The Last of Us Part 1

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Perhaps the age of remasters and remakes has finally peaked. I never thought I’d say it, but it’s possible that the time has come. That’s because with The Last of Us Part 1, we’ve got a remake of a remaster of a game that’s less than a decade old (and spanning three generations of console hardware, incredibly). Even its more controversial sequel is still a newborn by most standards. From the PS3 to its current-gen cousin, fans haven’t lacked for ways to experience the zombie apocalypse.

To put it another way, you’ve had at least three opportunities to buy the first The Last of Us at full or near-full price over the course of the past decade. Is this latest chance worth it? Let’s take a look.

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It’s tough to be a dad. It’s even tougher to be a dad in a world crawling with mushroom-infested zombie freaks. That’s the conundrum Joel faces after a mutated strain of cordyceps fungus turns a sizable chunk of his fellow citizens into, well, poor role models. Without spoiling too much, Joel ends up having to direct his dad-energy toward orphan Ellie, whose unique biology might hold the secret to solving the whole cordyceps issue. Together, the two will have to cross the country, battling shroombies and bandits along the way as they do their part in the search for a cure.

The Last of Us hit the scene during the height of the craze over The Walking Dead, so as you might imagine it’s a gritty zombie survival adventure with plenty of diversions about how humanity are the real monsters. Gameplay’s focused pretty heavily on stealth and guile, since our heroes are vastly outnumbered and not particularly durable in the face of horrific zombie mayhem. You’ll have to search for supplies, craft up gear and put it to work in smart ways to get by.

There’s a pretty solid chance you’re already familiar with how this goes, given the game has been around since 2013. The real question, then, becomes “why did they need to remaster this game from 2013?” Maybe you could follow that up with “especially when it was already remastered” back in 2014. Well, I don’t think I can explain Sony’s reasoning outside of their ever-intense desire for money, since The Last of Us Remastered doesn’t look particularly worse when compared to Part 1. Heck, even the original game still looks pretty solid, all things considered.

That’s not to say there aren’t improvements. That’d be a little disingenuous. The power of the PS5 is absolutely being put to use here, but a lot of it boils down to fancy buzzwords, the kind of thing that HEY GUYS LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE YouTube channels get all hot and bothered about. You want your high-end antialiasing? You got it. 60FPS? Well, Remastered had that, but it’s here too and far more consistent about it. 4K’s available, with the option to lock that resolution down if you’re willing to endure PS3-style 30FPS gameplay for it.

Light sources look better, fire and explosions look better, characters look better if not massively so…generally speaking there’s no question that the game looks better and maybe even plays a tiny bit better, it’s just that it doesn’t necessarily look “better” enough to merit this new release. At least there’s those lovely PS5 haptics.

Still, here we are. Take any lack of excitement with a grain of salt if you haven’t played the original game or its first remaster, by the way. Part 1 is certainly the ideal choice if you’ve never played the original game or its remaster, because it’s a classic. It’s entirely conceivable there are players who got into the series with its 2020 Part 2, particularly given that game’s release during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when there was an abundance of free time. If those folks would like to check out the original game, Part 1 is here to make that happen.

For those of us who’ve stuck with Joel and Ellie since the beginning, though, The Last of Us: Part 1 is the best version of this adventure currently available. It’s a beautiful, emotional, action-packed journey. On the other hand, this is an update that’s almost entirely about graphical fidelity. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it makes us wonder: if that’s what we’re focused on today, why didn’t this game launch on PC? There’s indications that it’s happening, but a simultaneous release would have been ideal. In any case, newcomers should certainly check this one out, but The Last of Us veterans might want to consider their priorities and how much they’re willing to spend.