Update 11/17/2023 7:55 p.m. ET: Naughty Dog’s officially confirmed the existence of The Last of Us Part II Remastered, releasing a barrage of information about the upcoming re-release of its 2020 PlayStation 4 game in a post on its website, complete with an announcement trailer.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the remaster will be the new roguelike “No Return” mode, which sounds very involved. You choose a character and then try to survive in “randomized encounters”—it’s not clear if actual maps are randomized—and surviving lets you win meta-progression to enhance your character’s abilities, unlock cosmetics, and compete on global daily challenge leaderboards.
“Remastered” implies improved A/V aspects. The new release will indeed take advantage of the PlayStation 5’s enhanced capabilities, giving you the usual choice of a 4K “Fidelity” mode or a 1440p-upscaled-to-4K “Performance” mode that runs at 60fps. Whichever mode you choose, the game will look better in general thanks to variable refresh rate support, improved LoD settings, sharper textures, smoother animation rates, and so on. DualSense controller features like adaptive triggers will be leveraged, too.
As is its tendency, Naughty Dog is also going big on behind-the-scenes features, with a wild-sounding amount of commentary from various creatives, including voice actors, and several new “lost levels” that will let you play through areas that were cut from the original Part II release.
You can also expect an array of smaller additions, including a speedrun challenge mode, improved photo-taking functionality, bonus skins for various characters, and expanded guitar playing that will expand the sound possibilities and let you stage impromptu little concerts in different venues.
Pre-orders open December 5. If you’d like to spend more money, a pricier The Last of Us Part II Remastered W.L.F. Edition will come in a SteelBook case and include four enamel pins, a clothing patch, and physical versions of 47 trading cards from inside the game. And in nice news for existing PS4 Part II owners, you can upgrade to the digital version of Remastered for $10.
Original story continues below.
The existence of The Last of Us Part II Remastered has leaked via a PlayStation Store listing that was spotted by fans online. A trailer has also leaked, which includes a release date of January 19, 2024.
On November 17, a reputed listing for the yet-to-be-confirmed remaster was leaked online. The new remastered The Last of Us sequel will seemingly feature “native PS5 enhancements,” including a “a host of graphical improvements” and faster loading times.
The store listing also mentions “No Return” which is described as a “roguelike survival mode experience.” Here’s the full description of that apparent new mode:
Survive as long as you can in each run, as you choose your path through a series of randomized encounters. Play as a host of different unlockable characters, some never-before playable in The Last of Us franchise, each with unique gameplay traits. The variety of challenges feature different foes and memorable locations from throughout Part II, all culminating in tense boss battles.
This remastered edition of The Last of Us Part II will also feature “Lost Levels” that will let players explore “early-development versions” of levels not seen in the main game. Some other interesting tidbits from the store listing include:
- Hours of new developer commentary.
- A new mode that lets you play the famous guitar minigame freely.
- A speedrun-focused mode
- New unlockable weapon and character skins for Abby and Ellie.
This new remaster will seemingly be exclusive to PS5 and launches on January 19, 2024. The leaked trailer and store listing didn’t make mention of a PC port.
This leak seemingly confirms rumors and reports from earlier this year about a The Last of Us Part II remaster or PS5 upgrade. Back in July 2023, Last of Us composer Gustavo Santaolalla suggested during an interview that an upgraded port of some kind was in the works.
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