There’s no denying The Last Of Us Part 2’s first look gameplay was one of the most anticipated showings at E3 this year. The trailer revealed a matured and much more violence-inclined Ellie traversing a dangerous landscape, disposing of foes similarly to the first game’s protagonist, Joel. Surprisingly, Joel was nowhere to found in the new reveal, which begs the question of whether or not he is alive in the sequel, as some fans have debated.

Following Sony’s press conference was the post-briefing party celebrating the creators. Attendants included fans, game developers, media, and The Last of Us director, Neil Druckmann himself. Reporters from Okay, Cool were in attendance.

Several attendees were seen sporting exclusive The Last Of Us T-shirts with an image of 19-year-old Ellie emblazoned on the front. When asked where they got these shirts, five separate sources said that they got their swag from the “office,” revealing that they were Naughty Dog employees, all of which confirmed they were working as developers on the hotly anticipated sequel.

It’s been well known for many months now that The Last Of Us Part 2 will take place in Washington State, as many eagle-eyed gamers have pointed out street signs and locations from the first trailer that are found in the greater Seattle area.

When asked if the game will only take place in Washington, three developers gave a definitive “No,” one Naughty Dog insider adding, “Well, Washington State is basically Canada,” and proceeded to wink. Could this confirm that Ellie’s next journey will take her to the Great White North to fight clickers, hunters, and that sort? And here we were thinking Canadians were only nice people!

Seeing as the events of the first game ended at Tommy’s dam in Jackson, Wyoming, perhaps the sequel could see Ellie’s journey north through Montana or Idaho to get to Washington.

Aside from Joel, another notable absence was the lack of a release date for the sequel. One of the developers at the party confirmed that the game would not be releasing this year, saying that the team has not yet reached crunch time, which is “probably going to come all of next year.” He added: “We’ll see how much we can get done this year.”

Could the lack of a release date mean The Last Of Us Part 2 won’t be getting an early 2019 release? Perhaps this means the game’s release is still a full year away and Naughty Dog is aiming for a June release date, which is when the first game released back in 2013.

 Whenever it could be, the brutality of the new trailer is sure to keep fans excited in the meantime.

Oh, Hideo Kojima was at the after party. That’s pretty cool.

The Last of Us Part 2 arrives exclusively for the PlayStation 4 at some point… probably.