The Last of Us Part I Play and Review(Description)Part 5-KJS
0At launch, the game was unplayable due to a heavy amount of bugs and VRAM issues. Naughty Dog promised patches, and after waiting a few months, I have no problems running the game bug-free on high settings. Shaders still need to be compiled with every new graphics driver version, but it takes 15 minutes for me instead of over 1 hour previously.
In its original state, the game lacked optimization for graphics cards with 8GB of VRAM. This has since been fixed. Texture streaming can now be lowered to mitigate excessive cache and allow for a better experience at the cost of textures loading in slower. Separately, VRAM usage can be reduced further by enabling DLSS if your card supports it.
As far as the actual content of the game goes, it's a 10 year old masterpiece of storytelling and immersion that is worth playing through again in its overhauled "Part 1" glory. Cutscenes are now rendered in real-time to stunning effect. Facial animations and lighting bask in realism as you become gripped with complex themes of love, loss, and survival. Woven inside of a post-apocalyptic narrative is nuanced stealth/action gameplay that can challenge any player with an array of difficulty settings. Newcomers to the franchise thanks to the HBO series are also in for a real treat.
I hope that Naughty Dog isn't dissuaded from releasing "Part 2" onto PC. If they can learn from this experience and create a functional port, I will put my money behind it because playing on PC is my preferred way to experience games.