multiplayer mod for the game before the project was eventually issued a cease and desist by Sony.

It seems that the reason this project may have been shuttered was due to Speclizer offering paid access to test builds through their Patreon page. While many developers and publishers typically don't clamp down on mods of this scope, IP laws often prevent modders from commercialising them, which was grounds for Sony to issue a cease and desist.

With ProjectSync being free and open source, it seems that the mod may avoid this fate.