Verdict
Even though it does n’t render the gameplay renovation that some gamers were no doubt foresee , The Last of Us Part 1 is still the good fashion to savor one of the most intelligent and well designed games of recent memory . The updated visuals facilitate to breathe young life into the story , and the world it presents has never feel more immersive . And that ’s before turn over the embarrassment of accessibility features on hand , enabling swathes of gamers to play the game for the first meter and see what all the hassle is about .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Naughty Dog revisits its iconic post - apocalyptical survival shooter , this time reconstruct for the PS5 and stylize as The Last of Us Part 1 .
When the credits rolled on 2020’sThe Last of Us Part 2 , I feel so engage in the humanity that Naughty Dog had created and its brutal narration of retaliation that I was n’t quite ready to say goodbye to it all . I booted up my written matter ofThe Last of Us : Remasteredbut the technical leap between the two game was too much to ignore and my enthusiasm for replay the series ’ first entranceway speedily evanesce away .
Someone at Naughty Dog either hacked my head or had the same feeling themselves because the The Last of Us Part 1 is the same bully biz that we all know and love , but redesigned with the Part 2 toolset .
With a £ 70/$70 price tag at launch , the secret plan has already been criticise for not put up enough bonus for returning player , but is this really the fount ? Here are my mentation .
Graphics and performance
For starter motor , the level of point that can be found when walking through the plot ’s vision of a post - apocalyptic United States is truly something to behold . The Last of Us already did a fantastic job of create a believable world in its level design , with abandoned homes hold ghost of the families who lived there , and sprawling cityscapes that have now been reclaimed by nature . But this time around , it feel as if the developers have been able-bodied to in full deliver on those concept in a way that technology only could n’t 10 years ago .
The various knick hang that you might expect to find in a phratry home have been ease up more attention , and at various times I found myself distracted by cold family photos that state a narrative of their own for a group of off - screen character . There ’s so much depth in the details of Part 1 that you easily spend several hours of your playthrough just admiring the sweat of the artwork department .
Because all of this is now running on the PS5 ’s heavy - duty hardware , lighting effects have also been break an uplift and they go a long way towards show what Sony ’s latest console table is equal to of . For exemplar , I do n’t recall ever being quite so enamoured with Bill ’s hideout early into the biz , but the way the light seeps through the church building ’s windows forced me to stop in my tracks and prize the view .
Beyond the in - plot visuals , Naughty Dog has also been cracking to note the upgrades that have been made to the character reference models , which in turn can be most keenly felt during cutscenes . I ’ll admit that when I saw the first few comparison drone , I shinny to see the immediate difference – a trouble that belike staunch from just how well those cutscenes were originally animated on the PS3 . But when you bug out playing the PS5 adaption , the weighing machine of these improvements are made more apparent .
For example , Tess has been gift a raw , more years - appropriate look that better meditate her lived experiences . And when paired with the total particular of Joel ’s middle - ripened appearance , their conversation felt more believable , doing judge to the original motion capture and voice act , and really driving home the emotion of each fit .
If you want to get even more out of the graphics , then the game offer you a option from the outset , with the power to play in either ‘ performance ’ or ‘ faithfulness ’ mode . The former streamlet at a direct 60fps while the latter prioritises the visual prowess of the plot and is capped at 30fps . There ’s definitely a noticeable difference to be found in these two modal value , and you may commute between them at any time so you do n’t have to worry about being shut away in .
For my my playthrough , I stick around with ‘ carrying out ’ style almost alone . After all , one of the best upgrades of 2014 ’s The Last of Us Remastered was the ability to trifle in the enhance physical body rate , lending itself bright to the helter-skelter nature of the game ’s shootouts .
I also noticed an impressive mo of tinkering with the game ’s audio tone , as sound feel more layered than ever and dialogue come through more clearly and defined than before . There ’s even reenforcement for 3D Audio , which makes a gunplay with the biz ’s septic enemies even more adrenaline induce .
It should be mentioned that I encountered barely any visual or audio hiccups during my prison term with the game which is a rare affair to see these days . This is about as dressed aAAA gamecould be at launch .
Story and gameplay
It ’s almost insufferable to have a conversation about The Last of Us without circle back to the game ’s taradiddle . The game made waves upon release for its bleak portrayal of what humans would do to survive if civilisation fall apart .
Very few game have arrive closely to the storytelling heights of The Last of Us , and in a post - pandemic humans , the many references to quarantine , examination and face coverings suddenly do n’t seem quite so nonfigurative . But I think it ’s fairish to assume , given that Part 1 appoint the 2d re - release of the title , that many gamers will be wondering if it ’s worth playing through again . I would contend emphatically that it is .
As previously mentioned , the updated grapheme models give the game ’s narrative aspects more depth as the characters themselves are better recognize . Then again , I ’m speaking as someone who has n’t revisited the game in roughly eight years , so it ’s been an exciting experience to recall why I enjoyed it so much in the first place . If you ’ve play it more late then this is where thing get a bit tricky .
Unfortunately , from a gameplay position , Part 1 is almost superposable to its generator stuff . I had hop that with so much talk about the game borrowing from Part 2 ’s graphic upgrades that we might also see some of the gameplay tweak that were innovate there , such as the power to go prone in fight , and raw foe type like attack dogs that were cultivate to sniff you out , forcing you to continue on the move .
Having these elements within Part 1 would have given existing players more of a reason to dive back in beyond the visual overhaul . Still , this is n’t to say that it ’s completely devoid of newfangled contentedness – there ’s now a ‘ permadeath ’ mode for players who ca n’t get enough punishment , and a fastness - rivulet mode to time how quickly you could make it to the oddment .
Haptic feedback via the DualSense controller also add a new stratum of immersion , heightening minute of vividness such as grappling an opposition from the shadows . The adaptive induction also switch how you use sure weapons . For the arc , you transfer the weapon from your backpack with L2 and then use R2 to lento pull back the pointer , feeling the pushback in the initiation as you do so .
There ’s even a fistful of new unlockables that can be cabbage after you ’ve discharge the biz , including costume and concept art , but I found myself spending quite a bit of fourth dimension in the game ’s new model viewer . Just like with Part 2 , you’re able to now view a collection of character models as if they ’re modest statuette , pouring over the sometimes unreal sum of detail in their facial features .
One huge selling point for many gamers out there is the the game ’s new accessibility lineament . Part 2 paved the way in opening up new way for other than abled gamers to savour the substance experience , and those same feature have now been put through in Part 1 .
With everything from colourblind mode to audio description during cutscenes , navigation help and narration of on - covert text , Naughty Dog has gone above and beyond in spend a penny The Last of Us Part 1 as accessible as possible , making this is a huge boon for anyone who was forced to miss out on the game the first time around because of any roadblock to entry . I only hope that more developers espouse lawsuit .
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Should you buy it?
With a concluded optic service that form the game ’s reality and story finger more touchable than ever , there ca n’t be any doubt that this is the best manner to experience Naughty Dog ’s iconic claim .
If the memory of the game is still sweet in your mind then there is n’t an consuming amount of new content to pass you back in on day one .
Final Thoughts
With a £ 70/$70 terms tag and not a whole lot of new content to speak of when it comes to the gameplay , The Last of Us Part 1 may be a tough sell for some gamers , but because of its massive leap forward in ocular fidelity and making the domain more engrossing than ever , it is still the best way to flirt one of the good games ever made – and that ca n’t be overlooked .
I ’ve enjoy every minute of my time with Part 1 , and the inclusion of barrier - breaking handiness features means that a whole sect of gamers will now get to experience Naughty Dog ’s post - revelatory story for the first time . Even if you do n’t nab the game at launch , it ’s one that all PS5 owners should add up to their library down the line .
Trusted Score
How we test
We toy every plot we review through to the death , outside of sealed exceptions where getting 100 % completion , like Skyrim , is stuffy to inconceivable to do . When we do n’t full finish a game before survey it we will always alert the reader .
FAQs
No , the original multiplayer ingredient of The Last of Us has been removed .
The Left Behind DLC is included with the game and can be played right away .
No , The Last of Us Part 1 is only available to flirt on PS5 .
