We return to the scene of where it started it all. Day 1 of the revenge tour on high blast, The sunny condition turns rainy as the ruins of the once “Cloud City” turns gray once again. The water waves quicker and Ellie is just getting started to do it all…. Again and again.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered on PC is sort of a no-brainer considering the closeness of the 2nd season of their hit HBO show which is blending into that game’s story, while perhaps doing its own thing, much like how its first season did. It was quite a success on console, so how does its PC version fair? Quite well, by my standards.
Greenery And Grittiness, Enhanced
If there’s one thing that Naughty Dog is good at creating and that is how flexible their proprietary engine when they switches from consoles to PC, with their track record so far for the Uncharted series and even the recent Part I version of the Last Of Us that released around this time last year, being solid ports, with help from Nixxes and even Iron Galaxy lending a hand, to create this version to be as polish as their PS counterpart.
In fact, Part II runs fairly well even on my current rig that’s using a RX580, the older gen card with 8GBs of VRAM, that it runs at a solid 30 to 40fps on the minimal requirements sans DLSS or even FSR usage, which is fine for a game that already looks good on the PS4 when I reviewed it back in 2020. The looks of the lush tall-grass providing cover for Abbey as she sneaks her way past the Scars, and how smooth the water looks as Ellie tries to find the foothold during the end of the 2nd day in Seattle. All of them convey incredible detail as the revenge plot line keeps going on.
Reload, Panic, And Go Again
One of the big selling point for this edition of the game is perhaps the Roguelite mode, No Return, where your player character gets dropped onto the level with only the stuff that you have on hand, and each level having their own twist that could help or hinder your run, which are fun distraction from the doom and gloom of the story mode. From getting to fight the Wolves as Joel, silently bow shooting to the Scars head as Ellie, and even more interesting combos that makes this mode quite fun to play.
And I do love the addition of both the lost levels and level commentary, both of which adds insight to how an action game is made, with pretty detailed explanations of the three levels that they had to cut due to it not fitting the flow of the main campaign itself. It’s nice to see them explain how the mechanics would play out and where it would be in the story.
Perhaps the biggest cut out of them all, is the events that happened before the main campaign that within the Jacksonville dance hall, of which by the looks of the trailer for the upcoming season of the TV show is going to be the highlight, and they explain the reasoning of why they made the call to scrape it. It’s fascinating stuff to see these as extras for this package.
Besides that, the story mode is still about the revenge tour headlined by both Ellie and Abby, which I still feel should have flowed better without the last part of the journey, as it being more Die Hard in spirit (I mean, if you seen Ellie’s outfit during the final part, you would think it’s a homage to that) which doesn’t really fit vibes within the Seattle levels in tone or even pacing, but that’s just me. Hopefully the TV show does it better.
Verdict![]()
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered for PC is a shining example of an incredible port that showcases the beauty within the brutality of this series. Its additional modes are also welcome distractions to the gameplay loop, with it perhaps more fun than the campaign itself.
And while the price itself feels quite ok for what you’re getting, I still recommend getting it on sale, and finishing up either the first game or the first season of the HBO show in the meantime.
Played on PC, review copy provided by PlayStation Asia.
Read our original review on the game here.