The long rumoured PS5 remake of The Last of Us was revealed during Summer Game Fest last night, with Naughty Dog showing off a new version of the game which has been completely rebuilt with new technology in mind. The Last of Us Part 1 will be out for PS5 on 2nd September 2022, with a PC version also in the works.
However, it can be quite difficult to appreciate just how big a difference the new release will make to the game’s graphics. Naughty Dog has issued some side-by-side screenshots and mini illustrative videos to show the change.
Here’s Joel:
And Ellie:
And finally a wider screenshot:
Honestly? Even these screenshots and horizontal screen wipes don’t really sell the scale of of what Naughty Dog has done here.
Part of the reason why this might feel underwhelming is that what’s been shown so far has focussed a lot on the characters. Here Naughty Dog has gone back to the original performance capture and used those recordings to add more nuance to the rendered performance, leading to greater detail in facial animation than was possible on PS3. Ellie looks older, Joel a touch more haggard and closer to his appearance in the sequel, but you might be thinking “Is that it?”
You really need to look to the environments, world detail and the lighting to see how this is a step forward. From the third comparison video, you can really see how much better the lighting is, note much greater and cleaner detail outside the building, and higher quality assets within. There’s no wipes in the announcement trailer, but you can tell there’s been a lot of improvements anyway.
Beyond that, Naughty Dog has modernised the gameplay, improved controls, added more accessibility options, and taps into the PS5’s 3D audio, haptics, adaptive triggers and more.
Even so, this remake might be a tough sell for many. The Last of Us Part 1 will retail for $70, which is Sony’s standard price point for new games this generation. Then again, the $100 physical Firefly Edition has already sold out for collectors… Are you going to grab the new remake?
Beyond the remake, Naughty Dog also gave updates on the standalone The Last of Us multiplayer game – with more news set for 2023 – and confirmed that the HBO TV adaptation is close to wrapping filming.
