Summary
The Last of Us’ popularity isn’t surprising due to its quality, but it is surprising due to how there have only been two games thus far in its franchise, and how both came out with almost a decade between each other. It doesn’t seem as if there have only beentwoThe Last of Usinstallments, though, and that’s because fans have been made to anticipate a new remaster ofThe Last of Usin every console generation since it was released. The latest iteration of that premise was an actual remake, updating its graphics and performance to that of PS5 quality, and it now looks similar toThe Last of Us Part 2.
Indeed,The Last of Us Part 2is way ahead of the original in terms of graphical fidelity and technical performance, and that’s largely a result of how much console hardware has advanced since the PS3. Either way, fans have now had every opportunity available to play the originalThe Last of Us, whether that was on PS3, PS4, or PS5. If a recent developer leak is to be believed,The Last of Us Part 2is now also apparently being given its own remaster, which may be even harder for Naughty Dog to justify and might be the last straw in terms of fans growing weary regardingThe Last of Us’ regurgitated nature.
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The Last of Us Part 2’s Leaked Remaster May Be the Last Straw
The Last of Us’ remakewas a hot point of discourse when it was officially announced. There were many fans who argued how littleThe Last of Usactually needed a remake, citing previous remasters as already updating the game as much as it needed to be.
The remake obviously looks better concerning hyperrealism, but aside from visuals, it felt like there wasn’t anything that could be updated that would make logical sense of it being repackaged and sold to players once again because that’s essentially what was happening.The Last of Usis still incredibly beloved and has a ton of potential as a franchise, but fans haven’t really been able to see Naughty Dog explore it yet aside from perennially re-releasing the same game with a new coat of paint.
That’s whyThe Last of Us Part 2’s potential remaster is even more unfortunate—the sequel was only released three years ago and while it could arguably be improved with a remaster exclusive to PS5, fans would be paying for a remaster that the original already makes obsolete. IfNaughty Dogcontinues to value re-releases and not new experiences, it could end up hurting the fanbase.
The Last of Us Won’t Be Able to Hide Behind Another Remaster/Remake Until PS6
The only true advantage of Naughty Dog releasing a remake forThe Last of Us Part 2would be that once it is out, the developer would have nothing more from the IP to shield itself with until the next PlayStation console. It can be expected now that Naughty Dog and PlayStation will try to regurgitate the IP every console generation, and without anything else to remaster or remake, it would hopefully pigeonhole Naughty Dog into creating new content instead.
Of course, Naughty Dog does have astandalone multiplayer spin-off forThe Last of Usin development and that would have been a great way to tide fans over while aPart 3or other spin-off was also in the works, but now that it’s reportedly “on ice” it is likely not going to be heard of again for quite some time. Meanwhile, it’s unclear if Naughty Dog had always planned to remasterThe Last of Us Part 2, if that’s indeed true at all, but the developer has already set a precedent fans are unhappy with.
A remaster ofThe Last of Us Part 2is rumored to be in development.
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