Testing The Last of Us Part I on PS5: The perfect remake of Naughty Dog’s masterpiece

The Last of Us is an important name in video game history. A true industry landmark, Naughty Dog’s 2013 masterpiece scorched gamers as it redefined the blockbuster adventure movie. After a Remaster released on PS4 in 2014. returns to PS5 in a full-fledged remake.

Soberly called The Last of Us Part I, this remake aims to harness the power of the PS5 by delivering a graphically top-notch experience. The Last of Us Part II had already hit hard in 2020, and this new chapter wants to go even further. This is a remake, not a remaster. The nuance is important because it means: game restarted from scratch and that it was sold at the “regular” price that Sony excluded, ie 80 euros. However, Naughty Dog wanted to preserve the original experience by keeping the gameplay intact.

Does this remake keep its promises? Is it relevant when the original component is still valid today? Reply now.

The Last of Us is still a great game in 2022

For those who have spent the last ten years in a cave, let’s start at the beginning. The Last of Us is a third-person action/adventure game. which follows a linear progression. The player plays Joel, a disillusioned man trying to survive in a world devastated by a zombie apocalypse. Her life changes when she is responsible for protecting young Ellie during a trip to the United States.

Naughty Dog’s name doesn’t mean much with its gameplay, it’s so classic, but with an interesting atmosphere. It takes us on a twilight journey through a dying world and leads us to life-affected characters looking for a reason to continue living. A gem of narrative, atmosphere and also video game mastery that will only be surpassed by its sequel in 2020.

Adventure is diverse; It skillfully mixes exploration, puzzles, scary moments, stealth and violent combat stages. Everything is interspersed with spectacular sequences that bring some light into the darkness and make us breathe between two dangers. An example to follow in terms of rhythm.

We’ll definitely greet the classic fights as well, but demonically effective. They bet on the stress caused by the constant lack of resources, secrecy and player initiative. You don’t need to worry about getting into the pile by wanting to cross a cannibal raider camp or an infected nest. You will have to be cunning and save your bullets, albeit at the cost of being a coward. An adventure that makes more sense when the difficulty is high. Be careful, the game is full of extremely violent sequences and is not made for everyone.

That’s why The Last of Us Part I offers us a beautiful adventure that is choking and nauseating. The most admirable truth remains looks a little aged, even ten years after it inspired the rest of the industry. We certainly find some old-fashioned game ideas like obvious “battle arena” boundaries, very up-to-date QTEs, and even crate-based boat-based puzzles, but overall, TLOU still teaches major blockbusters of the same genre. .

Restructuring doesn’t change any of this, because only the graphics have been revised. Everything we just said applies to both the main game and this new version.

A reconstruction that revises form, not substance

For The Last of Us Part I, Naughty Dog chose to review only the technical part. adventure untouched, remains the same, up to pixels (of course). Each level, corridors, monsters, cutscenes… it’s totally similar to the 2013 game. It just looks better. Even the gameplay hasn’t changed. Part I does not benefit from the innovations of the second part, such as the possibility of crawling.

The California studio didn’t just do graphical smoothing as it did in the Remaster PS4. but he restarted the technical fundamentals of his game. Using the expertise he learned with Part II in 2020, he offers us a visually very successful adventure.

All decorations benefit from special care, with an often obsessive attention to detail. Whether it’s a reclaimed forest, a looted apartment building, a ruined shop, or a deserted street, every place you visit is full of little things to observe. We have the impression that it did indeed evolve on a living world.

Environmental storytelling, or the art of telling something with a simple element of decor, profits tremendously from this. We were surprised to linger in an abandoned house, examining the slightest object to guess what was going on there before we arrived. We can also note other contributions, such as more vegetation on buildings or the appearance of small animations (like mice or insects) in explored places. TLOU 2013 feels extremely empty and flat compared to its Remake. The second is simply one of the best games on the market. A new standard meter on PS5.

This new build tackles all the technical aspects, vastly surpassing Part II, which was synonymous with graphic slap when it was released. The effects of the light, the textures, the water, the dirt on the windows, and even the dense vegetation, everything is extremely refined. Special mention to the more detailed character models than ever before. Heroes’ skins, tired clothes, overloaded backpacks, pustules on their infected or reworked faces Bring a new body to adventure. Physics and animations have also been overhauled.

The Last of Us clearly wins with this remake. Particle, light or smoke effects make certain moments more intense than in the original game. they are mainly Horrible passages that benefit from this upgrade. If they were already scary in 2013, they’re becoming downright scary in 2022.

Graphically, the title offers interesting options. For example, it is possible to switch between two modes (Fidelity with ray tracing at 30 FPS or Performance at 60 FPS). One of the big additions of this version improved accessibility. Naughty Dog continues its inclusion work with tons of options: from larger captions to color filters and haptic controller feedback to make dialogue clearer for the hearing impaired. We salute the effort.

Speaking of Dual Sense, there are also important additions, like haptic feedback with little effect or the resistances of triggers that make certain situations more stressful. This is felt, for example, when shooting with a rifle.

Therefore, it is an excellent quality remake, but maybe it shouldn’t have been limited to its technical aspect. We wouldn’t spit on some contributions to the level of gameplay inherited from the second part, a better AI (always strawberries), or more passages to bring more gameplay interest. Even the DLC Left Behind, which tells the story of Ellie, could easily be integrated into the main plot. Here it is still a separate adventure, as before.

Left Behind DLC is available, but not integrated into the main adventure. The studio didn’t want to touch her baby for fear of spoiling it. It’s an understandable, but somewhat confusing decision for a game that was sold at a high price and was branded Remake.

A related remake?

Naughty Dog has done an admirable job in this new iteration, making its adventure more gripping than ever before. The game was restarted from scratch and The last work is technically very impressive. Graphical Remakes in video games are always hard to come by, even harder with Part I.

The Last of Us Part I is not a visual reinvention like Demon’s Souls or Diablo 2 Resurrected, but a modern update with the flavor of a Remaster. Again, indeed a true technical remake, with all the developer work involved.

Its two biggest weaknesses are that the base game is still pretty viable and available today, but especially price placement. Like a recent blockbuster movie like Horizon Forbidden West or Gran Turismo 7 it sold for 80 euros, The Last of Us Part I is an old game that is still up to date. This is usually the kind of game that would have the right to stream directly on the PS Plus Extra subscription to attract new subscribers, but Sony has chosen to sell it at full price.

For these reasons, deciding what The Last of Us Part I is is complicated. Yes, this is a great video game What to do if you’ve never touched This Remake lets you enter in the best possible conditions. For others, it would be more logical to wait for a price drop or its arrival in the PS Plus Extra catalog.

The frustrating thing is that all doubts scatter in the hands of the controller. Even if you know the game by heart, you will be addicted. TLOU Part I remains an extraordinary adventure worthy of praise, It is an important title that has left its mark on media history and still does. However, we can’t give it the maximum rating (yet it deserves) due to its exorbitant price.