Naughty Dog formalized The Last of Us Part I during the Summer Game Fest 2022 ceremony. It is a remake described as the definition version of the cult game.
The Last of Us Part I therefore closed the Summer Game Fest 2022 ceremony and, too bad for Naughty Dog and Sony, the insistent rumors and a leak spoiled the surprise. Never mind, Neil Druckmann, co-president of the studio, took the stage to present this expected remake for September 2 on PlayStation 5. He declared that it is the definitive version of the cult game, with a real graphic gap compared to The Last of Us Remastered (the PS4 version).
Naughty Dog is so proud of the work accomplished that it did not fail to provide comparative images to better justify the existence of this remake. In a tweet posted on June 9Neil Druckmann evokes a The Last of Us “ completely redone “. And if some have doubts about the visual contribution, the few shared captures should make everyone agree.
Comparison between The Last of Us Part I and The Last of Us Remastered
In a press release published on June 9, we can discover screenshots taken from The Last of Us Remastered (PS4) and The Last of Us Part I (PS5) of the same scenes showing Ellie and Joel. The differences are quite striking.
Ellie
Joel
We can appreciate the differences in the modeling of the characters. The gap is quite marked, as the level of detail has nothing to do. The hair, the beard (for Joel), the expressiveness of the gaze, the imperfections of the skin, the texture of the clothes, the way in which the lighting highlights the areas of the face… If you find The Last of Us Remastered still very beautiful, you will have no adjectives to qualify The Last of Us Part I.
Beyond the graphic beauty, the remake brings a surplus of realism to the The Last of Us original. Ellie is supposed to be 14 when she meets Joel. However, she looked more like she had barely 10. Thanks to the rendering of The Last of Us Part I, it feels more like a teenager than a child. We gain credibility, even if this change could be debated (we don’t look like the same person anymore) – as was the case for Marvel’s Spider-Man. It’s a little less shocking for Joel, who is also getting old in The Last of Us Part I (he has much more drawn features). Here again, we gain in realism, since we are talking about a man who is approaching fifty.
Note that it is not Neil Druckmann who takes care of The Last of Us Part I. He handed over the reins of the project to Matthew Gallant and Shaun Escayg, two studio veterans. A priori, the duo will honor one of the most significant games of the PlayStation 3 era. In addition to technical developments, the remake will be based on modernized gameplay (exploration, combat), improved controls, options for accessibility and increased immersion (thanks to DualSense and 3D audio rendering).