The first chapter in Joel and Ellie's relationship and trek across The Last of Us's post-apocalyptic world was wonderfully written. As we get closer to the September 2, the release date for its PlayStation 5 'remake,' a couple of videos have been posted online that show the new game - one involving leaked gameplay and one posted by Sony where the developers discuss the upcoming game.
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In the developer video, the game's director Matthew Gallant says "one of the things that the PlayStation 5 is really enabling is that we're able to have a density of physics objects in a scene that we could never do before. That's been the dream to have a number of bumpables, chippables, breakables, destructible objects in a scene just makes the world feel rich." The thing is, when you watch the leaked gameplay footage, a car window gets shot out and the glass still looks like flakes. The shattering animation looks more like a vanishing act than seeing the window with a bullet hole in it or seeing multiple tiny fragments cover Joel after flying in the air and covering the ground. If anything, it puts into perspective how the curve of graphical progress has smoothed out into a gentle slope over the past decade or so.
The development team also touts how the game's AI has been improved, building on the system used in The Last Of Us: Part 2. In the gameplay leak, Joel fires a couple of close-range rounds that hit directly behind an enemy, and instead of facing the direction the sound of the bullet made, there's a delay and the enemy stands straight up and is killed. Another time, an enemy wanders straight out from behind cover with their gun up rather than peeking around the corner. These are small things, but notably the leaked footage doesn't quite sync up with the smooth words spoken by the developers in the documentary a few days later.
There's a part where Joel walks into an abandoned book store and takes aim at an uncovered enemy looking straight at Joel. The enemy stands there looking rather puzzled and takes an arrow to the gut, which causes him to make gargling sounds as if he was shot in the throat. There's an apparent lack of self-preservation among enemies. If you see someone pointing a weapon at you, the first thought should be to take cover and alert those around you. It's not groundbreaking stuff; for instance, the original version of Mafia 3 (an underrated gem) had a feature where if an enemy spotted you they would run to a phone and call for backup.
Druckman and others talk about the remake's updated visuals and sound design, but from a gameplay standpoint, everything looks the same. They say and show an example of the 'improved' AI enemies' movements, but they're also being shown in a close group and not on opposite sides of a room or store. They've added more unlockables and two new modes - permadeath and speed run - but those could've just been added as updates.
The addition of accessibility features is welcome, and something many remakes of older games should include, but as someone who has a disability, it's important to not overlook what appears to be a lack of improved gameplay mechanics. It's nice that buddies in the game will hide as enemies approach the area, but it doesn't scream 'remake.' If you're paying $70-$100 for the base game or its Firefly Edition, you should go into the purchase knowing you're getting a quality built-from-the-ground-up remake.
When you remake something the idea is you tear it down to the studs, rebuild it and upgrade everything. The Last Of Us just got a new coat of paint and a few new utensils in the environment, and the reality of the leaks doesn't line up with the 'remake' that Druckman and others are making it out to be. Releasing a remake, not even 10 years since the remaster, comes off as unnecessary. It's not out yet, things may change, but these re-releases in a short period of years make it feel like an echo of Skyrim and its many ports and re-releases. At least Bethesda always had the decency to acknowledge that it was re-releasing different 'editions' of the same game rather than at any point claiming them to be remakes when they essentially offer improved versions of the same thing.
With the upcoming Netflix series, and the future generations of Sony consoles, you start to worry that The Last of Us will be relentlessly milked by Sony and Naughty Dog. The same thing happened in the early days of Blu-Ray, when remastered versions of movies that contained a few extras and upgraded visuals would be re-released evert several years with incremental improvements. People still buy them but you're just buying multiple copies of the same movie.
With The Last of Us Part 1, it looks like you'll own an upgraded version, but it's still the same game with the same story from years ago. The first game deserves all of the praise and accolades it received, but with a remake, you have to really add to the game's story and make it look and feel like it's been completely upgraded.
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