Naughty Dog explains why The Last of Us Part I is a remake and not a remaster

Although it's been a little less than a decade since it was originally released, The Last of Us already has a remaster, and later this week, a remake. Long rumored, The Last of Us Part I arrives this Friday to give players a chance to (re)discover the beginning of Ellie and Joel's story, and as Naughty Dog has been insisting, players will notice the difference. This will be evident with the original 2013 game, obviously, but also with the remastering that came out a year later.

What will be different in this remake

"To me, what makes this a remake instead of a remaster is the sum of its improvements," explains Shaun Escayg, creative director, and until recently at Crystal Dynamics. "This isn’t just the same characters, environments, art direction, etc., performing on better hardware. We completely redesigned everything from the art direction, lighting, [lighting] technology to the character designs themselves. We’ve applied everything we’ve learned over the decade since the original and utilized that new technology to create something that stays true to the original but reimagined in an updated way."

Full screen

Escayg also says that the world feels more alive and immersive, from how the light filters through the vegetation to how the cars move when the characters pass through them. Speaking of the cars, they also react differently to both the noise when bullets hit them and broken glass, something they have achieved thanks to 3D Audio. As you say, this emphasizes tense moments like Joel's initial escape as well as more relaxed moments of exploration.

Combat has also been improved, especially thanks to an improvement in the AI led by John Bellomy. The encounters will now be more dynamic due to a more realistic behavior of the enemies when looking for us on the stage, in addition to increasing the number of active enemies -limited then by the AI-, although with a quantity that is not yet close to the 128 that PS5 can move. For his part, designer Christian Wohlwend says that melee combat has undergone a "monumental" evolution.

The Last of Us Part I arrives in stores this Friday, for the moment only on PS5. The PC version will arrive shortly after.

Source | PlayStation Blog