It’s only been four years since The Last Of Us Part II was released – sweeping the board at the Games Awards, and receiving rave reviews from critics along with a whopping 320 Game of the Year awards from various outlets. It’s an iconic piece of pop culture, and following in the footsteps of the original game, the sequel is about to be adapted for TV – still, what could a remaster possibly offer that the original didn’t?
Turns out, quite a lot. For those that need a quick refresher, The Last Of Us Part II picks up four years after the climactic events of the original game.
Joel and Ellie have settled down in the town of Jackson, Wyoming with Joel’s brother Tommy and life is sweet – until Abby appears on the scene. She has a score to settle with Joel, and the ramifications of her actions set Ellie on a path to vengeance that takes her all the way to the ruins of Seattle. Needless to say, a lot of blood is spilled, Infected or otherwise.
First thing's first. As one might expect from a remaster, the graphics have been lovingly upgraded for the PS5. Not a lot, but it’s noticeable: the lens flares that cut across the screen when Joel gallops away on horseback into the setting sun, for instance, or the slight twitching of Ellie’s thumb on a workbench as she upgrades her guns.
There’s also the haptic feedback, which is trigger-hair sensitive – the controller picks up both the slight bump of picking up a weapon, and the hefty thud it makes when striking an enemy. As you might imagine, that alone makes the fight scenes about ten times more stressful.
But those are par for the course – and to be honest, not super exciting. Instead, it’s the little details that make the remaster work. Joel’s old guitar can now be played in Guitar Freeplay, where Ellie can jam out to her heart's content by swiping a finger across the touchpad. New outfits can be unlocked. The game can be customised, making it either much easier (hello, infinite ammo) or teeth-grindingly hard (aka. speedrun mode).
And even better, there are some bonus levels that weren’t present in the original game. They’re unfinished and kind of unnecessary (which is presumably why they were cut) – but still, watching Ellie hunt a boar or crawl through a disgusting sewer is fun, and helps to flesh out the world still further. Even better, for TLOU fans, it’s also accompanied by commentary from the developers and creative director Neil Druckmann, explaining the technical details of level creation, even down to the camera angles.
There’s also more freedom when it comes to combat, in the form of the No Return roguelike mode. It is kind of inspired, even if it does feel like it was borrowed from Call of Duty. As Ellie or Abby, the player fights their way through a randomised series of encounters, unlocking as much loot as possible before dying. It’s a nice way to experiment with The Last Of Us’ gameplay – which can often get lost in the frantic slash-and-hack approach of the actual game – but let’s get one thing straight, there’s no subtlety here. This is all about the joy of shooting Infected into oblivion, rather than the narrative.
So, is it worth it? For £44.99, it’s not essential by any means, but it's bloody good fun. It’s the little details – plus the archival material – that make this remaster sing. It’s discovering those new levels and wondering what might have been. It's not an instant classic, but there's enough here to keep the avid fan satisfied; for everybody else, the 2020 original is just as good as it ever was.
