The Last of Us: Part I

The Last of Us: Part I is an action game by Naughty Dog and a remake of 2013's award-winning The Last of Us. The game refreshes the story of Joel and Ellie from the ground up, using the power and capabilities of the PlayStation 5 console.

Plot

The game's plot remains unchanged from its predecessor. The action takes place in the near future. Humanity has been decimated by a global pandemic of the cordyceps fungus, which has mutated and started attacking people. There is no cure for the infection, and anyone infected transforms into a bloodthirsty beast after a short time. As the world is filled with the infected and the spores of the fungus, the survivors live in military-controlled quarantine zones, where instead of infection they face starvation, poverty, crime and an iron military hand.

The main character of the game is a smuggler Joel, who lost his daughter during the outbreak of a pandemic. One day he receives an assignment from the Fireflies, a group of revolutionaries fighting against the status quo. His task is to smuggle Ellie, an orphaned teenager immune to the cordyceps contagion, to the Fireflies' headquarters in Salt Lake City. Joel and Ellie establish a bond during the trip, and the man begins to see the girl as a foster daughter.

Game mechanics

The gameplay basics remain the same as in the original - the title does not contain the elements introduced in The Last of Us: Part II. We still play a third-person action game with stealth elements, divided into exploration and combat. During the exploration, the player collects resources from which he can create useful items - first aid kits, molotov cocktails, blades for instant killing of enemies from hiding. We will also encounter environmental puzzles, during which we must pave our way forward. In combat, we will face armed humans and the infected. Ammunition is limited and scarce, so the game encourages you to kill enemies silently, in hand-to-hand combat, or to evade them.

The main change to the gameplay is the artificial intelligence. In the original, enemies ignored the presence of our comrades - the remake allows them to sneak around and avoid their field of view. The enemies are much smarter than in the original and use more advanced strategies. Caution and prudence are the key to getting away with life. Also new are additional rewards for progress in the game - alternative character skins and a model gallery.

Game modes

The Last of Us: Part I includes a single-player campaign that takes several hours to complete. The competitive multiplayer was removed from the game. It was replaced with a speedrun mode focused on completing the campaign in the shortest possible time and a permadeath mode, in which death takes us back to the very beginning of the game. Also included in the package with the production is the Left Behind story add-on.

Technical aspects

It is in the audiovisual layer that The Last of Us: Part I differs the most from the original. Character animations are almost photorealistic, especially the new facial animations. Characters have hundreds of different movement animations, while the game chooses the most appropriate one every frame depending on the environment. The physics of objects has also been significantly improved, with realistic destruction - during shootouts we can be accompanied by shards of glass and pieces of wood flying into the air. The scenery has also been refreshed, locations and landscapes are detailed and replicate reality.

The game takes advantage of the PlayStation 5's unique features to achieve greater immersion. The DualSense controller's trigger resists when pulling the bowstring and vibrates after a shotgun blast. The process of upgrading weapons has been fully animated and is accompanied by controller vibrations designed to replicate what Joel feels. The title offers spatial audio - if an opponent takes us from behind, the player will hear him behind him. The production again features accessibility features familiar from The Last of Us: Part II, such as a view for daltonists or audiodescription.