Melee expert and animator Lee Davis has found his way home to Naughty Dog after a four-year excursion. During that time, he worked at Microsoft's The Initiative (Perfect Dark) and the now-defunct PlayStation-backed studio Deviation Games.
Beginning his Naughty Dog career in 2010, Davis worked as an animator on The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part II, and Uncharted spinoff, The Lost Legacy. On LinkedIn, Davis revealed that this time around, he's been given some extra responsibility: "I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position as Senior Animator at Naughty Dog." What project he will be working on, of course, remains unknown, but probably one of the several single-player games currently in the works at the storied studio.
Davis's speciality, as it happens, is in bringing brutal, UFC-inspired combat to life, and he was likely involved any time a Naughty Dog game has made you cringe in sympathy. If you need a reminder, check out his harrowing demo reel, which, to date, probably features the most incredible character animation work we've witnessed, before or since, and makes for one hell of a resume.
Are you excited to see Naughty Dog's veteran animator, Lee Davis, return to the fold? What are the odds the studio's next game doesn't feature bone-crushing, up-close carnage? Curl into a ball in the comments section below.
[source linkedin.com, via wccftech.com]
Comments 15
The melee combat in TloU 1 & 2 and UC 4 are pretty fun and yeah they also quite brutal lol. Cool to know the guy who animated all those fatality is back in ND.
Seeing that demo reel makes me remember why I have such difficulty replaying TLOU2 lol. It gets intense
It's funny how in those 4 years ND didn't output any new games. It's like he never left.
Not that the studios he was in delivered anything either. Such incompetent management.
Amazing animation in those games
Love this animation work in Part II. Glad to see he gets a reunion with the old crew I suppose. Would be fun for me to work with old cohorts again
Probably working on The Last of Us Remasterd Remake Enhanced Edition for the PS5 Pro
@TrickyDicky99 You're wrong.
It's for PC.
@Nem it's just the state of game development these days. Besides, if he worked for deviation games then it's very likely that he was also absorbed into the secret Jason Blundell PS studio that hasn't been officially announced yet and worked on their project.
The animation in The Last of Us 2 is absolutely incredible.
Oh good, does that mean I’m gonna get an amazing ND AAA campaign game now.
@Nem
I hear you and feel the pain as well.
Studios need to get a grip.
The executions were insane in factions. Never got old
He probably should have went from Naughty Dog to EA to work on PGA animations.
I still remember launch day for Uncharted 4, the prison fight animations blew my mind.
Incredible news! I’m purely speculating, but it must be time to ramp up work on TLOU Part III.
I imagine the forthcoming non-TLOU game might be less brutal or combat-heavy.
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