DF Direct Weekly typically focuses on the week’s gaming and technology news, but the latest episode actually kicks off with a story we missed from seven days prior: the announcement of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered. Rumours have circled this project for months now and we’ve often wondered why Sony and Naughty Dog would embark on a remaster for a game that doesn’t need remastering – and already has 60 frames per second support for PlayStation 5. Now, everything has come into focus but is it a worthwhile endeavour?
Well, with the details we now have in terms of features and pricing, I don’t think there are any significant concerns remaining – just that perhaps that the term ‘remastered’ in the title is a little misplaced. Essentially, what we’re dealing with here is broadly equivalent to a release along the lines of Death Stranding: Director’s Cut. It’s the original game with a dash of extra content and additional visual modes that tap into the power of PlayStation 5. Yes, Sony is likely to release this with a premium price, but there’s a £10/$10 upgrade fee for owners of the original PS4 release – and of course, there’s nothing stopping anyone from procuring a used disc and upgrading from there. A free upgrade for PS5 would have been welcome, of course, but similar to Ghosts of Tsushima, there’s already a 60fps patch available that doesn’t cost anything at all.
Based on Sony’s PR, other enhancements are in line with the changes made for The Last of Us Part 1 and the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection. Primarily, The Last of Us Part 2 becomes a native PlayStation 5 app, primarily gaining access to graphics features from the RDNA2 GPU liberated from back-compat mode, along with more memory. This opens the door to a native 4K fidelity mode, higher resolution textures along with increased level of detail and animation sample rates. The kind of HDMI 2.1 features we’ve seen previously also appear, meaning that the door’s open to a 40fps fidelity mode along with unlocked VRR frame-rates. In combination with the new survival mode and ‘lost levels’ content, that’s a pretty compelling package for the upgrade fee being asked, while the game is refreshed and ready to appear on the shelves for new PlayStation 5 owners to buy.
0:00:00 Introduction and DF merch store!0:03:13 News 01: The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered announced0:17:27 News 02: Cyberpunk 2077 gets Ultimate Edition0:35:16 News 03: Xbox sales down in Europe0:53:19 News 04: Half-Life hits 25th anniversary, documentary released1:07:59 News 05: StarEngine graphics update video released1:19:30 News 06: Rich takes a PS5 ‘Slim’ out of its box!1:33:56 DF Supporter Q1: Have you checked out the Portal port for N64?1:41:59 DF Supporter Q2: I think TLOU Part 2 looks similar to path traced games, with better image clarity – what do you think?1:47:44 DF Supporter Q3: Do you worry that you emphasize top-end graphics too much in your game coverage?1:50:37 DF Supporter Q4: Is there a niche for a powerful, exclusively handheld system in today’s market?1:57:26 DF Supporter Q5: What if the new Switch was actually two consoles – a portable console and a home console?2:02:07 DF Supporter Q6: Happy Thanksgiving! Do the American expats at DF celebrate Thanksgiving in their new European homes?
What was curious was the lack of any kind of PC announcement for the project. We know that the game was leaked early, ahead of time, ruining Naughty Dog’s marketing plans – so is this an attempt to keep hold of at least one further marketing opportunity? Or was the negative reaction to The Last of Us Part 1 so potent that Sony and Naughty Dog would rather side-step that particular for now? The truth is that after months of further development, the studio did manage to get PC into shape and although still somewhat heavy on both CPU and GPU, the PC version of the sequel should launch in a good state.