Gaming fans have taken to social media to share their excitement after a new gameplay trailer for The Last of Us Part II teased the game's protagonist Ellie locking lips with another woman.
The second installment of the popular game, produced by Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment, was announced at Sony’s E3 2018 press conference this week and immediately won praise from gamers around the world.
Pegged as an "action-adventure survival horror video game", the first Last of Us game was released in 2013 and follows characters Joel and Ellie as they navigate a post-apocalyptic United States, where everyday citizens have been infected by a virus known as 'Cordyceps'.
Critics have applauded the game's developers for engaging with and growing alongside their fan-base.
"I've said it before, but it bears repeating: I adore how much Naughty Dog has grown up with their audience," wrote Max Scoville on Twitter.
He continued: "The Last of Us was a masterpiece, and The Last of Us Part II looks like a somber, confident leap forward from that."
The passionate same-sex kiss shown in the trailer hints at a softer side to the traditionally violent game and is being seen as step towards visibility by LGBTIQ+ gamers.
However, there was some controversy after Disney XD reportedly censored the live streaming of the trailer at the E3 event.
Disney were quick to insist that the censorship was due to graphic violence included in the game's trailer, not the kiss.
“The Disney XD policy does not allow for gratuitous violence in programming that children may be viewing,” a spokesperson said.
They continued: “During the channel’s General Audience, DX|P-branded programming from the E3 gaming conference yesterday, telecast editors omitted content that did not meet our policy standards, including several seconds of an animated video game scene that began with a kiss, but ended with a knife attack in which a character’s throat was slashed."
"Only the latter, violent portion of the scene was not televised from the event.”
