The Last Of Us, as a series, rapidly rose to superstardom after its initial release back in 2023 on the now-humble PS3. Taking well-established gameplay mechanics, a uniquely bleak game world, and then bundling that together with a phenomenal story had everyone head over heels for Naughty Dog.
Some time passed and the long-awaited sequel, The Last Of Us Part 2 dropped and the fanbase was split in half. Some people loved it, some people hated it, and nearly all of them loved to whine about the other camp. Despite the backlash, the game was massively successful and helped secure a future for the series. But here’s the thing, the series is already getting a bit stale.
The reason for this is rather simple – I’ve only mentioned the mainline releases. I’ve not touched on all the other less-than-interesting things that have come in between, or what is bound to come after. The Last Of Us, as of writing, has had two unique entries, a remaster, and a full remake. If rumours are to be believed, another remaster is on the way and this time Naughty Dog is gunning for The Last Of Us Part 2.
Despite loving the series, that’s a lot of retreading of old ground. Before we get Part 3, we are very likely going to see our third remake/remaster and it’s only been 10 years. That’s a staggering amount of nothing of note to come out of a series begging for more actual content. This comes off the back of the potential limbo status of the Factions expansion that is over three years late.
Fan or not, seeing the series be milked like this doesn’t feel good. If this trickle of repetition contained even the smallest morsel of new content, I would be happier to see it. As it stands, The Last Of Us Part 2 Remastered is shining light on a series that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. There have been more remakes and remasters than fully-fledged games – and that grinds my gears something rotten.
Now, I understand why this Remaster is (likely) happening. Firstly, The Last Of Us Part 2 is a PS4 game with all the limitations of that platform. Secondly, Naughty Dog is developing a PC port for the game, so taking the enhancements from that port and then using them to help with a remaster on PS5 makes sense. Nothing is easy in the development world, but it isn’t a stretch to say that this is an obvious step without too much hassle.
Then of course you have the money. Naughty Dog is part of Sony, and Sony likes money. Why wouldn’t they? It’s money in the bank and there are more than enough fans who are ready to lap up another remaster. Plus, it’s not like Naughty Dog is a small studio.
Naughty Dog employs more than 400 people. Despite what most nay-sayers are saying, releasing a tarted-up PS5 port is not going to impact the release of Factions and it most certainly is not going to delay The Last Of Us Part 3. There will be a separate team working on the Remaster, so again, it all makes sense from a business point of view.
Heck, even from a fan viewpoint having an excuse to go back and relive the Ellie/Abby drama all over again is fine. That doesn’t stop me from wanting more though. Everything makes sense, everything is ready to go to make one, I just want to see something else. I want to take a step forward instead of another step back. There’s fatigue setting in with the series, and that shouldn’t be possible after only two games.
The Last Of Us Part 2 Remastered is not for me, but clearly, it is for some and that’s fine. People can enjoy whatever they want, but I can’t shake this niggling feeling that the series is grinding to a halt. There hasn’t been much in terms of good news from Naughty Dog as of late, and I wouldn’t class this rumour as good either. Time will tell.
That’s all we have on The Last Of Us for now. Be sure to check out our other guides, lists, and walkthroughs for more The Last Of Us content.
