Sony has shared its main exclusive with PC gamers – The last of us. The network even appeared a natural joke: “thanks for the beta test“. But in fact, computer players became beta testers – a Japanese company released a technically disgusting and very outdated port from the point of view of game design, which is difficult to enjoy. Against the background of the recent release of the remake Resident Evil 4 PC version of The Last of Us Part 1 came out so badly that it got a ton of negative reviews on Steam. We couldn’t stand aside and decided to find out if the PC port of the cult Sony exclusive is that bad.
Problem one: depressing technical performance
Even before the release of the PC port of The Last of Us, there were serious concerns about final quality. It’s all about the studio Naughty Dog chose to work on the port. We’re talking about Iron Galaxy, the authors of the disgusting PC port Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection. These guys don’t know how to work with console control optimization and customization for keyboard and mouse.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection ran more or less decently on relatively average hardware. Yes, with minor flaws and problems on old processors and incredibly bad adaptation of the sticks to the mouse. But at least the game gave a stable FPS. A little later, all problems were solved with patches. Only this did not save the PC port from a resounding failure and swift oblivion on Steam. Why did Sony and Naughty Dog re-give The Last of Us to such clumsy craftsmen? After all, there is Jetpack Interactive, which is perfectly ported to computers God of War, and they certainly wouldn’t mess it up. On the other hand, the authors Days Gone and Horizon Zero Dawn has transferred their creations to PCs completely independently. Naughty Dog didn’t ban it either.
The PC port of The Last of Us Part 1 remake looks like an attempt to emulate the original PS5 game for an incredible variety of computer hardware. The game does not produce super realistic graphics and does not have breakthrough lighting technologies with dimming – a standard game with a picture that is normal by 2023 standards. But then why does the PC port have such high system requirements: 32 GB RAM, 12 GB video memory and an ultra-fast SSD? This is The Last of Us – a story-driven adventure with gut-wrenching locations. It has no open world, heaps of game logic and countless different mechanics. At the same time, the port eats RAM with a big hole spoon, memory leaks are a regular occurrence.
The PC port authors took the trouble to optimize the stream only after release, and the second patch, according to Iron Galaxy, should fix the issues. Another optimization problem associated with RAM is loading the game logic. We tested the game on fairly powerful PCs with 32 GB, but The Last of Us port, even with a stable 90-100 FPS on the counter, constantly crashed when switching to the next script or arena with opponents.
Small freezes and glitches occur constantly, but are not shown on the FPS counter. That is, the problem is not in the hardware configuration, but in the code itself of the ported game. For an open-world project, such errors at release are acceptable, but in a story-driven game, they are not. Funny, but even Cyberpunk 2077 did not freeze at all on release and the cutscenes played correctly.
It is especially funny that after starting the game you still have to wait for the shaders to be compiled – and only then start the gameplay. If the shader compilation is recent Atomic Heart we had to wait about 2-5 minutes, The Last of Us lasted more than an hour. Steam users are still reporting two or more hours. At the same time, the game tortures your processor, loading it as if you were editing a 4K video and simultaneously passing a stress test in a benchmark. Not surprisingly, The Last of Us crashed for many players during compilation, forcing them to start the process all over again.
Before release, based on the stated system requirements, we expected stunning graphics and incredible progress compared to the PS5. But alas, the PC port of The Last of Us isn’t that far from the console version. On both PS5 and PC, NPCs look washed out, textures fade from a distance, and lighting is worse than other Sony exclusives. The “console soap” joke is no longer a joke, as this infection has moved to the PC. Gamers with RTX 20 series graphics cards have the option to enable DLSS, but it is better not to do this, endure a stable 30 frames per second. DLSS and FSR change “PS5 soap graphics” to “PS3 soap”.
There are also questions about optimizing for different resolutions. On FullHD there are “ladders” everywhere, the characters have obnoxious hair, bugs with textures. Saves not even rotated to the maximum anti-aliasing. The game looks better in 4K, but not everyone has the right monitor and graphics card that can produce a juicy image at ultra-high resolution. Someone may remember that the remake was developed for the PS5, which itself appears to run in 4K. But there is an unpleasant nuance here – who said that the modern Sony console produces true 4K resolution?
The PC port is also very erratic and asks for new drivers. Whenever you launch The Last of Us, you are warned that all performance issues are related to old video card drivers. We hasten to dispel this myth: drivers, of course, improve the performance associated with the graphics chip and affect the FPS value, but they will not save you from lags and freezes.
Also, the PC does not have a dedicated SSD installed in the PS5, which means that The Last of Us takes a very long time to load. And if you have a normal hard drive, the download can take up to five minutes. But even from an M2 disc, the game takes a long time to load. We timed it – it took about 55 seconds. By the way, the recent Resident Evil 4 loads instantly and draws more objects than the Naughty Dog project.
With keyboard and mouse controls, it’s even worse. Abrupt movements cause the camera to vibrate and immediately cause a prolag in the gameplay. It becomes uncomfortable to play. The forums advise using a gamepad, but let’s face it, we were waiting for the PC port to post headshots, and not be bothered with analog stick aiming again.
All hints and operating tips are from the PS5. Iron Galaxy didn’t bother to rewrite the text and just changed the gamepad buttons to PC peripherals. You are waiting for advice with the following wording: “let WASD deflect weakly to move quieter.”
Finally, visual bugs. Hair issues, skewed lighting, flying NPCs, a black Joel and a bunch of glitches that weren’t in the original PS5 version. From the funniest: Tommy flew out of the car in the first cutscene, the main character’s daughter lay in a T position until the end of the video, and in the scene with Ellie and Marlene, water poured out of all the characters, as if they were in the rain stood.
Have you been waiting for the PC version of The Last of Us?
Problem two: bad timing for release
I also want to note that Sony did not choose the best time for the release. Against the backdrop of an excellent Resident Evil 4 remake, the Naughty Dog project looks downright lame. Although we love The Last of Us and have played the game multiple times on PS3, PS4 and PS5.
When it was released on PS5, The Last of Us remake didn’t feel like a remake, but rather a proper remaster. The game design of the original game is outdated and after the second part you don’t want to play part 1 at all. Check out the recent release of Resident Evil 4 – Capcom completely rebuilt the game. I’ve reworked the gameplay, changed the locations, expanded the possibilities – I’ve made the remake so that it encourages you to play it non-stop. While in The Last of Us the character animations look wooden, the shooting is clumsy and the action lacks dynamism. Aiming with the mouse turns the game into a shooting range and you can have fun only on the “realistic” difficulty setting. However, it has no interface and the resources are barely enough to survive.
The Last of Us would have been great if it weren’t for some other major releases. Now gamers install the game only for review, but after a few chapters have passed, they postpone it for the sake of more interesting projects from the point of view of game design. Sony has acted very unfairly with its main exclusive. His release is a completely commercial move. The port was clearly in a hurry to put together towards the end of HBO’s series. The company hoped to make money from viewers who want to get acquainted with the original game. According to Steam statistics, Sony’s hopes have not come true.
If you’ve never played The Last of Us and are really looking forward to the PC port, wait a few more months while the developers make it playable with patches.
How does The Last of Us Part 1 work for you?
This isn’t the kind of PC port we’ve been waiting 10 years for. It seems Sony is suggesting that the best experience of its ex-exclusives you’ll only get on PS5. In addition to the polished God of War, every time we get a lopsided and lagged port that is impossible to play at first.
The port of The Last of Us Part 1 is a completely unoptimized piece of code that requires expensive hardware and valuable time to compile shaders. Not recommended so far. You have to wait for the patches and even then go through one of the best Sony exclusives.
More photos are in the gallery.
Source: VG Times