The Last of Us Part 1 remake review

Evidently, the first thing you will notice is the graphical upgrade. Naughty Dog says they’ve built the game from the ground up for the PS5. So this is not the Remaster like we saw on the PS4 but a Remake. What that means is that there’s a bit more happening in the development process other than just slapping shiny new visuals. 

If you’re fortunate enough to be introduced to the series for the first time, I recommend going with this Remake because then The Last of Us Part II will be a seamless extension in terms of visuals and gameplay quality. That’s the highest praise I can give The Last of Us Part I Remake. Which is that it’s the best possible quality of the remake and it’s done extremely well.

The animations and facial details that were lost in the original game due to hardware limitations are now being used properly with the Remake. Naughty Dog says that they revisited the original motion capture footage and finally had the chance to include many details like more accurate face movement, eye depth along with natural body movement. Characters won’t turn and twist like Minecraft characters. Enemies, too, have realistic ragdoll physics. You can notice is clearly when you start shooting enemies with different weapons and how they tumble and fall around the environment. It’s natural to the letter, and that quality is what not many remakes can match. Although we expected nothing less from a Sony PlayStation studio.

The environment has also been heavily reworked. The original looked absolutely gorgeous and the new one looks even better. Dare I say, it’s what makes the Remake an absolute technical masterpiece. The particle effects in infested zones have doubled down and many of the textures and enemies have more details than ever. Water and light have been reworked to add a layer of atmospheric depth and challenge. Dark areas are genuinely haunting meanwhile the water animation is as real as it can get. There’s little to complain about in terms of the quality of the game. The story was and is a masterpiece but now the hardware limiter is uncapped and you can enjoy the game with a bit more presence and maturity.

The Sony PlayStation Tempest 3D audio is a great feature that you can experience on any headset now. We’ve played Ghost of Tsushima and Horizon Forbidden West recently and the Tempest 3D audio really enhances your gaming experience through soundstage alone. Initially, it needed to be natively supported by the headset hardware but now the PS5 can work its way to place audio in digital space on any headset. That said, games need to support this feature as well and The Last of Us Part 1 Remake now gets its fair share of audio enhancements. Firstly, the single-player game is driven by atmospheric mood, cinematic setpieces and stealth combat. It feels like you’re in the middle of it thanks to the 3D audio. Raindrops and thundercracks are placed directly above you, Clickers sound scarier when you’re out of bullets and your headsets can pinpoint where they’re in the dark. Even conversations and environmental sounds breathe life into your ears. It’s a welcome upgrade over the previous version.

Another PS5-specific upgrade is the haptic feedback from the PlayStation DualSense controller. Bow draws have tension in the trigger control and guns go off with a satisfying vibration. Even conversations and crafting animations have satisfying haptic feedback from the PS5 controller which is impossible to get on any other controller. 

You can even feel the raindrops that fall on Joel’s jacket through the DualSense controller. If you’ve played Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart or Horizon Forbidden West already, expect the same refinement in the haptics here as well.

We’ve not talked about the great and horrifying adventure of Ellie and Joel in this review and that’s because all of that has been covered since the launch of the original game and again when the Remastered version was released. The story, although heartwarming and incredible, is something most PlayStation fans have gone through and spending another ₹4,999 on a Remake might be a hard bargain for most.

Although, this is not a remaster but a remake of the original and it shows. The graphics and character designs are reworked, ragdoll and enemy physics are mindblowing and even the AI is much smarter and more vigilant than ever before. Enemies will try to surround you and take you out. Playing this again on harder difficulty is a better option for veterans of the console. Oh, and you can spend hours in the photo mode as well. It’s detailed and as good as any other game’s photo mode from PlayStation studios.