The Last of US Part II remasterisé : des améliorations subtiles mais remarquables

What are the advantages of a video game when it is adapted for a console on which it was not originally released? Often, it is smoother, and sometimes it is more beautiful. This is theoretically the case for “The Last of Us Part II,” whose “Remastered” version will be released on Friday, January 19 on PlayStation 5, exclusively.

Originally, this sequel to the classic “The Last of Us” – a first opus that has recently become a prestigious TV series – was released on PlayStation 4. It was in June 2020.

The PS5 only arrived on the market a few months later, in November of the same year. But, since PS4 games are compatible with the new system, they immediately ran smoothly on it. “The Last of US Part II” was no exception. And when, in 2001, the “fluidity” mode at 60 frames per second was unlocked, the same game ran a little better on the PS5 than on the PS4. The “Remastered” version is a little more ambitious.

So we installed this version wondering mainly what the intensity of this overhaul would be. It costs 50 francs if it is a first purchase and 10 francs if a version for the PS4 has already been purchased.

However, we had to widen our eyes to see very slight differences. Not that there are none, not that the studio didn’t do a lot of work, but they didn’t just jump out at us. This was after alternating a sequence of a PS4 version and the same sequence in the PS5 version on the same console and the same 4K screen. Sony mentions improvements to texture resolution, distance viewing, level of detail, shadow quality, animation sampling rate, and “much more.”

If we had run the game in parallel on two identical screens and two PS5s and played the seven mistakes game, we would have seen, for example, that in the PS4 version, the foliage became slightly denser as you got closer. Not at all with the PS5 version. An improvement that had completely escaped us while alternating. In short, we believe that a gamer who has already played “The Last of Us Part II” will feel like they are playing a remarkably well-made game, which undoubtedly looks very beautiful, but without being able to precisely identify the improvements of the PS5 version.

Another proclaimed novelty, the PS5 version now handles the haptic feedback of the DualSense controller, the gamepad exclusive to the PS5. They produce new resistance effects via the triggers, and more subtle vibrations are present, but once again, we are a very bad customer: we have integrated these new sensations so much with other games that we don’t really feel them anymore. It’s a bit like 3D at the movies with glasses – the first times it seemed obvious, but now it seems uninteresting.

The last difference between the PS5 and PS4 version is that Naughty Dogs introduced various bonuses, including a new game mode alongside the campaign: a “rogue-like” survival mode. Basically, it offers to relive key action sequences extracted from the campaign: as long as you overcome the tests, you progress, and if not, you start over. Fans of this type of competition will find something for them, given the high expertise of the Naughty Dogs studio. However, in this case, the narrative aspect of the game takes a back seat. Indeed, “The Last of US Part II” is and remains primarily a narrative game.

This is why we highly recommend this “Remastered” version to people who have not yet experienced an extraordinary campaign that has not been afraid to go against the grain. Its price, for a triple A title that hasn’t aged a day, has dropped.

It’s a bit more complicated for those who have already played the game, as the sensation of improvement may seem subjective. In short, you have to have enjoyed the campaign enough to want to return to it and convince yourself that the game is more beautiful. In that case, it will work, and paying 10 francs for the update should not be a problem.

However, if your PS5 is still connected to a 1080-line HD TV (and not 4K), the slightly improved PS4 version for the PS5 in 2001 is enough.