A twist on one of Joel’s most famous lines.
It’s really ended up everywhere huh? From its appearance in the brief 18 second teaser for the upcoming HBO show, it then started running with the latest trailers for the remake of the original blockbuster title from Naughty Dog.
“You don’t know what loss is.”
That quote may now apply to the players themselves. From the original release on PS3, it was then remastered for the PS4. And now it’s been remade with The Last Of Us: Part II engine and upscaled for the PlayStation 5. “That sounds like nonsense!”. Totally fair, but we’ve seen the Resident Evil series actually remake their games. And other titles like Grand Theft Auto V and Skyrim are continually optimized and re-released to this day. This means Naughty Dog leaned into doing more work for a title they could have just upscaled for the PS5 (which they sort of did as the Remaster is playable on it).
Does it matter?
I guess it’s preference, right? When I heard it was going to be a remake, I was excited. Sure I get to see it through the lens of reviewing the game so my financial investment is different, but I’m also looking at it as a fan. And as a fan, the first gauntlet I run it through is the Prologue Test. From the moment the game starts, I appreciated just how much better it looked. It’s the new coat of paint trick right? But god does the paint look GOOD. I’m running the game in Performance mode, because frames over resolution. But even then, it’s a gorgeous title to see run so SMOOTHLY. From the first interactions between Joel and Sarah, through to our slow descent into Hell, it all comes to a halt as I’m bawling my eyes out to its conclusion.
20 YEARS LATER.
The jaded Joel we’re familiar with wakes up in the Quarantine Zone and slowly introduces us to his brave new world. Bravery being a requirement of the time as humans infected by cordyceps have become the no-longer-mythical zombie. Coming in a variety akin to that of a lolly scramble, they provide the trouble for a long journey traveled. Picking up Ellie to complete the main plot, you begin from the outskirts of Massachusetts as you search for the Fireflies; A group looking to find the cure for the outbreak.
And it’s all just great. It’s the same game, with PlayStation 5 polish. The speed at which everything loads and transitions is a wonder, and god do I just love being back in that world. Accessibility options from Part II have been brought across to improve gameplay for disabled or impaired players. And haptic use, means the DualSense presents new outputs to immerse the players, where things like the bow become VERY fun to use with the triggers.
If you love The Last of Us, then this is great way to go through it again.
Along with revised trophies, better models in the model viewer and an even better Photo Mode, The Last of Us: Part I is the perfect way to set you up to play Part II again. Because you haven’t played it on your PS5 have you? Did you know it’s been optimized for the PS5? So yeah, you could play this game then that one immediately after.
Because you want to feel a lot of things inside. And that’s exactly what these games do, and they do it well.
Look Resident Evil gets away with remakes, and maybe that's thanks to the extra decade it has on THE LAST OF US. But I like to think of the players who haven't played through this excellent single player experience yet. Yeah, you can argue "who hasn't played it!" but that's the thing. The world is both that small and that large. So I'm looking forward to those getting to play it in it's best state, for the first time.
And of course for the ardent fans of the series...I haven't stopped thinking about how much I've been looking forward to playing around more in this remake. It's a beautiful day to be back in the apocalypse.
