The Last of Us Part I review

Reviewed on: PS5

The Last of Us Part I got updated graphics, but it is still essentially the same game.

First of all, know that I played the original The Last of Us in 2013, on a PS3 I borrowed from a friend, and I didn’t play the TLOU Remastered they released for the PS4.

So this The Last of Us Part I for PlayStation 5 really looks beautiful, the graphics are very polished as is already standard for Naughty Dog, and it runs very well in Performance mode. I didn’t notice any slowdown while playing.

I found some graphical bugs during the game, where when slowly rotating the camera, the scenery rendering got messed up and didn’t load properly. I also ran into a bug that kept me from moving forward in the game, where an NPC went to push a cabinet and disappeared, so I was forced to load the last checkpoint.

The animations and their details are spectacular, on the same level as TLOU Part II, with enemies reacting very realistically in confrontations, interacting with objects in the scenery and being hit by the shots of the various weapons found during the journey.

The gameplay Core was not changed, and this generated plenty of complaints on the internet.

By using the updated engine from The Last of Us Part II, there was the possibility of also using the new gameplay features, such as crawling on the ground and shooting from that position.

But in doing so, they would have had to change the entire level design of the scenarios so the game wouldn’t end up broken. So they took the easier path.

So this remake is 1:1 with the original game, but using current technology. The character modeling and graphics were updated using a new engine, but the gameplay was kept intact, just like the remake of Demon’s Souls.

The game makes very cool use of the PlayStation 5 DualSense, as well as several accessibility options, with aids so everyone can enjoy the game without any problem. Example: I play seated far from the TV, and I can increase the subtitle size and change the color to make it easier to read.

I reached the end in about 20 hours, playing on normal, but I confess that several times I left the game paused while I went to do something else quickly. So I think someone focused can finish in much less time.

My opinion is that the game is indeed worth it. You will play the best version of The Last of Us Part I, on a very quiet console (try playing TLOU2 on a regular PS4 and you’ll see), with almost instant loading, with DualSense features that add a lot to the immersion in the game (very cool how the controller simulates rain falling on Joel, or when you get close to a noisy device, like a power generator).

If you played and replayed TLOU Remastered on the PS4 or PS4 Pro, maybe you don’t need this remake right now.

You probably still have all the key moments of the plot memorized, and maybe even remember the position of the infected and the items in the scenery.

In my case, it has been almost 10 years since I played the original game, so I enjoyed it almost as if it were the first time, and really liked this remake bringing updated graphics, even though it brought no gameplay changes.

I hope Sony, Microsoft and other developers bring more remakes like these, PS3 and Xbox 360 generation games that get updated graphics and maybe some small gameplay fix or improvement.

And if possible, selling at a lower price.

My score: 8.5

I’d easily give it a 9, if I hadn’t found simple bugs at several points in the game.

Naughty Dog and PlayStation Brasil

Review game kindly provided by PlayStation Brasil.