It had been rumored for months, and even leaked before the official reveal, but it is now official that 2013’s game of the year, The Last of Us, is getting a full remake for the PlayStation 5. This stunning achievement of a title was developer Naughty Dog’s first new IP since starting the Uncharted games early in the PS3’s lifecycle and came in the final year of that console’s life before the launch of the PS4. The game was quickly remastered for the new hardware in 2014, and its sequel, The Last of Us Part II, again came out right at the end of the PS4 era, this time a few months before the PS5 hit market.
Reports suggested that this remake was at first being handled by other Sony studios before eventually being brought back to its original developer Naughty Dog. While we already know the story of Joel and Ellie, there are plenty of new enhancements that the PS5 will bring to this remake. For everything we know about what is now named The Last of Us Part I, we’ve got you covered.
Further reading
- Everything we know about the Resident Evil 4 remake
- The best video game remakes of all time
- Everything we know about Spider-Man 2
Release date
The announcement of The Last of Us Part I also came with a surprising release date. You will be able to relive, or experience for the first time, Joel and Ellie’s adventure on September 2, 2022.
Platforms
This remake is launching as a PS5 exclusive but is also in development for PC. While Sony has been putting more and more of its flagship franchises on PC, such as God of War, Horizon, and even Spider-Man coming soon, this series has yet to appear on anything but Sony consoles until now. We don’t know when the PC version will release, but this is a great step for Sony and PC players to experience the best version of this already amazing title.
Trailers
The announcement trailer was shown off during the June 2022 Summer Game Fest, and is a brief look at the game. We mostly see familiar environments and cutscenes as old voiceover lines play from the original game of Joel talking to his brother about Ellie.
For anyone who played the original The Last of Us, everything shown and heard will be very familiar, though with some graphical updates of course. The entire story will remain unchanged, and the original voice performances will also be used again, so no differences will be made to any aspect of the narrative. Once again we will follow Joel and Ellie as they learn to trust and work together as they travel across the Clicker-infected United States in hopes of tracking down a group of people called the Fireflies to potentially create a cure.
Gameplay
Unlike the story, the team at Naughty Dog took the opportunity with The Last of Us Part I remake to update, enhance, and expand upon the gameplay from the original. According to the PlayStation Blog, this remake will incorporate more modern gameplay, exploration and combat, new controls, accessibility options, as well as graphical, audio, and even haptics to the experience. We haven’t seen any new environments or encounters yet, but it is possible that there will be a few new surprises for veterans in terms of gameplay.
The features and gameplay video released was a mixture of interviews and new footage of the game that gave a lot of details about how The Last of Us Part I has been improved. The obvious improvements were technical, with the remake being able to fully realize the detail and creative vision they had for the original game but couldn’t achieve on PS3 hardware. Actors’ performances, character expressions, and overall character model detail will all be highly improved.
AI will also be much improved and comparable to what was found in The Last of Us Part II. There won’t be any more instances of Ellie wandering past an enemy in the open but not getting spotted, breaking the immersion.
The suite of accessibility options was also touched on, including the option to have all cutscenes narrated. In total, over 60 options are available, such as making enemies not flank you, turning yourself invisible, turning off weapon sway, enabling slow motion, and many more.
A couple of new modes and features were detailed too, such as a photo mode, but also two new challenge modes. There’s a Permadeath Mode, where you only get one shot to beat the game, and a Speedrun Mode to compete for the fastest completion.
Just like the original game, new cosmetic outfits will be unlockable for Joel and Ellie, and The Last of Us Part I will be adding even more clothing to unlock and wear.
Multiplayer
The original The Last of Us came with a surprise hit multiplayer mode called Factions that players ended up really loving. This mode was cut from The Last of Us Part II, with it being expanded into a standalone game that we’ve yet to hear much about. With The Last of Us Part I, that mode will not be included, likely to prevent a split in the community for when the new multiplayer game, whatever it may be, is released.
DLC
The Last of Us had one standalone DLC called Left Behind which was both an interstitial and prequel to the main game that focused on Ellie before and during the events of the main game. This will be included as part of the base game for The Last of Us Part I, though isn’t clear if it will be added into the main game at the point in which it would occur, or if it has to be accessed separately like it originally was.
Pre-order
You can pre-order The Last of Us Part I right now on the official PlayStation store! The Last of Us Part I comes in two editions: Standard and Digital Deluxe. Here’s what you get with each one:
Standard Edition — $70:
- The Last of Us Part I
- Left Behind DLC
Digital Deluxe Edition — $80:
- Everything in the Standard Edition
- Two skill upgrades
- Pistol/rifle upgrade
- Explosive arrows
- Dither Punk Filter
- Speedrun Mode
- Six weapon skins
