Ten years. That is how long we’ve been arguing about Joel Miller and a little girl named Ellie. It feels longer. Honestly, it feels like a lifetime has passed since Naughty Dog first dropped that somber acoustic guitar track and changed how we talk about narrative in games. If you’re looking at The Last of Us Part I Remastered—which, let's be real, is a confusing name considering we have the original, the PS4 Remaster, and the PS5 "Part I" remake—you might be wondering if we’re just buying the same emotional trauma over and over again.
We are.
But there’s a reason for it. This isn't just about pixels or the way the light hits a broken window in a Boston skyscraper. It's about the fact that Naughty Dog managed to capture a very specific type of desperation that most games are too scared to touch. Most "apocalypse" games want you to feel like a badass. They want you to loot, craft, and conquer. The Last of Us Part I Remastered doesn't care about your power fantasy. It wants you to feel tired. It wants you to feel the weight of every brick you throw and every shiv you break in a Clicker’s neck.
The Confusion Over Versions is Real
Let’s clear the air immediately because the naming convention is a total mess. You have the 2013 original on PS3. Then you had the 2014 "Remastered" version on PS4. Then, in 2022, they released the ground-up remake for PS5 called "Part I." When people talk about The Last of Us Part I Remastered today, they are usually referring to the definitive PS5/PC experience that brought the first game up to the technical standards of Part II.
If you are playing the 2014 PS4 version on a modern console, you’re seeing a great game, but you're missing the soul of the "Remake" era. The 2022/2026-era version isn't just a resolution bump. It’s a total overhaul of the AI. Remember how Ellie used to run right in front of hunters in the original game and they’d just ignore her because she was "invisible" to the AI code? That’s mostly gone now. The enemies coordinate. They flank. They sound genuinely terrified when you start picking them off one by one.
Why the Gameplay Loop Still Holds Up
The combat is crunchy. That’s the best word for it. It’s tactile. When Joel hits someone with a lead pipe, you feel the vibration in the DualSense controller in a way that makes you wince. It’s not "fun" in the way Mario is fun. It’s satisfying in a grim, survivalist way.
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You’ve got such limited resources. It’s actually kind of stressful. One rag. One bottle of alcohol. Do you make a health kit or a Molotov? That’s the core tension. If you choose the Molotov, you’re betting that you won't get hit. If you get hit, you’re dead. There is no middle ground on the higher difficulties like Grounded. Grounded mode is basically a horror game. You have no HUD. You have no "listen mode" to see through walls. You have about three bullets and a dream.
The AI Change Nobody Talks About
Everyone talks about the graphics. Sure, the grass looks better. The water ripples. Fine. But the real star of the "Part I" era is the Motion Matching technology. In the original 2013/2014 versions, animations were somewhat "canned." You’d press a button, and Joel would play a "punch" animation.
Now? The animations flow into each other based on the environment. If Joel is near a wall, his struggle with an enemy will involve the wall. If he’s on a staircase, the physics change. It makes the violence feel less like a video game and more like a scene from Children of Men or The Road. It’s disturbing. It’s supposed to be.
The Narrative Weight of Joel and Ellie
The story hasn't changed a bit, and yet, it feels different every time you play it as you get older. When I first played this, I saw it as a cool action-adventure story. Playing it now, especially with the fidelity of the Remastered/Remake faces? It’s a tragedy about grief and the terrible things we do for love.
The facial animations in the modern version are based on the original performances by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, but the tech finally catches up to the subtlety. You can see the micro-expressions. You can see the moment Joel’s heart breaks, or the moment Ellie loses her innocence after the David encounter in the winter chapter. That chapter, by the way, is still the best-paced segment in gaming history. The shift from the frantic mall flashback in Left Behind to the snowy, silent terror of the lake resort is masterful.
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Is it worth it on PC?
The PC port had a rocky start. "Rocky" is being generous—it was a disaster at launch with shaders taking three hours to compile and vram leaks everywhere. But by 2026, the patches have mostly smoothed things out. If you have a rig that can handle it, the ultra-wide support makes the game feel incredibly cinematic.
However, be warned: this game eats VRAM for breakfast. If you're trying to run this on an older 8GB card at 4K, you're going to have a bad time. You really need 12GB or more to see the textures as they were intended.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Ending
People still argue about whether Joel was right. That’s the genius of the writing by Neil Druckmann and the team. There is no "right" answer. The Fireflies were desperate and arguably incompetent. Joel was selfish and arguably a monster. The game doesn't give you a choice because it isn't your story—it’s Joel’s.
The "Remastered" experience enhances this because you’re so much more connected to the characters through the improved visuals. When you reach that hospital in Salt Lake City, the atmosphere is suffocating. The lighting is sterile and haunting. You aren't just playing a level; you're committing to a character's Choice with a capital C.
Comparing the Versions at a Glance
If you’re standing in a shop or looking at the PlayStation Store, here is how to actually tell them apart:
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- The Last of Us Remastered (PS4): This is the 1080p/60fps version of the original game. It looks dated now, but it’s cheap. It includes the multiplayer mode, Factions.
- The Last of Us Part I (PS5/PC): This is the one you want for the "best" experience. Better AI, better graphics, no loading screens. Note: It does NOT have the Factions multiplayer. This is a huge sticking point for long-time fans.
- The HBO Show Connection: If you came from the show, the Part I version is designed to match the aesthetic of the series. The character models look more like their "real" selves, though Joel still looks like Joel, not Pedro Pascal.
Practical Steps for Your Next Playthrough
If you’re diving into The Last of Us Part I Remastered, don't just blast through it on Normal. You’ll miss the point.
- Turn off the HUD. Go into the settings and minimize the on-screen clutter. It makes the world feel much more immersive.
- Play with a headset. The 3D audio in the remake is terrifying. Hearing a Stalker scuttle behind a crate in your left ear will change how you play.
- Explore the corners. The environmental storytelling—the notes left behind by people who didn't make it—is where the real world-building happens. The story of Ish in the sewers is better than most full games' entire plots.
- Check the Accessibility options. Seriously. Naughty Dog leads the industry here. Whether you have visual impairments or just want to tweak the game to be less stressful, the options are incredibly deep. You can even turn on a setting that plays haptic feedback on the controller to "feel" how lines are spoken.
The game isn't perfect. The "ladder and plank" puzzles are still a bit repetitive, and the lack of the Factions multiplayer in the modern version is a genuine loss. But as a piece of interactive fiction, it remains the gold standard. It’s a grim, beautiful, exhausting journey that reminds us that in the end, we are all just trying to find something to fight for.
Go back and play the Winter chapter. Even if you've done it five times. In the updated engine, with the wind howling and the snow sticking to Ellie’s coat, it hits just as hard as it did in 2013. Maybe harder.
To get the most out of your experience, start your game on "Hard" or "Survivor" difficulty. The tension of having only two bullets makes every encounter a puzzle rather than a shooting gallery. Once you finish the main story, immediately jump into the Left Behind prequel chapter; the transition between the two is much more seamless in this version than in the original releases. If you’re on PC, ensure your drivers are updated to the latest 2026 builds to avoid the lingering shader cache issues that plagued earlier versions.