Zing’s Review of The Last of Us Part I on PC

I found it a difficult task. That is, to evaluate the port remake of a game that has already been remastered before. It is not worth keeping silent about the fact that the review is published a few days after the release of The Last of Us Part I on PC, and thus there was enough time for players across the world and the Internet to share their impressions, which are not very positive, especially with regard to the technical side of the title. I will share with you my own experience, which is also marked by the fact that I go into the series from Naughty Dog almost without a kiss – I knew a lot about The Last of Us, but it is a new experience for me in terms of gaming and I deliberately skipped the series on HBO.

• Platform: PS5, PC (reviewed version)
• Date of publication: 28. 3. 2023 (PC)
• Developer: Naughty Dog, Iron Galaxy
• Publisher: PlayStation
• Genre: action adventure
• Czech localization: again
• Multiplayer: it is
• Data to download: 100 GB
• Game Time: 17–20 h
• Cena: 60 eur

The optimization of the PC version of the remake of The Last of Us has been heavily criticized. I can say that I am on my machine with a processor Intel Core i5-12400, 16 GB RAM and graphics card RTX 3060 he didn’t struggle with the technical side nearly as much as some. But above all, we really had a rough start with the game.

After the first launch, I was greeted like everyone else by the compilation of shaders. I can consider myself lucky here as well, it was done in about half an hour. I dread the thought of several hours of waiting, which many report. This should not be the standard.

I boldly turned the campaign on the highest possible graphics settings. In the first cutscene, I started to deeply regret my decision. A crash and subsequent game crash awaited me here. This was followed by reducing the graphics to the recommended preset high.

At 1080p, the game kept a stable 60 FPS in the vast majority of cases.

I can safely say that in the matter gross performance the developers have more or less delivered on what they promised for my particular build (slightly above recommended). At 1080p, the game kept a stable 60 FPS in the vast majority of cases. The only exception was some more open outdoor locations with lots of greenery or reflections from the water surface. Here the frame rate dropped to fifty or slightly below fifty.

So I was basically satisfied with the gameplay itself since I found the right combination of settings – especially in contrast to expectations. I even increased the quality of the character and environment textures over time, which are quite demanding items especially for the VRAM capacity, and it hardly affected the performance.

About halfway through the game, I had an unpleasant crash with a restart of the entire computer.

But while I was enjoying the game itself, technical difficulties of a different nature began to appear. I encountered several graphical glitches, when entering new locations the image visibly jerked, exceptionally it even got stuck for a moment, and about halfway through the game I had an unpleasant crash with a restart of the entire computer.

Last, but not least, sometimes the graphics get angry even at settings where you wouldn’t expect it. Again, it applies to larger locations, when the image is strange will see and for example water, greenery or visibly also the ends of the hair pay for it. Fortunately, this is not a widespread problem.

Before I get into the impressions of the game itself, I’ll stop for a moment in the menu. This is a prototype and this is how it should look. Every single graphic option, and that the developers do not skimp on them, shows in the pictures how the game will look like. With the changes, the VRAM load is also calculated for you immediately. If a strangely optimized port won’t get along with your build, know that there’s a lot of tweaking to be done here. I wish it wasn’t necessary.

In the menu we can also find other lovely boxes. A diverse choice of difficulty or extensive facilitation options for players with handicaps. Naughty Dog are revolutionary in this regard and deserve a lot of credit for it. In addition, the game does not lack Czech localization, which many will also thank.

After about three thousand characters, I finally get to the content of the game. And I can’t begin otherwise than with a story and a narrative. It is not surprising that the serial treatment also appealed to a significant part of the non-gaming audience. Even ten years after its creation, Joel and Ellie’s journey proves that games can tell original, imaginative, intimate and human stories. Naughty Dog did not slip into the cliché and presented a diverse quest, perhaps to save humanity, perhaps more humanity.

The narrative is also helped by the pace, which regularly alternates action with exploratory passages and cutscenes. In addition, in the last quarter of the game comes a revival of the gameplay, the essence of which I prefer not to reveal. Everything is artfully put together in such a way that the time spent with the two main characters passes like water and after watching the end credits you want it even more. The game will at least partially allow this within the included DLC Left Behind.

I enjoyed the event very much. She is raw and believable. If you’re well stocked, you can feel like a killing machine at times, and moments later instead of human – or rather healthy – opponents, there are a few clickers waiting for you in a small room, and you’re out of rifle rounds or molotovs.

After all, I’m not going to run at a guy with a shotgun with a club in hand.

The artificial intelligence, which is very predictable and commits fundamental underestimations of the enemy, probably deserves a slight criticism… I’m not going to run at a guy with a shotgun with a club in hand. It also manifests itself during stealth, when enemies headlessly burn behind every thrown bottle. But as far as I know, no one has yet invented a better system. After all, it’s still a game.

Weapon upgrades are just as satisfying as the combat itself. Not only will you immediately feel most of the upgrades in action, but you will also be pleased with such banalities as modification animations and changing the appearance of equipment.

At the end, I have to give a deep chuckle to the musical accompaniment and overall sound system. It completes the already burdensome atmosphere, but also an atmosphere of hope that resounds through the gloomy backdrop. As a newcomer to the series, she really blew me away.

I’m not a PlayStation owner, so this is my first and only chance to taste Naughty Dog’s masterpiece. And I have no regrets, although I wish the game was in the condition that Sony console players will experience it in. If you have a choice, don’t choose PC, if you’re like me, you might still like to argue with the technical side. Even on PC, The Last of Us Part I remains the same incredibly sophisticated, mature and, above all, fun action-adventure game – one of the best ever.