the last of us Part I — Friday on PlayStation 5 — is a retrospective change of name, which George Lucas did back in the day with his first Star Wars movie. What is now known as Episode IV – A New Hope was released simply as star wars in 1977. And as Lucas did with Episode IV, and its sequels and prequels — repeatedly doing it with him over the years before he sold his Lucasfilm empire to Disney — with Naughty Dog the Last of Us Is teasing, which was first released on PS3. in 2013. It also isn’t the first time the award-winning post-apocalyptic survival horror title received a PS4 remaster in 2014. But The Last of Us Part 1 is a more comprehensive undertaking, with Naughty Dog dubbing it a “reconstruction” from the ground-up. This is Lucas on steroids, essentially.
And boy, does it look cool. The Last of Us Part I now looks, feels and moves on like the 2020 sequel, Part II. (The latter doesn’t have a native PS5 version yet—it was the last Sony exclusive on PS4 before the PS5’s launch—but it plays much better on next-gen consoles thanks to the mini-update.) Part 1, faces on PS5. , textures and everything around you have more detail. And like Part II, The Last of Us Part I now uses DualSense, adding to the horror and dread of its zombie-infested world.
If you’re coming off Part 2, Part 1 won’t wow you, more so if you’ve played the former on PS5. But there is a difference of night and day, something you can feel only when you put the original and the remake side by side. as I did. Loading Remastered The Last of Us onto a PS4 Pro—I don’t have a PS3 and a The Last of Us disc to really send myself back to 2013—I found that the environments, their lights, and shadows seem rudimentary in comparison. And that’s saying something, considering the PS4 Pro Remastered variant claims to offer “high-quality shadows” at 4K resolution. I can’t even imagine how bad The Last of Us must look on PS3.
The Last of Us Part 1 on PS5 feels like the PS3 era was 20 years ago. It’s crazy how far video games have come in the last nine years. (To be fair, the PS3 was on its last legs when The Last of Us was released in 2013.)
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The biggest improvement, arguably, is the fire in The Last of Us Part I. Dare I say it, it’s a thousand times better. Remember the house fire from the pre-credits sequence while Joel and Sarah are in Tommy’s car? That scene is haunting now, in a way that even the PS4 Pro 4K version of the game couldn’t manage. As they drive into town, Austin comes alive before your eyes, with Sarah watching the city tear apart from the back seat of the car.
Character faces in the cutscene don’t look old – there are more wrinkles, and they offer more expressions. And the bodies of both players and NPCs move in a more realistic fashion on The Last of Us Part 1. Enemy AI also behaves more reliably. If you approach an infected from behind and try to sneak it down while someone else is watching you, it will look at you and react as you might expect, as in The Last Enemies would have done on Off of Us (Remastered). ,
As stated on PS4 Pro and Naughty Dog’s recent PS5 Uncharted games remaster, The Last of Us Part I offers a choice between two graphical modes: “Fidelity” which targets 30fps at native 4K resolution. , and “Performance” which targets “Dynamic Internal Resolution” at 60fps boosted to 4K. If you have a 120Hz display, you can turn on the “Unlock Framerate” option in the display settings, which targets 120fps. (Make sure you also flip Variable Refresh Rate, or VRR, in the PS5 system settings.) I could only perceive the fidelity and performance due to the TV—and the slow motion of The Last of Us, which is fast stealth. Prioritizes – Fire Action, I’m happy to settle on extra frames, for the minimal increase in quality brought by Fidelity.
Remasters are better to be watched, which is why I’ve attached a gameplay video from The Last of Us Part 1, captured on PS5 in Fidelity mode. As you can see for yourself, load times are near instant.
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The Last of Us Part 1: Riley and Ellie in Left Behind
photo credit: sony/naughty dog
As with Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, there’s no 4K 60fps mode or ray-tracing functionality here, something the PS5 is capable of doing. The two remasters are also similar in that there is no multiplayer mode on The Last of Us Part I. For that, you’ll need to go back to The Last of Us Remastered, which is backwards compatible on the PS5. At least he’s still on the store (and part of the PlayStation Plus Collection). What you get with PS5 Remake is all the single-player content: the full base story, and the DLC campaign, The Last of Us: Left Behind.
That said, there is something new here in terms of the gameplay experience. The Last of Us Part 1 brings a Permadeth feature, and lets you go about it three different ways. You can choose to reset the entire game when you die, the current task you’re in (expect to lose 2-3 hours of playing time, says Naughty Dog), or the chapter you’re playing ( Sending you back 30-60 minutes). Of course, as you might expect by turning on Permadeth, you can’t manually save the game at any time. And should you need it elsewhere in your real life, leaving in a “dangerous situation” is perceived as death.
All these improvements – permadeath, DualSense, and above all, graphical upgrades – come at a significant cost. The Last of Us Part I is priced at Rs. 4,999/ $70, the equivalent of a new PS5 release such as Horizon Forbidden West or the upcoming God of War Ragnarok. It sounds ridiculous. For whatever update Naughty Dog is rolling out here, it’s still a remake of the nine-year-old game. This is not a new title. What are Sony and PlayStation Studios smoking?
Certainly, The Last of Us Part 1 is miles better than the PS5 remaster for Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – which cost Rs. 2,999 at launch – but again, the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection also offered an upgrade route. If you have Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, or the United Digital Bundle, you can get the PS5 version for Rs. 500 / 10 / € 10. Heck, even Ghost of Tsushima lets you upgrade its PS5 version for Rs. 2,497 – a long question, I should note – and there was additional material, including a new island.
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The Last of Us Part 1 looks majestic on PS5
photo credit: sony/naughty dog
As it stands, The Last of Us Part I does not provide any upgrade strategy for the 2013 original nor for the 2014 remastered version. You have to pay Rs. 4,999 to access it on the PS5 – an idea that sounds even more appealing when you consider what Sony’s biggest rival is doing. (For what it’s worth, The Last of Us Part 1 is a more extensive upgrade than the Xbox One. Naughty Dog has revamped the game in some ways.)
Since the launch of the Xbox Series S and Series X, Microsoft has given us free 4K 60fps upgrades for Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4 and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. These are also included with its arguably better subscription Xbox Game Pass. On top of that, Microsoft’s Smart Delivery system means you can enjoy those titles on the go between Xbox and PC. Even if Sony backtracks and offers an upgrade path, The Last of Us Part I will not be included in any of the new PlayStation Plus tiers. Not for a few years anyway. And when Part 1 arrives on PC – “very soon”, reportedly – all PS4 and PS5 players will have to pay full price for it, once again.
Sony’s approach is not only money-minded in its approach to release and distribution, but also why these remasters initially exist. While the PS5 release of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection was timed, led by Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg unsolved The film, The Last of Us Part I, is set to serve an upcoming TV adaptation of Game of Thrones starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Originally slated to take place in late 2022, the HBO series is now set to debut in early 2023.
As is true with (successful) optimization – both bridgerton And The Queen’s Gambit put their respective books back on the best-seller list — Sony will hope to sell more of The Last of Us universe as the show premieres. And now, with the launch of this PS5 remake, it has a modern-day offering instead of an outdated product. In a best-case scenario for Sony, customers will buy both the PS5 and the game. I can already imagine Sony trying to cash in on PS5 The Last of Us Part 1 bundles in 2023.
With more and more PlayStation games turning into movies and TV shows, this appears to be the new future for studios whose properties are being adapted. Naughty Dog’s 2021 and 2022 are entirely dedicated to the remasters. A standalone multiplayer take on The Last of Us Part II is in the works, but who knows how its development has been affected by these commercial activities. By the time it came out, Naughty Dog wouldn’t have worked on a new entry in years.
Expect it to continue. With Sony expanding its mobile team, this stage is more likely to be a Last of Us mobile spin-off than Part III. And if HBO renews The Last of Us for a second season, I think we’ll see The Last of Us Part 2 for PS5 and PC. Be ready to withdraw Rs. 4,999.
Pros:
- looks, feels, feels great
- At par with Part II, if not further
- Centuries Ahead of the PS4 Pro Edition
- Better Enemy AI Behavior
- New Permadeath feature
Shortcoming:
- Valuable as a new PS5 game
- No upgrade option for PS3, PS4 owners
- No 4K, or ray-tracing at 60fps
- no multiplayer
- PC port will be sold separately
Rating (out of 10): 8
The Last of Us Part I is out Friday, September 2 on PlayStation 5. It will be released on Windows PC later. The Last of Us Part 1 is priced at Rs. 4,999 on PlayStation 5.
