The Last of Us Part 2 Remaster welcomes players back into the post-apocalyptic world crafted by Naughty Dog. The haunting melodies, desolate landscape and emotional depth ties together to deliver an eerie and nail-biting journey. With this remaster Naughty Dog aims to enhance its acclaimed masterpiece with visual and performance enhancements. The burning question is, does the remaster deliver enough to justify a remake, especially for returning players?
At its core, The Last of Us Part 2 Remaster is a storytelling masterpiece. Without giving too much away, the narrative unfolds in a way that is both gripping and heart-wrenching. Ellies journey through an infection ravaged world takes the player on an emotional rollercoaster. The remaster keeps that narrative brilliance intact, delivering on those gut-punching moments and character depth.
While the heart of The Last of Us Part 2 lies in its narrative, the gameplay mechanics make up its spine. The combination of stealth, combat and resource management remain unchanged and the intensity of the combat carries weight with each blow keeping you gripped from go to whoa.
What the remaster does is adds a noticeable boost in performance with smoother frame rates and faster load times. While nothing groundbreaking, these improvements contribute to a slightly better experience. Its in the midst of the more intense moments that these performance are more evident, cranking up the overall sense of realism.
The debate around The Last of Us 2 centers on its graphical improvements. Naughty Dog boasts of reworked textures, lighting and environmental details, supposedly breathing new life into the world. Honestly, I don't really see the differences here. I have played the original and the remaster side by side and the difference are very minimal. Both the remaster and the original look truly incredible. The rustling foliage, dilapidated buildings and sunlight filtering through all of the above make this game one of the best looking games ever made.
Aside from just visual and performance upgrades, the remaster does come with a bunch of additional content. This content includes "No Return" a new roguelike game mode, three lost levels, new concept art, new skins and developer commentary as well as a few other bits here and there
The Last of Us Part 2 Remaster showcases Naughty Dogs commitment to excellence. The narrative brilliance and atmospheric gameplay are perfectly tuned and balanced to encompass players throughout a poignant journey through a world scarred by human frailty and infection, something that recently we too are all too familiar with.
The remaster while not groundbreaking or revolutionary does boast a few enhancements not least the all new game modes and technical improvements. The original game however was in my opinion groundbreaking. It was yet another shining example of Naughty Dog's storytelling.
If you already have The Last of Us 2, then upgrading to this remaster costs $10, so if you enjoyed it the first time round and have any sort of wish to play it again someday, then grab it. If you're new to the franchise, then the remaster is currently the absolute best way to play one of the best games in recent years.
Whether or not this game needed a remaster is a matter of perspective. For anyone eager to revisit the world with improved visuals these improvements might be a welcome addition. However fans of the original arguing that the original still holds up might not find the incremental upgrades compelling enough for an albeit, at $10 an affordable upgrade.
Personally, if not for reviewing it, I probably would have bought got it via the $10 upgrade and played for an hour to see the difference before shelving it for something else, but id have still been glad I had it, should I ever wish to revisit one of the greatest stories in video gaming history.
For more information on the game itself rather than the "remaster" then check out my original review from its original release here and our run down on The Last of Us 2's very impressive photo mode here!
