
The quality here is exceptional and nearly brings Part 1 in line with its 2020 sequel. Changes to faces can be subjective, but the increase in detail, photorealism, movement, and sheer fidelity cannot be argued. Some characters have also been redesigned from scratch, with Tess standing out as a drastic shift from the original. The animation and bone rigs of faces have also been improved with significantly better vowel forming of mouths and a wider emotive set of facial expressions. This is the single biggest leap from either of the previous two editions, and many of the models are the ones we saw in the sequel. Many new rendering techniques have helped bring The Last of Us up to date, such as the oil painting-like materials in the world, impeccable character models, and skin rendering complete with movie-level physically-based shading. Today we’ll be digging into the improvements in the new version, the performance modes available, and how everything looks and plays compared to the original version. This reinvigorated PS5 version has benefited greatly – but it is not a case of simply porting things over, as this is likely based on the PlayStation 4 Remastered code, which has been updated with the latest rendering technology within the updated Sequel’s engine.


What has changed is the experience, thanks to the updated Naughty Dog engine that powered the sequel. The story of Joel and Ellie needs no introduction, and nothing has changed here on that front.
