With Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception now out in the wild, Sony first party Naughty Dog is free to concentrate on its next project, the newly announced The Last of Us.

According to the developer, the game will take place in a near future “decimated by a modern plague” in which once proud cities have been “reclaimed by nature”. This ‘greener’ interpretation of the (now ubiquitous) post apocalypse recalls Ninja theory’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. As noted by CVG, Enslaved lead designer Mark Richard Davies now works with Naughty Dog.

While details about the game are currently scarce, it appears the story will follow the fortunes of hard bitten survivor Joel and his resourceful teenaged offsider Ellie. They’ll face what look to be disease ridden mutants as they battle their way across America. In terms of gameplay, The Last of Us will apparently blend “survival and action elements”.

Sony is yet to announce a release date for this promising PS3 exclusive.