The Last of Us: Part II Remastered [PS5 Games]

Naughty Dog's The Last of Us was a masterwork in powerful, emotional storytelling in videogames. It delivered a taut, empathetic narrative anchored by the relationship between Joel, a smuggler in a post-(zombie)-apocalyptic wasteland and Ellie, a young girl he's seeking to help. It won critical acclaim for delivering a compelling, emotive story alongside Naughty Dog's signature blockbuster action.

Seven years later, the studio managed to repeat the trick, and this remastered version for the PS5 is the definitive edition of the classic. Picking up the thread several years on, Part II sees Ellie and Joel living in a community of survivors in Jackson, Wyoming. Following the ambiguous ending of Part I the pair have drifted apart and Ellie, now a spiky young adult, has begun to form a relationship with a woman called Dina. Something (no spoilers here) sets Ellie and Dina on a path for Seattle, where they find the city in the grip of a turf war between the paramilitary Wolves and the spooky, cultish Seraphites. The pair get stuck in the middle, simultaneously finding themselves fending off attacks by grotesque, fungal zombies. Gameplay centres on exploration and a mix of mechanics that blends action, stealth and survival horror. It's not as slow and tense as an early Silent Hill, but supplies such as ammo are constantly in short supply and each encounter is a tense scramble to marshal resources and dish out bloody violence. The game earns its 18 certificate with some serious brutality, but the violence runs to the game's thematic core.

Naughty Dog often teeters on the edge of gratuity but never goes over it - rather, it seeks to examine the tension between games and violence and does so effectively. It all builds to a devastating ending, and players are unlikely to walk away from The Last of Us Part II unaffected. This remastered version comes with a host of enhancements for the PS5. It's been graphically improved, with 4K output in Fidelity Mode and a host of other graphical improvements. It also boasts improved load times and makes use of the DualSense wireless controller's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Meanwhile, on the gameplay front a whole new mode has been added! Survival mode has you running the gauntlet against randomised enemies to survive as long as possible, with modifiers to spice things up and never-before-playable characters to deepen the experience.