The Last of Us, Remastered Review

By: Matt Alexander

*Editor’s Note – We are celebrating #TurkeyWeek with new content everyday this week leading up to Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for a standout game, look no further than “The Last of Us”.
Sure, the game came out in 2013, but it is still the gold standard for survival games. Crouch-walk through and around hordes of human and formerly human enemies. Grab a whole bunch of junk and MacGyver it up while your idiot partners make noise and attract enemies!

Holy hell, the storytelling in this game is phenomenal. The building of suspense and the tension between characters is masterful. The plot is one constant reveal after another, measured out perfectly between episodes of stealth, searching, and shooting. The whole thing is reminiscent of 12 Monkeys or Die Hard, except with less Bruce Willis and a whole lot less ammo.

This game is expertly done. The extreme realism of the graphics makes the violence quite brutal. There is a cinematic quality, both in dialogue and in cut scenes. The score is subtle yet touching. The pacing, whether through jump scares or backstory or objectives, keeps the action flowing.

“The Last of Us” goes beyond the inane storytelling of so many first person shooters without resorting to the retro graphics schtick. The result is an immersive experience where gameplay and story are seamlessly woven together, which raises gaming to an art form. Fluid controls similar to The Evil Within or the later Resident Evil entries let you sneak around and react to your environment, and you can always craft items from your belongings in the middle of a firefight.

This remastered version has a prequel storyline, “Left Behind”, which is short (about 2 hours) but provides a little backstory and some nice parallels the the themes of the main game. There is also an online multiplayer which plays a lot like Call of Duty. There are plenty of customizations, too, so try it out if that’s your thing (yes, I am judging you).