There has been a LOT of talk about The Last Of Us Part 1 ever since it was announced. Why is that? Because a lot of people were wondering what the point of this game was. After all, the main title only came out ten years ago, and we had already gotten a remaster of it for the PS4. Some even were stating that this was Naughty Dog’s attempt at a cash grab, given what happened with the sequel’s controversy and divisiveness. However, the team behind the remake has fought back, saying this release was being rebuilt from the ground up. Now, on the PlayStation Blog, they’ve gone into greater detail to showcase that.
One of the first things the team notes is that the game isn’t just a visual upgrade; it’s taking ten years of video game development progress and throwing it into the title so that it can be improved at every level. Shaun Escayg from Naughty Dog is the Creative Director of The Last Of Us Part 1, and he explained this best when he noted:
“This isn’t just the same characters, environments, art direction, etc., performing on better hardware. We completely redesigned everything from the art direction, lighting, [lighting] technology to the character designs themselves.”
So that alone showcases the large amount of work that they have been doing to try and bring the game “more to life” on the PS5 than what previous players received. The catch, though, is that this was only one part of the equation.
Because through some of these technological improvements, they were able to go and develop the world to look “even more alive” than before. Between the lighting, shading, and special effects, there is a lot more detail brought into the world, which players will explore as they move throughout the levels.
Another key “boost” the game will get is in the AI of enemy characters. Before, you could do the same things in multiple playthroughs and know they’d work. This time though, with improved AI and environmental mapping, there is much more flexibility and thus unpredictability. No two playthroughs will happen the same due to the AI not always acting like you would think they would be based on the environments they’re in. The melee system was heavily improved, too, and will play completely differently than in the previous versions.
The 3D sound features will allow you to hear sound effects better and determine where they come from. Ultimately, giving you a richer world experience.
You should read through the whole blog to see all the major changes. It’ll show you that The Last Of Us Part 1 is truly something that the team really worked hard on.
Source: PlayStation Blog
