The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered Director talks about how the remaster is the best way to play the game. Read on to learn more about the interview.
Naughty Dog Explains That The Remaster is the Best Way to Play the Game
Why Naughty Dog Remastered The Last of Us For Next Gen
In an interview with VGC, Matthew Gallant, the game director of The Last of Us Part II Remastered, states the reason why they made a remaster of the game in the first place. Gallant explains that their team knows that players love the series, and that they want people who are picking up the game for the first time to "have the best version of it."
He also points to the different improvements they added to the game and why it’s worth the upgrade. He highlights their focus on haptic feedback on the DualSense and that it adds more to the game’s overall experience by feeling more into the game.
He also cites the numerous accessibility options that they added for both TLOU Part 1 and 2, specifically the cinematic descriptions. These are audio-described cinematics so that players with visual disabilities can have a better experience with the aid of the audio descriptions.
Both TLOU Part 1 and TLOU Part 2 were released on the tail end of their respective console’s life cycles, as evidenced by each of their release dates. TLOU Part 1 was released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and TLOU Part 2 was released in 2020 for the PlayStation 4 (The PS3 and PS4 were both 7 years old in their respective lifespans, where the latter was released months after the first game came out).
Gallant supplements this by saying: "We got every ounce of power out of the PS4. We hit all the limits, so we bring it to PS5 and instantly you can increase the render settings and increase the level of detail, and the lighting quality, we can basically enhance everything."
No Return, Lost Levels, And More
The game came with a few additions namely, the new roguelike game mode "No Return," Lost Levels, and free play on the guitar in-game. Gallant mentions that the additional Lost Levels highlight their creative process in choosing certain areas and how they fit into the whole narrative and what they aimed to finish with these levels. He also says that not a lot of AAA games have this kind of content and he finds it fascinating by getting to see how different studios build on an idea.
Gallant also explains that the new roguelike game mode puts the game’s combat in center stage, where it highlights the grittiness and the robust combat system in the game.
"When we make combat in The Last of Us it’s usually in service of the story, but we thought about what if the combat was the star? We have this really robust combat system, these AI systems, all of this stuff that’s incredibly flexible and has a lot of depth."
He also mentions that the inspiration came from players who loved the game’s Encounter Select and tried various strategies to finish these encounters.
Naughty Dog Game Director Addresses Backlash
It’s no secret that fans were divided on the game getting a remaster, debating whether it was too soon for them to go for a re-release. It makes sense to release these critically acclaimed games to the bigger and better console, but it left a bad taste in players’ mouths by having the same games come out from the series for the past 10 years.
Gallant states that he doesn’t understand the dismay of the players about what the remaster offers. He says that "It’s the best way to play The Last of Us Part 2, if you’re a new PlayStation owner and new to the franchise we want to get you the best experience with all the hardware features on a PS5 native version of the game." Lastly, he ends the interview saying that he’s "excited we can bring this to the fans, and if it’s not for everyone, that’s fine."
