REVIEW: The Last of Us is the masterpiece ever in a middling port

Em The Last of Us Part II, we take on the role of strong protagonists, especially Joel, a traumatized and reclusive father who goes through challenges at the beginning of a cruel global pandemic. This pandemic is caused by an out-of-control brain infection caused by a strange fungus called Cordyceps. 

In this intense journey, we experience many emotions and conflicts with very strong and emotionally deep characters all the time, with a beautiful art direction, improved graphics in your remaster (but with some problems on the PC), a stunning sound design and a very touching soundtrack, in addition to several other very important and important attributes for the gaming industry. games. 

Come check out this definitive review and all our impressions of the remastered version, ported to PC, of ​​this smash hit from Sony and Naughty Dog.

The beginning of the end

It all starts on an ordinary day, when Sarah wakes up to her father's late arrival at home and they both exchange a few words of paternal affection and watch TV until she falls asleep again. Her rest is interrupted by loud and strange noises and, little by little, the entire narrative builds up, showing the chaotic environment that forms quickly and uncontrollably in Austin, Texas. 

Until reaching its pandemic apex and in a world lost to the Cordyceps fungal infection, capable of transforming people into true violent beings with no rational capacity, in addition to the various human conflicts (FEDRA against the Fireflies, for example), The Last of Us is introducing, little by little, one of its strongest points: real-time transitions between cutscenes and moments of returning control of the character almost imperceptibly. This technical achievement is impressive and rare, even more combined with a very well done art direction, regardless of the game's debut year.

Not only that, but throughout the entire game there is a perfect balance between tension and tension relief. Now we are facing huge hordes of infected or trying to stealthily flank enemies to shoot them down with firearms or blades, now relaxing a little while following some very well structured dialogue or walking and contemplating beautiful scenarios of some abandoned American cities.

History

TLoU Part I is divided into five major acts: Prologue, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring, in addition to a quick Epilogue and the “Left Behind” DLC, which comes with the Deluxe version of the game (R$299,00) in stores. In them, many characters linked to Joel interrelate and we experience the whole long journey between him and Ellie, a curious, emotional and very special teenager for the whole franchise. 

Both protagonists who end up together in history quite by chance, but form, over time, a powerful, courageous and very emblematic duo – and who will be able to capture your attention in the first few hours – for the entire timeline of the franchise.

As to Left Behind, you follow a desperate Ellie moment mid-way through the main game (let's avoid spoilers over here, ok?), while she remembers beautiful moments with her friend Riley. For those who watched the HBO Max series, you already know – and have already been moved – but the time frame is extremely exciting. So get ready for strong emotions.

Performance and graphics quality

First of all, The Last of Us Part I was played in a setting well within the parameters of the minimum and recommended requirements established in stores. Next, the setup complete in which it was tried:

Processor/CPU	Intel Core i9-10900 KF (3.70 GHz)
RAM memory	16 GB
Video Card/GPU	NVidia GeForce RTX 3070 with 8GB of VRAM
Storage	WD Black SSD with 3430MB Read and 2600MB Write
Monitor	AOC Hero 24” Full HD (1920x1080, 144Hz)

As soon as the game opens, firstly, it is very noticeable the effort that the hardware needs to do to support all of the game's graphics and mechanics. It would be normal for some games of the new generation, were it not for the 100% GPU and its dedicated memory consumed at all times, in addition to all the rest of this exorbitant consumption “bottlenecking” in the execution of the processor, reaching numbers almost as high in oscillation . Even in the menu or in the game paused, consumption was always the same (!).

It is worth pointing out that it was necessary to play TLoU at the limit indicated in its menu options, which is imposed as a standard for the capabilities of the video card. In this case, the recommended limit came close to 7900MB (almost 8GB) consumed and with a full array of textures, lighting, shadows and reflections left on High/High. 

Here, then, is another optimization problem: even with a hardware powerful, current and within the recommended requirements, the game struggled to remain stable and, even so, delivered graphics below Ultra. Any of the details tweaked in the settings caused the memory limit to be exceeded, including.

Graphics are a delight when they are up to the standards of contemporary technologies, but are of little relevance to the quality of games as a whole. The Last of Us Part I Remastered achieves all its technical perfection present on the PS5, locks the frame rate firmly at 60 FPS and has impeccable graphical quality on the PC. But at what cost?

The PC port issues

All of its performance seems to stutter in some camera movements and in the transition to different environments of the game, there is a certain delay in the rendering of common textures of walls and objects of the scenery and even some pop ups (sudden appearances) of artifacts in the scenery. In addition, loading takes a while, even with the game installed on a great SSD. 

Although they happen a lot from time to time, all of this can make for a very frustrating experience, and can be much more so for many players, see all the negative repercussion (rightly so) that there was in the community shortly after its release. Meanwhile, the computer it was played on heated up like a furnace and used up its full energy potential with the game open.

Mouse and keyboard were also having problems - there are some stuttering (image chokes) exaggerated, as if the motion blur – effect of blurring the moving image with the camera – was not active, in addition to presenting some delay in response compared to using the control. Therefore, the gameplay has been better when using an Xbox controller, DualSense or any other joystick that is compatible on the PC. However, Naughty Dog went up one hotfix recent update that corrects problems of this nature. 

For more details and differences between the original game and the remaster, in addition to its production, the Noclip published a great documentary about.

Although the port arrived so unfortunately for the platform, the essence of the game is still there and, in the sublime first experience of those who write to you, major problems were not found. Consequently, none bugs, choked from the image or texture rendered late on the screen, however few they were, did not disturb the gameplay from start to finish. And that's how it was possible to experience one of the games of the decade in a very good way, even so.

Uma overproduction of games

You can see all the investment by Sony and Naughty Dog in every corner and corner of this remarkable game. The Last of Us Part I, in its remastered version, brings with it a technical excellence that for many would be unimaginable in 2013 (the year the original was released on PlayStation 3): its graphics are beautiful, it has a powerful and moving soundtrack in several points, its gameplay is mega attractive and has a very simplified usability and difficulty for any player – from the most casual to the most assiduous.

Admittedly, much of Part II was reused in this remaster from Part I. All the luminosity, textures, volumetry and the terrible serrations present in the PS3 graphics were adjusted for a surprising look, in addition to bringing more life and more human traits and expressions to all the characters.

In the narrative and still technical aspect, like a great film, TLoU Part I embarks on traditional pop culture themes, but with an innovative perspective, in the best adventurous and cinematographic format. Its art direction is amazing and fascinating, its sound design reaches hyper-realistic and immersive levels, its script is a little fast-paced but completely coherent (with the exception of a big hole at the end of Left Behind) and its striking soundtrack pulls the best. from music folk e country in a few notes, referring to the best possible climates for westerns US classics.

Gameplay

It is possible to experience the best of stealth, shooting and resource management mechanics. You can build medkits and homemade sharps bombs with items found – and very fairly distributed – throughout the environments. With some of these objects, you can also improve some of your various weapons in specific benches and scattered throughout the stages. All these resources and tools spread out very well and are found in certain places of the different environments.

Kill Infected, clickers (clickers, in Portuguese: infected in a second stage of evolution of the fungus, who go blind but hear very well), Fireflies and bandits in stealth is very satisfying and offers a more efficient and economical style of play, while direct conflicts will give you, possibly faster resolution of challenges and a playground complete with all your weapons at your disposal (while wielding them with available ammo).

In the labyrinthine combat “arenas”, there is a very good dynamic of objects versus movement of the player. There is plenty of room and multiple possibilities for cover or hiding from enemy view. And it is necessary to pay attention to your emission of the noise of footsteps to avoid clickers, while avoiding scouting and flanking other types of enemies.

Speaking of enemies, the Artificial Intelligence of this game is something out of the curve. It's pretty amazing to see how enemies flank you, hide and do everything to kill the protagonist. The same goes for the undead. Even though they are less intelligent, in large hordes they can be quite dangerous. Mainly taking into account that clickers and blowfish give an instant kill in one hit (one hit kill).

In short, TLoU on PC may even leave something to be desired in its graphic performance, but it is still extremely satisfactory in each of its mechanics, mainly due to the ease of assimilation that the commands of a control provide, every minute that passes. It is a complete delight, capable of empowering the player person, an essential work for those who like action and adventure and a full plate for those who value countless satisfying replays.

Ppossible weak point

Even in the face of so much investment and being a very well-constructed production, its narrative is still subject to very exaggerated violence and is “accomplice” of a broken society even before the global outbreak of the deadly fungus (it is easier to imagine the end of the world than than the end of capitalism, no?).

It seems like an enormous effort, even if within some semblance of artificiality in the world of games, present so much violence, lack of confidence and little empathy from its diverse characters. Such brutal characteristic is very present in North American and British works, including, as in The Walking Dead, which ends up not sending such positive messages in its final balance of the moral of the story.

It is sad to see how individualism is so intertwined in today's societies that, even in this type of common imagination, such captivating characters become the cruelest and coldest people at every moment of crisis or decision. Despite this, The Last of Us is much more about the great internal psychological traumas of its protagonists than a healthy and constructive society most of the time.

The Last of Us will still have an outcome in the future, but it is heading towards something very similar and carries a huge burden of bad vibes. There are countless reports from those who play it that they left with a bitter taste or mental fatigue caused by such violent and sad narratives (and for the author of this analysis it was no different). However, it remains a digital gaming staple even a decade after its original release. 

Conclusion: come expecting a lot

The Last of Us Part I is the epitome of games. Even though it was originally released in 2013, its contemplative and intense moments are evident, which energetically reach the senses of those who hold the controller (or, now, the mouse and keyboard). It will demand both your shooting and stealth skills and reward you very justly with resources well distributed throughout the stages and with beautiful scenery, worthy of several photos (use and abuse the Photo Mode, which is spectacular!). 

For many, the performance and quality of the graphics may be leaving a lot to be desired. And indeed, unlike other newly released games, their demanding standards of hardware depending on what it actually delivers make no sense when referring to a well-optimized game on computers.

However, it is possible to appreciate a great video game work in the PC port, even if it arrived as it did. Therefore, it is important to respect the limits of your hardware, while patches and patches of corrections from Naughty Dog arrive little by little to improve the work's performance on PC. 

Many of its narrative moments are memorable, its gameplay is a well-developed delight, and it offers post-game options.game that are really attractive: new skins, new game + (which retains all of your abilities and upgrades of weapons made in the first playthrough), unlockable cheats, concept art, game content making of of the game etc. So get ready for dehydration when your hands sweat on the controller and get emotional with several unforgettable moments from the game. 

We do showmetech We highly recommend The Last of Us Part I if it's better optimized on PC. So what makes the most sense at this point is to wait for later updates on Steam and Epic Games Store, in addition to taking advantage of a good promotion in the coming months. Lately, the store Nuuvem It also offers great prices.

Analysis carried out with a PC copy provided by the producers

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Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim (12 / 04 / 23)