The Last of Us Part I

If you have the bandwidth to play this emotionally brutal adventure one more time, or if it's new to you, TLOU Pt 1 is the best version yet. If you need more than upgraded combat to put you over the top, wait for a sale.

Is all of this worth £70? That’s entirely up to you to decide. With the original game approaching a decade old, and that HBO adaptation arriving some time in 2023, it’s no surprise that Part I has been revived for modern audiences. Much to our own surprise, what playing this remake taught us was that we’re totally fine with the idea of it. This is the sort of treatment the best games demand, and the closest to timeless that they’ll ever come. The Last of Us deserves nothing less.

While Last of Us still has some of the same issues the original debuted with in 2013, the PS5 version (and likely the upcoming PC port, based on Sony's past efforts) is the best way to play it to date. [Review in Progress]

Quick Look

If you’ve never played the original Last of Us, I would argue this is the version worth playing. The upgrades over the original are quite numerous. From the upgraded visuals and impeccable work done on lighting and shadows, to the expansion of accessibility options and even new ones over The Last of Us Part 2, and finally a multitude of subtle gameplay improvements that make the whole experience all the more enjoyable, this is a fully upgraded package. I won’t say every “improvement” is actually an improvement or even necessary, but the sheer amount of polish added to this version of the game likely ensures I will never go back to The Last of Us Remastered over Part 1, given the choice. [Impressions]

There's nothing to complain about in this gorgeous, accessible remake of a gaming classic—except the mercenary nature of its very existence.

If you didn’t like TLOU in the first place, this remake won’t change your mind. It’s still gruesome and dark, a mix of a heart-rending post-apocalyptic story and a sometimes awkward video game. The core is the same as always. What this remake does, though, is smooth the transition between the two games in the franchise. Think of it like sanding away (most of) the game’s rough edges. That will likely be important to those who played Part II before the original or the hypothetical brand-new audience that will be introduced to The Last of Us through HBO’s live-action adaptation next year or the standalone multiplayer experience that’s also coming. The Last of Us is now a franchise — and within that framework, a remake so soon actually makes a lot of sense.