The Last of Us Remastered Part I resets the stage.

Since 2013, The Last of Us has made a significant mark in the world of all things pop culture. It’s crazy to think how rapidly its popularity rose. It’s even crazier (to me) that I managed to avoid any semblance of a spoiler with the franchise until recently when I went through the remastered version of the first game. Originally on the PlayStation 3, The Last of Us Part I Remastered for PlayStation 4/5 is the definitive way to experience the first game in its universe. As a gamer that usually veers towards more esoteric and cerebral games, I found myself mostly enjoying this blockbuster game.

The introduction to The Last of Us was a rollercoaster for those rare birds like me that only knew the names of the two main characters and a high-level premise. Going in, I wasn’t sure how I would be introduced to the characters. So, to keep things fresh for others, I’ll say this: in The Last of Us, players take control of Joel, a hardened and handsome man of a certain age that has found himself trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Almost overnight, the world he knew went belly-up when a fungus started infesting the human brain and rapidly spread. Those who inhale the spores turn into bloodthirsty and/or superhuman monstrosities. Now, Joel and his friend Tess are trying to survive best they can. Their latest expedition brings them to a young, smart-mouthed, and sassy girl named Ellie. Once under the watch of a rebel group called The Fireflies, Joel and Tess need to escort Ellie outside of a quarantine zone. They aren’t given any reasoning, but they take on the mission.

That’s about all I’ll say for the narrative. There’s a lot I’d like to say, because said narrative is excellently paced, well-written, heartfelt, and often relatable. It’s also scary. Joel is not only watching his back from the fungal fiends, but there are human soldiers and hunters that will stop at nothing to stop Joel dead in his tracks. You’ll be spending a lot of time with him and Ellie, and as a result, you’ll feel for them. They’re some of the better written characters I’ve seen in an action game in quite some time. It makes the synopsis more believable. The best part of the game is seeing the bond form between the two of them.

The second-best part you’ll see is the actual game itself. In other words, the visuals. The world might have been shot to shit, but that doesn’t stop it from being stunning. Joel will travel across the United States during four seasons. You’ll witness snowy mountains, verdant woods, sewage water that shouldn’t look as beautiful as it does, golden foliage, a cornucopia of empty houses and buildings, and much more that add to the atmosphere of the game. You’ll also witness some of the most hideous creatures that show the impact of an infection. Various enemies roam the world and seeing them, as well other unsettling imagery, gives games like Silent Hill or Fatal Frame a run for their money. I never played the game on PlayStation 3, but I heard it was a looker, too. Complimenting these graphics is a soundtrack that can be haunting, suspenseful, or intense. Then there are times when there’s no music at all which adds extra spooks. Top of the line voice acting gives the cast extra believability. I’m not sure how or where Naughty Dog got the voice overs for the mutated enemies, but it was rad.

For those that played the Uncharted series, you’ll feel familiar going into The Last of Us. Full disclosure: I didn’t like what I played of the Uncharted series. I only played the first game and found it poorly designed with one of the most obnoxious main characters going through a bland narrative with horrid controls. Unfortunately for me, traces of that snuck into The Last of Us. Joel was great, but the control scheme was all over the place. Naughty Dog wanted to make sure every button had various uses. Sometimes during a hectic situation I would press a button and Joel would end up doing…something he wasn’t supposed to. For example, I would be trying to equip a different gun but didn’t hold the two buttons long enough and he would end up swinging a melee weapon. And then, boom. Restart from the last checkpoint.

Now, there were times when things weren’t so clunky and the game was fun. While moving through the game, you’ll uncover tons of scrap materials that can be used to make health kits, bombs, and more. You’ll also uncover ammo, an impressive variety of firearms (shoutout to El Diablo) and old documents/journals adding more lore to the story. Another item you’ll find are pills that are used to power up Joel’s combat abilities. Finally, there are tools that can be discovered to upgrade your weapons. During exploration, you’ll oftentimes have to fashion escape routes with palettes and ladders. This got tedious and silly after a while because seeing stuff so conveniently placed took me out of the game.

In areas with enemies, most of the time you can take a stealthy approach to weed them out one at a time. Everyone will play differently, but my favorite way to tackle areas with enemies was to slowly and systematically take out each enemy with a stealth kill. All those years of Tenchu paid off. Sadly, there were times when stealth wouldn’t work, and you’d have to deal with an onslaught of enemies. One infamous part happened after dealing with a town of infected, using just about all my limited resources, and then immediately getting thrust into an area with human enemies armed with shotguns. It wasn’t cool – I just survived an encounter and instead of giving a much-needed break, I get thrown into another one. I found myself saying, “Well, I’m not having fun anymore.” There’s also a section near the end of the game when the enemy count seemed to increase instead of decrease. Running away wasn’t an option because there were too many enemies to make your escape route feasible. Thus, I find myself mixed on the combat. When it worked, it worked. When it didn’t, I’m taken back to a poorly made action game circa 2007. Various difficulty options are available to those that want to play The Last of Us for its best part: the story.

The story and those fun areas of combat/exploration kept me coming back. Of course, I was happy to see the credits roll after the final scenes. From what I’m told, the second game is better than the first. I plan on diving into it so I can see what happens next. I feel like I’ve grown close to Joel, Ellie, and the rest of the folks that made the world of The Last of Us so believable. I’m also hopeful that combat won’t be as up and down as the first game. The Last of Us Part I Remastered has extra content that makes this the definitive version. If you’re rusty with gameplay that requires both stealth and quick reflexes, I still recommend playing The Last of Us Remastered because seeing the story from beginning to end overshadows any frustration with the gameplay.

Overall, 7.5/10: It took me about 15 hours to finish The Last of Us, and it took me over ten years to finally give it a try. Despite some frustrations and reservations, it was ultimately time well-spent.