The best game of a generation, now improved on PS4
The Last of Us Remastered is a new opportunity for all PS4 owners to experience Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic action-adventure masterpiece. Considered by many the game of a generation, TLoU will drive you on a powerful and dramatic journey where humanity is slowly turning into zombie-like creatures by the Cordyceps, an unstoppable parasitic fungus. While Joel and Ellie’s survival journey of loss and hope remains the same as the original, The Last of Us Remastered manages to improve this compelling story by wrapping it up into a much better experience. Whether you’ve already experienced this amazing game on the PS3 or you’re new to the crude world of The Last of Us, this Remaster has lots to offer. Do you want to know why?
Top Recommended Alternative
Story
If you’ve already played the original release of The Last of Us or followed HBO’s award winning series, there’s little you won’t know about the game’s story. TLoU Remastered takes place in an apocalyptic future where the whole planet has been covered by Cordyceps spores, a parasitic fungus capable of turning humans into grotesque zombies. Here we’ll take the role of Joel, a grieving father who lost his only daughter during the outbreak of the virus. Surviving as a smuggler in a quarantine zone, Joel will find Ellie, a 14 year-old girl who is immune to the Cordyceps infection, becoming humanities’ last hope to develop a vaccine. This fateful meeting will change both of their lives forever,
While hunted by the FEDRA, the government’s military force, Joel and Ellie embark on a journey in hopes of finding the Fireflies, a rebel group that might be able to take care of the little girl. However, things won’t be easy. In a world that lost all hope, the Infected will be the least of their problems. Weaving themes such as despair, hope, selfishness, love and redemption, Naughty Dog created one of the strongest stories ever told in a videogame.
Gameplay
This Remastered version brings, once again, the same gameplay that made TLoU the cult classic it is nowadays. The game masterfully blends popular concepts from action-adventure games like Uncharted as well as survival horrors such as Resident Evil 4. Played in a third person perspective, the game prompts us to survive in a post-apocalyptic universe, exploring areas such as run-down cities, abandoned buildings and towns as well as forests and old facilities. Through them we’ll find both friends and foes and knowing how to defend ourselves will be crucial if we want to continue our journey.
Combat is very important in TLoU. In the very prologue we’ll be prompted in a long and fierce shooting sequence while we try to recover some stolen weapons. Not long after that, we’ll have to survive a difficult stealth sequence to escape with Ellie through a dangerous FEDRA patrol. These will be our two main ways of surviving: fighting with weapons or strategically using stealth. Most of the game’s sections can be completed by using either approach, increasing the replayability of this exceptional adventure.
Another key element in The Last of Us is crafting. In each area we’ll have to scavenge for objects that will help us craft items such as health packs or bombs, as well as pills to increase Joel’s stats through a points system. These can be spent in gaining more health, improving our recovery or making Joel’s hearing better (this lets him spot enemies behind walls). Similar to Dead Rising’s combination mechanic, all cogs we find can be used in workbenches, letting us improve Joel’s weapons by adding more ammo capacity or increasing reload speed.
There’s more to TLoU Remastered than fighting and surviving the infected. Ellie’s character isn’t just crucial to the game’s narrative, but also to its gameplay. With an outstanding AI, Ellie will feel like a real travel companion that you’ll ultimately grow to love. She’ll act like a real kid that, similar to Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite, for the first time ever sees the real world. While rash and impulsive most of the time, it’s an absolute delight seeing her react to simple things like comic books or music vinyls and hearing her constant witty remarks to Joel. It is true that the game will set us on a quest to protect Ellie but in the end, you’ll want to save her, no matter if the game tells us to or not.
Graphics
One of the most obvious improvements of The Last of Us Remastered is in the visual department. The game simply looks fantastic on a PlayStation 4, enhancing greatly all textures, environments and shadows. With its resolution being bumped up to a full 1080p and moving smoothly at 60 fps, the game looks like night and day if we compare it to the original. Though if you're nostalgic, don’t worry. Naughty Dog has included an option to lock the frame rate of the game to 30 frames per second, allowing better stability and a look that overall, is more similar to the original game.
Does The Last of Us Remastered bring anything new?
Yes, it does. Apart from the remastered graphics, The Last of Us Remastered for PlayStation 4 includes the DLC expansion Left Behind as well as all the multiplayer maps and new levels of difficulty for the main campaign. This version also includes a commentary track for the game’s cinematics, a new photo mode as well as a documentary on the making of The Last of Us.
How long is The Last of Us?
The main campaign of TLoU is about 15 hours long. However, if you want to achieve the Platinum trophy of the game it’ll take you around 23 hours to obtain 100% completion of the game.
A timeless adventure
The Last of Us Remastered recovers one of the best games of the previous generation and makes it shine on a PS4. While the game remains as dramatic and powerful as when it was first released, its improved graphics and smoother performance definitely add to the experience. With all the DLCs included as well as a large selection of goodies for the fans, this is definitely a game you can’t miss out on no matter if you’ve already met Joel and Ellie or not.
