Last Of Us - 2022 Remake (careful with spoilers Plz)

[Petrousgyre]

1 hour ago, Benny said:

From just a film making perspective, both scenes would convey a different feeling in terms of their visual feedback

If this were a film the camera wouldn’t violently judder when a door opened unless you imagine he’s generating so much force that the resulting wind is buffeting the cameraman or maybe causing the building to shake to such an extent that they’re unsteady on their feet. It looks silly and stood out to me as completely overcooked in the original game, not at all surprising they’ve changed to a more realistic camera in this remake. 

[dataDave]

It's not a film though, it's a game. Kicking something in and having the screen violently shake definitely provides more feedback when you're somewhat in control of the action.

 

All these little things will add up. If they're striving for something even more cinematic than before you can be assured the player engagement will suffer because of it. That door kicking comparison is annoying me and I'm not even a fan of the game.

[Mystacon]

2 hours ago, dataDave said:

All these little things will add up.

No they won’t. And looking at the current review scores, they haven’t.

[Shimmyhill]

The DF tech review is properly good, Im far more tempted to pick it up and have another play thru…. For a game i really didnt like for the longest time thats madness but I did love my lockdown play through in the end.

[Sumire]

Tempting, but I personally have played this game (well, other iterations) twice already. 

I can wait...I think.

[Kevvy Metal]

I’ve finished it at least 4 times already. It’s incredible and one of my absolute favourite games so obviously I’m going to rinse this. Prob shoot for the Plat to go along with the one I got for part 2. 
 

I’ve also bought Resi 4 on 7 platforms and finished it over 10 times, so I’m into replaying and re-buying favourites. 

[Kevvy Metal]

9 hours ago, dataDave said:

It's not a film though, it's a game. Kicking something in and having the screen violently shake definitely provides more feedback when you're somewhat in control of the action.

 

All these little things will add up. If they're striving for something even more cinematic than before you can be assured the player engagement will suffer because of it. That door kicking comparison is annoying me and I'm not even a fan of the game.

Watch this - 

 

It gives things actual context. 

[mexos]

It looks good and I will get it but

 

Seeing that gameplay sequence just before you get to bill’s. With the school buses. I dunno. It made me pause. I’ve got stuck on that bit so many times. Do I really want to play it through again? Which made me think of the whole thing. Level design is exactly the same. You know it all back to front. You just played 2 again recently for the 5th time. Take a break. 

 

I was day one but I think now I’m going to wait and hope it gets discounted quickly.

 

 

[Mr.Crowley]

Digital Foundry has sold me on this, I'll buy it when it's around £40.

[SuperCapes]

I have ordered this, will smash it in a couple of days and likely sell it on for those wanting some sort of discount. Not into collecting PS games, but now that I have a Disc PS5 I can buy and then resell rather than just buying everything digitally for £69.99!

 

I cannot wait for the intro to be honest. From what I have seen, it looks real good! 

 

[Capwn]

 This game reeeeeally isn't about 'us' (those who have played the original). It's about the millions who are about to play it over the next few years when they hear about LastOfUs for the first time through the HBO show. I'm glad those people will have the opportunity to play this one because yeah, after watching the full DF video, the Remaster HAS dated quite a bit. 

 

It's also a really smart long term business decision. I don't think it will do well out of the gates but over time, even at a reduced price, Sony stand to make much more. Even if only 50% of this new fanbase buy the remake over the remaster, that's huge, especially with the remaster being next to nothing (or free for those with PSN subs).

[Down by Law]

Every ps+ subscriber with a PS5 has access to Remastered free - and it's no bare bones effort, it runs at 4K and over the years it has been given full HDR support, support for modern displays, and the multiplayer still is popular and easy to get a game. It's not like say Max Payne 3 which is still locked in the PS360 era that would have benefitted enormously from a PS4 era version, nevermind a PS5 one. 

 

I would have rather they waited another 5 years or so and have done a proper from the ground up remake, taking full advantage of the massively enhanced movement of the sequel with redesigned enemy encounters to take advantage of the larger toolset the player has. 

 

This is just a pretty paint job with some admittedly good AI improvements but in the larger scheme of things is that really deserving enough for one of the greatest games of all time? 

[Flanders]

I do think it’s worth noting that Naughty Dog seem to like making and releasing games fairly frequently relative to a lot of their peers at the top of the AAA space - I think the biggest gap between any Naughty Dog release in their entire history is Lost Legacy to Last of Us 2 and that still came in under three years. 
 

I would imagine they feel this approach - filling the gaps between their big releases with stuff like Left Behind, Lost Legacy and the remakes - helps them keep iterating their processes and design to maintain their big titles at the cutting edge, and you can see how that pays off in something like The Last of Us 2. Doing the remake makes perfect sense in this context, it’s just that Sony have been dumb with the pricing, even cutting it to £50 would have silenced most complaints I reckon.
 

 

[Kevvy Metal]

1 hour ago, Flanders said:

I do think it’s worth noting that Naughty Dog seem to like making and releasing games fairly frequently relative to a lot of their peers at the top of the AAA space - I think the biggest gap between any Naughty Dog release in their entire history is Lost Legacy to Last of Us 2 and that still came in under three years. 
 

I would imagine they feel this approach - filling the gaps between their big releases with stuff like Left Behind, Lost Legacy and the remakes - helps them keep iterating their processes and design to maintain their big titles at the cutting edge, and you can see how that pays off in something like The Last of Us 2. Doing the remake makes perfect sense in this context, it’s just that Sony have been dumb with the pricing, even cutting it to £50 would have silenced most complaints I reckon.
 

 

 

Around the time of the original The Last Of US Remaster, Eurogamer and Digital Fourdry got a lot of extensive interviews and insights including how Naughty Dog manage their production pipe-line. 

When one game is in pre-production with that section of the company working on prototyping, design and pre-vis the main bulk of the company is working in production for the latest game they're developing. Sometimes this doesn't all line-up so they work on a project like the Remaster so they can also get to grips with engine development for a new system. 

UC4/The Lost Legacy Remaster and The Last of Us part 1 are basically this while they're in pre-production for the next thing. They're not a live service company so their keeping the work-force busy with a project like this. Also the production pipeline will basically be the same as Part 2. So all those environment artists still have a job to do. 

It's good, it's clever and it's so much better than the post-project exodus that often happens at games studios. Talent remains and we get new-old games. Unless you're not interested in it then you don't have to buy it. 

 

Basically this notion of "why are they working on this and not a new game?" is fucking dumb, stop it they are. 

[NecroMorrius]

Most multi-game studios work this way, it's very difficult for large teams to all work on the same thing at once as the project goes through different stages.

[dataDave]

7 hours ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Watch this - 

 

It gives things actual context. 

 

It looks miles better.

 

When is this out on the PC? I might give it another try. The last time I attempted Remastered it was immediately following a Bloodborne Platinum run back when that launched, so that’s not exactly an easy act to follow. Maybe I was too tough on it at the time.

[Garibaldi]

This reminds me a bit of when George Lucas re-released the Star Wars films. I say a bit because obviously this is nowhere near that level of misjudgement, but watching the clips I do find myself saying ‘yep. Yep, that looks good. That looks better. What? Why change that?’ 
 

Mostly it comes down to the new facial animation. It’s like Naughty Dog have gone a bit giddy with it and wiped out some of the grim stoicism of characters in the original. For example, the scene with Joel and Tess when they get to the capital building. In the original she was taut and aggressive about the way things went, but also perilously close to breaking down. Now it’s more ‘sad face.’ 

[Hitcher]

5 hours ago, Capwn said:

This game reeeeeally isn't about 'us' (those who have played the original). It's about the millions who are about to play it over the next few years when they hear about LastOfUs for the first time through the HBO show.

Next to no-one is buying a PS5 to play it after watching the show.

[Sarlaccfood]

 

[JoeK]

Just watching a run through of the opening section. Ignoring the graphics for a moment, that 'bit' just before the title rolls in still hits me in the gut more than anything I've seen in the medium I think.

 

It's such a good opening bit. Possibly the best opening to a game ever.

 

You've really got to be in the mood to go through the whole game though. Although I think LoU2 left me more depressed and drained. I have no intention of replaying that one any time soon  

[Strafe]

I’ve put a couple of hours in now and can confirm the graphics are ridiculous (in a good way)

 

So far there doesn’t seem to be much in it on fidelity vs performance, resolution wise the latter being better to play, the former looking a tad better when not in motion, I guess.

I don’t have a VRR TV but the fidelity mode is still 40fps and looks a tad off in a way I can’t really describe.

[Strafe]

So far, no surprises obviously but the new visuals do really hide that the game is 9 years old. It looks less boxy, more organic/dirty.

 

The speech to dual sense vibration is quite cool but I’m not leaving it on.

[Strafe]

3D audio is superb also btw.

[kempstar]

If anyone wants the digital version, you can buy two £35 PSN cards from Instant Gaming for £58.84.

[PaB]

Played about an hour . Was a bit concerned as it was downloading if I had made the right choice dropping £70 on a game I have completed 3 times. Within about 5 minutes all fears were allayed. It’s magnificent. It looks incredible , sound is superb and, well, it’s the best version of my favourite game of all time. Happy days .

[Vemsie]

Played up to the scene 

Spoiler

in which you're hanging upside down

on Grounded.

Despite the gameplay and level design improvements in 2 it still plays really well, especially with the much smoother animation and improved AI. I totally get why it's too expensive for many - it's essentially the same game after all - but as I hadn't played the first since its release in 2013 it feels like a new game for me. And it certainly looks like one, damn. Started watching the DF analysis and yeah, the improvements are massive. Incredible sound design too.

As far as haptics go it doesn't touch Returnal though, but what does?

[Kevvy Metal]

My biggest concern is, will I not want to immediately replay part 2 again once finished and are they likely to deploy an upgrade to that any time soon!

[Strafe]

I was very cynical about this but having put about 4-5 hours in I’m very happy indeed. The attention to detail is bonkers, my only complaint being that I saw some ivy that had flat paper thin, flat models at one point (though I noted that other bits of ivy was curled and not flat, take that digital foundry).

 

No plot spoilers but things I’ve experienced that really impressed me

 

Spoiler

Dual sense vibrations with thunder claps and rumbles!

 

3D audio of rain falling on a metal roof above you.

 

New death animations - a bloated squeezed and tore my face open. Harrowing. Might not be new but I hadn’t seen it myself.

 

Blowing a clicker in two with a nail bomb only for the torso and arms to come crawling across the ground at me. Also might not be new.

 

The way people’s faces go blue and contort when you strangle them. 

Watching Boston in the distance and seeing lights moving around.

 

Algae/pond scum on the surface of stagnant water moving around as you wade through it.

 

The spores floating around looking really creepy.

 

[makkuwata]

 

More.

[Triple A]

Not big on those GIFs personally - feels a bit try hard.  Anyway, I've put about an hour into this now and I'm liking it - great job overall.

 

The 

Spoiler

end of the prologue

still hits really hard, I dare say even more than before, thanks to the extra touches to facial animation and other graphics details.

 

Although I'm finding some of the character models (faces etc.) not looking quite in the spirit of the original, or at least per how my mind's eye perceived things.  Some of the character model changes are OK, some are missing a trick or two.  Some of the DNA is lost.

It was inevitable of course, following art team members changing, etc.  Reminds me of what happened with the faces/character models in the FFX|X-2 HD Remaster.

 

Other changes though, to environments in particular, are really nicely done.