The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PC) Review – A Masterpiece Revisited

The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PC) Review

Five years down the line, there’s little new to be said about The Last of Us Part II. It’s an unassailable masterpiece of interactive storytelling. The game is a must-play for any fans of the action-adventure genre. It is also hard to imagine any gamer with an interest in narrative driven games who hasn’t played it, probably multiple times. I suppose there may be a few people coming — or returning — to the Last of Us games after watching the television series. If so, the Remastered version is perfect for them.

There were some raised eyebrows when the Remastered version appeared on PS5 last year. After all, the game’s visuals were already pretty stellar. True enough, but there was some logic in updating the game for a new console generation. For owners of the original, the $10 upgrade price was reasonable, considering the addition of new game modes, developer commentaries and other goodies. The Last of Us Part II Remaster has landed on PC, with some minor extras above and beyond the PS5 version.

A Tale as Old as Time (or at least 2020)

Just in case you’ve just crawled out from under a comfy rock (and you can blame you?), The Last of Us Part II continues the story of Joel and Ellie, opening four years after the original. The pair live a relatively stable life in Wyoming with an enclave of survivors. The pair are still haunted by the events of the first game. There’s a lot of thematic material to unpack in The Last of Us Part II’s story. Relationship drama, forgiveness, conflicting ideologies, personal identity, the costs of survival are just a few. One of the few criticisms of the game was that it went on too long and tried to cover too much.

It’s hard to fault a game for being too ambitious. Especially when the material is handled so well and production values are so high. The expansive story is paired with excellent combat, crafting and survival.  Thanks to its special features, the Remastered version reminds us of all that.

On my relatively high end PC (Ryzen 9 7950, RTX 4090, 32 GB RAM) with updated Nvidia drivers, the game hot a solid 60 fps in 4K without frame gen. In particular the game’s lighting was even more impressive than I remembered. Performance and optimization were all excellent, at least on my rig.

What’s in the Box, So to Speak

The biggest addition to the Remastered version on PS5 was a new roguelike game mode called No Return. You select one of ten characters (plus two additional characters and four new maps in the PC version) to run a multilevel randomized survival gauntlet. No Return alone was worth Remastered’s price tag and it’s just as fun on the PC. The new characters and maps will be added to the PS5 version via an update. No Return really highlight’s the game’s excellent stealth and combat mechanics without the complications of the story.

Music plays a surprisingly important role in The Last of Us Part II. There’s the incredible score, of course. Fans of playing Ellie and Joel’s virtual guitar were thrilled with the PS5’s Guitar Free Play mode. It lets players jam away on a handful of acoustic instruments, including some electric guitar effects pedals. It’s incredibly fun to mess with, even if ultimately more a novelty than a useful feature.

Aside from graphics, sound and accessibility updates, the Remastered edition includes a very entertaining and illuminating commentary track with the director and actors. Like in the PS5 version, you can play through alternative scenes and content that weren’t included in the final release.

Worth Another Buy?

With remasters, the question is always whether owners of one version should pony up for the newest iteration. Any PC gamer who doesn’t already own The Last of Us Part II on console should definitely pick this up. It still overshadows most narrative action adventure games released in the past few years. If you already have the remaster on PS5, the new content is coming your way. The Last of Us Part II Remastered on PC is a fantastic way to experience both the original game and some very worthwhile extras.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***