The Last of Us Part I

Overview

The Last of Us Part I is a 2022 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. A remake of the 2013 game The Last of Us, it features revised gameplay, including enhanced combat and exploration, and expanded accessibility options. Players control Joel, who is tasked with escorting the young Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States and defend her against cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. The game includes a remake of the 2014 expansion pack The Last of Us: Left Behind, which follows Ellie and her best friend Riley. Development was led by game director Matthew Gallant and creative director Shaun Escayg, who replaced original directors Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann. PartI was rebuilt for the updated hardware, requiring new animations, art direction, and character models to align with the original development team's vision. The cutscenes and narrative beats were analyzed to identify crucial storylines and their original direction and purpose. The team built upon the game engine of The Last of Us Part II (2020) by expanding the gameplay, technology, and accessibility features. PartI features audio descriptions, supports 3D audio, and uses the DualSense controller's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. The Last of Us PartI was released for the PlayStation 5 in September 2022. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its graphical enhancements, facial animations, artificial intelligence, and its added accessibility, audio, and controller options. The response to its gameplay and level design was mixed, and several critics questioned the necessity of a remake, especially considering its price. It received an award at the Visual Effects Society Awards, and nominations at the Game Awards and Golden Joystick Awards. The Windows release in March 2023 was marred by performance problems and received mixed reviews. The game sold over two million units by March 2024.