The Last of Us Part I: PS5 Review

Developed by Naughty Dog

Published by Sony Interactive

Platform: PS5

It can't have escaped your attention how ubiquitous Naughty Dog's Last of Us series is.

That may be because the game was released on PS3, got a remaster for PS4, is now an upcoming HBO Series with Pedro "The Mandalorian" Pascal and is now once again re-released for the PS5.

The developers have been at pains to put out videos saying this is not a remaster, but a rebuild of the original title, with the game updated for the next generation and given the sheen perhaps they would have wanted when it launched in 2013.

For those who've escaped the various returns of the game, it still maintains the brutality you may have shielded your memory from. 

Starting with a man and his daughter escaping from the onslaught of a pandemic, and the emotionally devastating fall-out of one key moment, The Last of Us still carries the emotional heft you'd remember, even if some of the combat elements feel a little last generation.

As you play Joel, heading through the world ruined by plague, damaged by creatures and torn asunder by the greed of survivors, the game you remember is the same - it just now looks utterly, utterly stunning.

The post-apocalypse has never looked better, as civilisation crumbles around Joel and Ellie's ears, you'll marvel at how damn good it looks and how every bristle on Joel's beard is evident.

And yet, it's not just the technical levels which soar here. The story has held the test of time too.

 A developing relationship between Ellie and Joel is the real hook to this - and the real reason you will invest hours of your life in front of the console yet again. Naughty Dog have put a lot of effort into the emotion and it really does pay off in great swathes as you power on through the wastelands of America.

Of course it helps that haptic feedback and trigger sensitivity on the controller powers a lot of the combat mechanisms, but in truth, at times, fighting feels very old school and not quite in line with what's expected these days. Equally a swift turn around using the left stick and X is still as jarring as it once was.

AI feels a bit stronger than it was back in 2013 for the game's launch. There feels like there's more menace from those opposed to Joel and Ellie's quest - and certainly the confrontations have an edge this time around.

But yet when it comes down to it, perhaps all that Naughty Dog wanted to do was polish a great title - you can't create greatness if greatness wasn't already there.

And certainly with The Last of Us Part I, it still feels like the game it always was - just a little bit shinier and more impressive than it originally was.

A review code for The Last of Us Part I was provided for the purposes of this review.