Pushing Buttons: Is The Last of Us remake really worth £70?
Indulgent, yes - but this PS5 update reminds me what a heartbreaking gamechanger the horror classic really is
I've been playing The Last of Us Part 1 this week, a PlayStation 5 remake of Naughty Dog's landmark horror classic, first released in 2013. (If you haven't played it, or the 2020 sequel: I'll be talking about them in some detail, so best to skip this section if you want to avoid spoilers.) There's been a lot of justified grumbling about whether a nine-year-old game - which has already been remastered for the PlayStation 4 - can justifiably be sold again for 70; for most players, no graphics upgrade could ever be worth that much.
People have praised Naughty Dog's dedication and attention to detail on this remake. It really does look and feel like a modern game. Personally, playing it again has made me think about how the world (and my own life) have changed in the last decade. I wasn't a parent when I first played those jaw-droppingly awful opening scenes, in which Joel's young daughter dies in the first hours of the fungal zombie pandemic that devastates the world. Now, it is difficult to bear. And after having experienced a real pandemic, the whole setup hits differently.
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