I'm cool with y'all leaving .5 star reviews because it immediately identifies which of you are some baby back broke bitches who are crying about a game you had no intention of buying in the first place. Nobody is forcing you to buy it. You're not some valiant soldier bravely laying down your life to defy Sony. You're just a chud feigning for internet points. If you simply think the price is too much thats fine, just don't buy it or wait for a sale, like an adult.

As far as an actual review for the game - this is a pretty excellent remake and anyone saying it's a simple "Graphical uprez" is being disingenuous or willfully ignorant. Nearly every model/asset has been completely remade and the revamped facial animations are a game changer. Scenes that I've seen countless times before are now able to carry even more weight, thanks to the industry leading animations. The nuances and subtle details conveyed in these performances are staggering, and quite literally something you will not find in any other video game except for TLOU2.

Same goes for the new lighting, as Naughty Dog continues to prove that they also have the best lighting artists in the business. Lighting is such a weird topic to discuss though, because the majority of debate with gamers usually comes down - vibrant colors = good lighting. Or they just throw buzzwords around and talk in circles. Like people who say the 2013 version had better lighting because it "...makes the world dead but also alive..." (Real quote) So I'll just say my stance on the lighting is that TLOU Part 1 and 2 are eons ahead of every other game and I refuse to argue about lighting with morons who have never lit a film set, or a game scene.

Now for the whole "iTs ThE SaMe GaMePlAy" folks out there... no. You are, objectively wrong. AI has seen a massive overhaul from the original, and no amount of out of context twitter clips with accessibility mode maxed out will take away from the fact that on the harder difficulties, both this game and part 2 have some of the most advanced enemy AI in gaming. The partner AI has also been greatly improved and there were several instances where I noticed they were far more active in trying to hide/avoid detection than they used to be. Those changes ARE a substantial upgrade to the game, and I promise you if you go back to the OG it will not feel the same. The gameplay animations have also been beefed up, with some new execution/death animations, updated bow handling, and far more reactive glass, debris and other destructible objects. Stalkers also function like they did in part 2 which is HUGE because I always thought the OG stalkers were really weirdly designed and didn't make much sense.

Now, does the game have a dodge or dedicated jump? No. Does Joel need those? Also no. This game was designed around neither of those things being there and I like the fact that it feels a bit different from part 2. Joel is not the same as Ellie, so they should control differently (this man is in his 50s btw) and I found myself playing Part 1 SIGNIFICANTLY different to how I approach Part 2, which I think, is pretty cool. I played on survivor, and far more bricks, bottles and fists were thrown than I think I did in all of part 2. And these combat/stealth scenarios are still excellent and intense, and I sincerely hope anybody calling them outdated has never enjoyed a game made by Ubisoft.

Now thats' not to say everything has aged as well as the combat scenarios, because the puzzles are definitely not as good as the ones in part 2. But they take like 2 seconds to complete so its not like it really slows anything down. I did also notice a few minor bugs and graphical mistakes like LODS popping too early, but they aren't major and shouldn't be hard to fix.

In the end, Part 1 is easily the best way to experience the game. If you haven't played it before, its certainly worth the $70, and if you have played it before, that's up to you to decide its worth. For me, it was worth every penny, and the storytelling and combat still hold up as some of the best in gaming.

The Last of Us as a franchise is in a bit of a weird spot now, as it's getting a lot of content, but its also super trendy to shit talk it online. It is a bit unfortunate that the best in the business have to deal with incessant screeching from people who called TLOU2 woke for "Making Ellie gay", but I suppose it just is what it is. When you're the best, those behind just wanna see you fail. I'll just be here enjoying this banger lookin like Robert Pattinson in the meantime - [https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/059/024/d2c.png]