It was only a few weeks ago that a small crew of Game Informer editors and myself left the frigid winter of Minnesota for the sunny shores of Santa Monica to visit one of the best developers in the world. It’s been a tough wait, but we’re excited to finally announce Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us as our March cover.

At the studio, we were ushered past numerous awards for blockbuster series like Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, and UNCHARTED, but it was inside Naughty Dog’s impressive movie theater-style presentation room that we got to see and discuss what we came there for. On day one, Director Bruce Straley and Creative Director Neil Druckmann talked about their vision for the game while co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra discussed their decision to double the staff and create an entirely separate team from the UNCHARTED crew.

Before long they fired up an amazing live gameplay demo showcasing the combat, stealth, and presentation style and offering a glimpse at the evolving character relationship between protagonists Joel and Ellie. The team offered frank and open responses to all of our questions and only really held back on heavy spoilers and elements that weren’t 100 percent nailed down yet. They were also gracious enough to play through the whole fascinating demo again (and we didn’t even have to beg that much).

On day two, we conducted several on-camera interviews and rounded up loads of online content that will roll out throughout the entire month of February. So be sure to head over to gameinformer.com to see our full front and back panoramic cover image and keep coming back for more The Last of Us throughout the days ahead. In fact, you don’t have to wait long. At 4:00PM Central Time today, we’re exclusively debuting the first three in-game screenshots of The Last of Us. We’ll see you there!