Following a plethora of rumors and potential leaks over the past few months, a full-fledged remake of Naughty Dog’s 2013 masterpiece, The Last of Us has finally been confirmed via an early listing on the PlayStation Direct Store along with an announcement trailer at the Summer Game Fest, 2022.
Although The Last of Us Remastered, which was released way back in 2014 on the previous-gen PS4 and PS4 Pro, featured modest upgrades in the Resolution and Frame Rate department, the official remake, as explained by Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann during the presentation, has been built from the ground-up with a major overhaul in visual fidelity and gameplay experience to make it more in line with its critically acclaimed sequel, The Last of Us Part II.
From its imminent release date and platform support to its pricing and graphical enhancements, here’s everything you need to know about The Last of Us Part I.
The Last of Us Part I: Release Date & Platform Support
The faithful remake of Naughty Dog’s timeless classic dubbed The Last of Us Part I is set to arrive on the current-gen PlayStation 5 by September 2nd, 2022, marking almost a decade since the original game enthralled PS3 fans back in 2013.
Furthermore, to everyone’s surprise, the announcement trailer also unveiled that a dedicated PC port of The Last of Us Part I is in active development and will be revealed later down the line, similar to the release cycle of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection.
The Last of Us Part I: Pricing & Editions
The Last of Us Part I will be available in 3 distinct editions for the PlayStation 5, each of them hosting a bunch of unique collectibles and bonus items to facilitate the gameplay experience.
While The Last of Us Part I: Standard Edition priced at $69.99/€79.99 includes the base game along with the Left Behind DLC, the Digital Deluxe Edition which will set you back by $79.99/€89.99 unlocks the following in-game items right out of the gate:
- Increased Crafting Speed Skill
- Increased Healing Speed Skill
- 9mm Reload Speed Increase Upgrade
- Rifle Clip Capacity Increase Upgrade
- Explosive Arrows Gameplay Modifier
- Dither Punk Filter
- Speedrun Mode
- Six Weapon Skins: Black Gold 9mm Pistol, Silver Filigree 9mm Pistol, Rubber Tactical Shotgun, Sculpted Oak Shotgun, Arctic White Bow, Carbon Black Bow
Meanwhile, The Last of Us: Firefly Edition which is available for purchase at $99.99 exclusively on the PlayStation Direct Store comes equipped with all the necessary in-game items from the Digital Deluxe Edition while also containing a SteelBook Display Case and the first four comics for The Last of Us: American Dreams with distinct cover art.
With that said, players who pre-order any of these editions will also receive in-game Bonus Supplements and Weapon Parts to upgrade their ‘skillset’ and ‘arsenal’ right from the get-go.
The Last of Us Part I: Graphical & Gameplay Improvements
According to the official PlayStation Blog Post by Naughty Dog’s Communications Team, The Last of Us Part I will leverage the ‘powerful hardware’ of the PlayStation 5 to modernize its ‘gameplay’, improve upon its pre-existing ‘controls’ and expand its ‘accessibility options’ by a significant margin.
Based on the aforementioned claims, it is evident that the remake will take advantage of PS5-specific features like 3D Audio via compatible Speakers/ Headsets as well as the DualSense Controller’s Adaptive Triggers and Haptics to enhance the overall experience.
In addition to these features, the 90-second announcement trailer already showcased remarkable improvements over the original game in terms of environmental details, texture quality, character rendering, and even facial animations.
However, veteran analyst Oliver Mackenzie of Digital Foundry was quick in pointing out that The Last of Us Part I might skimp on any form of advanced temporal upscaling technique or dynamic resolution in its entirety. Instead, the remaster will target 1440p60 by default, with a Fidelity mode that caps at 4K30 and a High Frame Rate mode that runs at 1080p120, similar to the graphical presets found in The Last of Us Part II (PS5 Patch) and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection.
To double down on the success of The Last of Us franchise, the development team at Naughty Dog also announced that they have been working on a standalone multiplayer title with a much larger scope than the original Factions mode.
Moreover, a live-action HBO series by writer and director of Chernobyl, Craig Mazin, will follow the events of the first game and is expected to release sometime in the near future.
While many of us might think the remake to be nothing more than a blatant cash grab from the studio, there’s no denying the fact that The Last of Us Part I will basically sell out like hotcakes throughout its life cycle. Therefore, if you are one of those lucky few who already own a PlayStation 5 console, you’ll be able to relive Joel and Ellie’s journey through post-apocalyptic America in less than a few months.
For the PC Master Race, 2022 is definitely going to be a great year for gaming, especially with a slew of first-party PlayStation Exclusives launching sooner than any of us might have expected!