I was one of a lucky few to review The Last of Us Part II in the ideal test environment—a siloed, pre-launch vacuum. You know, before the proverbial Molotov of “What X Character Did To Y” hit and an Internet culture war sparked. Pretty wild times. I watched them from afar, like Donald Glover holding multiple pizzas.
Even five years on from its PS4 debut—and this could just be a me experience—Part II still draws a wide range of takes every time I bring it up in conversation. Some critics instantly resonated with its bold, brutal musings on the cyclical nature of hate and still stand by that. I also have some mates who loathe the pacing and despise some of the narrative choices Naughty Dog made.
Part II still draws a wide range of takes every time I bring it up in conversation.
In 2020, I sat somewhere in the lower end of critical praise (if that even makes sense). Probably because I was still kinda in shock and processing my playthrough with minor PTSD. Hamstrung as I was by ND’s embargo terms, I basically warned fans that this quality third-person shooter represented a landmine that was not going to be universally loved like its predecessor. Part II was going to challenge them in a way few games ever had, just as it did me.
Furthermore, I only really knew two things for certain. One: I absolutely, utterly adored the gameplay—particularly the hyper-intense, low-resources shootin’. And two: it was clear that Part II’s creators deliberately wanted me to feel very, very ill at ease with what I was doing on-screen and, more surprisingly, who I was controlling for lonnng stretches of time.
But you know what? This is a PC release review. We can chew on the controversies a little later on if we like (and see how I feel about that as we go). What you really want to know is if this is The Best Looking / Running Version of a game we can probably all universally agree was a visual revelation at launch. Frankly, it still is in many ways.
There’s also a (lower and possibly TV series-related) chance that some of you are coming to this with no knowledge of what this sequel is and so need the following spoiler-free synopsis. Five years have passed since Ellie and Joel navigated the dangers of a post-pandemic America. Now, they’ve found refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, where a close-knit survivor community offers a rare sense of stability. But their fragile peace is shattered by a sudden act of violence, which will set you off on the bloodiest pan-American road trip imaginable.
the bloodiest pan-American road trip imaginable.
As for eye candy, I’ll start by rolling out my two cents as the owner of a Super Ultrawide screen. Part II running at 4K 120fps with a huge increase in peripheral real estate looks, feels, and runs simply phenomenal. Even if you own this game and are happily running it on a PS5 Pro, I would honestly buy this version just to tackle it with those blinkers pulled right the hell back.
Those of you paying attention will already know that this is pretty much a standard feature in virtually every PS4/PS5-to-PC port. However, in most of those titles, 32:9 often feels kind of shoehorned in as a nice to have. A monitor flex for when friends come around.
Conversely, having the peripheral vision of a fish in a high-stakes game such as this is an absolute and repeated lifesaver. As returning fans will know, when the defecation hits the oscillation in Part II, cover-hopping and flank-savvy AI is what’s on the menu. Having a decent pair of 3D-spatial headphones = good life insurance. Having those and a shitload of screen space to spot a velociraptor-esque mutant squeezing in from Extreme Stage Left = long life guaranteed.
Beyond that, there aren’t too many unexpected enhancements. Full DualSense controller integration can be yours if you wire that sucker up. The game’s already extensive accessibility features now also include Descriptive Audio and Speech to Vibrations. PSN network linkage will also net PC players a mighty sweet jacket from ND’s forthcoming title Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
In terms of my personal testbed, I was slightly above the “Very High / 4K 60+” specs and had a mostly great experience (unlike the trainwreck that was The Last of Us Part I). Those specs, for the record, were: Intel Core i7-11700, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, and 32GB of RAM.
You should also know that this port offers performance enhancing technologies including NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3.1, and AMD FSR 4.0 with upscaling and frame generation. with Intel XeSS also
being available.
Even though I replayed this game quite recently on my PS5 Pro, the opening cinematic of Joel’s weathered hands tinkering with a guitar always strikes me with how sharply detailed and gorgeous this game is. The micro is amazing, and it sure doesn’t take ND long to show off the macro detail either. Hell, I crested that sun-drenched prairie overlooking Jackson feeling like it was the first time instead of the twelfth. (Truly whistle-worthy stuff on the right hardware.)
I crested that sun-drenched prairie overlooking Jackson feeling like it was the first time instead of the twelfth.
Returning fans will know that sharp texture detail, incredible lighting, and commanding vistas are only the beginning of what this engine can do. The incredible fluidity of animations—thanks to the MotionMatching technique—lends this game a real-life eeriness that few games can compete with, even half a decade later.
I’m happy to report that nothing has gone awry in that department of physics. Ellie and co. still move with uncanny grace while delivering the most awful ultra-violence imaginable. None of the weird and vaguely comedic bugs I encountered in Part I reared their heads.
Frankly, the gameplay was flawless except for one moment that made my heart drop. This sequel stepped up over its forebear by including Uncharted 4-style “mini sandbox” areas that encourage much more freeform exploration. When I crossed the invisible threshold into the first one of these in Seattle, my screen froze for a full 30 seconds in some sort of non-telegraphed buffering moment.
Fortunately, after a bunch of hotfixes and some chapter reloading of that very same area, it looks like it was a freak occurrence.
As I said, everything else that made this sequel great got dispensed to me with next to no fuss. For starters, I was mighty impressed by how flawlessly those bespoke action setpiece moments fold in over regular gameplay. You know, on-rails, shooting gallery stuff that steps on the accelerator, ups the on-screen body bodycount, and sprinkles in ‘splosions aplenty. All gorgeous. All smoothly deployed.
Likewise, I didn’t see any hitches on the other end of the spectrum—doing stealth-until-I’m-spotted crawls through forests teeming with reactive foliage and creepy, whistle-language weirdos. Or worse—horrific new breeds of mushie-infected mutants. Nothing was out of place, and, thanks to exceptional AI, no fight felt the same (even though it must now be my dozenth attempt).
doing stealth-until-I’m-spotted crawls through forests teeming with reactive foliage and creepy, whistle-language weirdos.
I should really take some time here to stress to any PC newcomers just how brilliant (and somehow still unbeaten) the action is in this five-year-old title. Firstly, this is survival horror stuff where every bullet and shred of crafting material matters, and sneaking with your head on a swivel is imperative. Secondly, it’s capital B brutal thanks to lifelike enemy chatter, horrific death animations, and uncommonly meat-tastic damage modelling.
Even better, this version has all of the Remastered content, including the bespoke and brilliant rogue-like challenge mode. Frankly, I think it’s visceral and replayable enough to warrant a purchase just on its own. I’ve had many an addictive score-war through it with mates. Seriously, even if you didn’t jam with the plot of the main campaign, this will keep you well amused for double digits.
At the end of the day (and possibly us), The Last of Us Part II stands as one of PlayStation’s high-end and impressive PC ports. Given how up and down some of these have been—and I’m looking at you, Spidey 2—the trepidation about this is warranted. That said, a distinct degree of love seems to be lavished upon what is a uniquely love-it-or-hate-it sequel, which I, personally, still think is a gameplay and visuals tour de force at the very least.
