From indifference to love. Review The Last of Us: Part I

Good morning, day and night.
The Last of US was released in 2013 . Then I sincerely did not understand why they talked about her and talk about her. He believed that there is nothing more in the game in the game and why such a simple story gets so much attention. The battles looked the same, crafting screwed up for a checkmark and a dofig of excess walking.
(Most likely my misunderstanding is due to the fact that I did not have the opportunity to play at that time.)
And so, with the release of a remake to a PC, I decided that in 2024 I would begin my game activity with a game, which I did not understand for a long time-The Last of US: Part I.

PC characteristics and graphics settings with which I played:
PC:
Processor – Ryzen 5 1600
Video card – RTX 3050 8 GB
OP – 16 GB
SSD
Settings – Max
Without DLSS or DLAA
(although for some reason, after each restart, the game again turned on DLSS)

Man, first of all, loves eyes.

But there is something to love here. Those who worked on a remake – incredibly tried. For all the passage, I did not meet a single soap texture, and the world looked so photorealistic that I can’t believe that we can run and play games with such graphics. Faces, characters, textures, as well as animations. Everything, everything, everything was changed and finalized.
(Read more about other changes in remake later)

Worked on effects, some added or finalized the volume. Smoke, fire, disputes, rain everything looks great. Nothing is visible in the smoke and it fills the entire space. The fire spreads, radiates light and “dancing”. Disputes fly in the area in search of a victim. Rain loudly and hard falls to the ground.
Effects have several conditions. On the example of rain:
Falling drop → collision with the surface (different effect depending on the surface) → splash.

Great work has also been done with reflection on the water and other surfaces. As I understand it, they combined the polygonal, manually made and screen reflection. Looks good and strongly does not affect optimization.

And most of all tried over the most important – light and shadow. Looks colorful and realistic. The shadow is soft if the object is far from the light source and rough, if on the contrary. The same engine is used here as in UNCHARTED 4 and TLOU: Part II, and it has its own, program-adjusted, reiterating. Therefore, light is reflected from any surfaces, dissipates and illuminates the entire area.

Here’s another example. Light reflection also works for local springs, such as a flashlight. Light from the flashlight on white wall with green leaves And you can see how the white and green reflected light appears behind the shelter next to Joel.

Joel’s flashlight also.

We play games.

Immediately after evaluating the graphics, our eyes and brain begin to concentrate on the most important – on the gameplay.

Let’s go around base:
The main character (GG) has:
From what fire, how beat So what throw.

We shoot From a pistol, a revolver + long -range, rifles, shotgun + one -handed, let an arrow from a bow and a flame from a flamethrower.
The gun differs in that it is more speedy than a revolver that shoots more precisely and more painful.
A shotgun can quickly deal with any enemy, but only at a close distance, it is better to use a rifle on distant ones, which is less speedy.
Onions can be quietly eliminated by the enemy, but the bowstring for a long time pulls and needs high accuracy, and the speed of the reaction, because GG cannot hold it stretched for a long time.
And with flamethrower you can quickly eliminate the crowd of opponents, but at an extremely close distance. Also impose the effect of combustion, which makes the enemy writhes in pain, try to extinguish himself, which means he will be helpless and unarmed.

We beat– fists, improvised objects and weapons of near -combat, which can be modified by attaching a blade to it, which allows you to instantly kill one enemy.
This is necessary if the enemy comes too close. GG has slow preparations for shooting, and the enemy may have time to strike (well, it also looks very impressive).
The near battle stunes the enemy after each blow, which allows you to easily deal with him. But you should not do it when there are others around, because you also become extremely vulnerable.

We throw – Molotov cocktails, explosive banks with nails and bags with smoke. With a cocktail, for example, you can close one of the paths, apply the combustion effect. The jar can easily deal with the group of enemies or leave the trap. And a bag hide from enemies or stun them.

What to do with such a variety of weapons?

Playing, I thought the coolest in gameplay is freedom of tactics (in open locations). You can either quietly or eliminate everyone. Put clear heads from afar or run throughout the location eliminating everyone near.
In my case, I constantly combined the ways. I felt like in Doom when you deftly change the weapon, adjusting to the situation or enemy.

But often we are in narrow corridors and basically the battle goes the same:
Easily kill the first enemy, which is worth it specifically for this;You sit down at the shelter and wait until the others scatter;You start shooting one at a time or run to each for the shelter.

The game is revealed differently at the maximum level of complexity and realism. Enemies suddenly die and actively seek. You have to change your position all the time, have time to react and, preferably, do not catch your eye. None of the games that I played offered such an experience. I needed to think through not only my steps, but also the enemy and all this in the moment.

Fighting also saves their entertainment. With a remake, a lot of situational animations and an improved division were added to the game. You shoot in the head, or leg, from a megapry and there is no. And then you run up to the enemy to finish him off in hand -to -hand, and GG begins to pound his head with all his strength on the table standing nearby. In the game, watch and listen – in high.

And who we kill?

The game has two types of enemies that are divided into subspecies.
People and infected.

People. Well, people and people, what to mutter.

Often use pistols and sticks. Further on the game there are guys with shotgun, rifles and sometimes armor. The enemy in the armor must first break this armor, which means you have to make a few shots. (But here’s the attacks of the near battle do not care about the armor).

They love to hide behind shelters and will not stick out while gg stands with a fly over them. They can intercede for each other and occasionally use throwing weapons. If the enemy with a shotgun or club, then he will look for us. Other types can also find us if you sit for a shelter for too long.

In the last chapter, cicada soldiers appear and the https://noverificationcasinos.co.uk/without-sending-any-documents-casino-sites/ difference is noticeable with them. They shoot very accurately, are not divided and walk in groups.

In stealth, sighted, but deaf and stupid. Seeing the silhouette of GG, they go to check “What was it?” And here, oh how unexpected, For the coal we were waiting for them. But, speaking about details and trifles in the game, if you kill the enemy while he is talking to someone, then this will cause anxiety.
But on the complexity, the maximum and realism everything changes again. Seeing us, they instantly go on the attack and shout, so that everyone around knows about you.

Infected. Yes, it’s hard.

Runner – Conventional zombies. When a player is detected, he runs at him, no matter what. Maybe even run or climb into the object on the fire.

Stalker – But this is already more interesting. They do not attack in the face and moves as quietly as possible. All the time they are trying to get around you and deceive you, an example: a stalker runs at you, so you only brought a shotgun and he sharply steps aside.

Nutcrackers – The face of the game. Blind and are guided by echolocation, so they constantly click, Hence the name. Dangerous in that they are much living the rest and instantly kill the GG with their attack (if you do not have sharpening and skill).
On maximum complexity and realism they hear much more acute, literally every step.

Snag – It rarely appears. He is fat, also vanchitates, runs until he shattered and rushes for mushrooms. There is always one tactic with him – you run in a circle and shoot. If there are opponents nearby, then first you deal with them.

Fights with them mean stealth, since there are many of them, they are fast, they are vanish. And so you were able to quietly pass the location, and at the end the door does not open and it must be knocked out, accordingly you make a noise, and the battle begins. With the advent of a shotgun, everything becomes even easier, you run from one to another and you wanesh all, know only go away in time for reloading. Когда Бегун достаточно близок к тебе, то стоит чуть нацелится и можно с лёгкостью пустить пулю в лоб из пистолета.

The devil lies in the little things

As I already mentioned, new animations and details were added to the remake. Steps have a unique sound, depending on what you are walking why. The character’s clothes can be wet, in the blood, in the mud;opponents scratch and fall from bullet hits, they can tear off the limb. Our GG also reacts to attacks, but the scratches are quickly healing, this is still not RDR2

The game is felt alive. You believe that blood comes from this guy and it hurts him. You believe that the rifle is strong, thanks to the return and a strong echo, which is still reflected from the building and spreads around the district. This is a great merit of a remake.

I’ll say in advance that there will be spoilers, including DLC ​​Left Behind . So, if you, by some miracle, still escaped them, then they will be further.

Here is the same aspect, which made this game the Great. In childhood, this story seemed to me too simple “Well, yes, Joel made a difficult choice, well, yes, Ellie is special, well, yes the world in the ass”. But with age, our worldview changes, we become more sentimental and represent, what would I do in this place?

I went through the game with the original voice acting and turned off the subtitles to completely immerse myself in history. (Immediately about Russian dubbing … Yes, he is bad)

I will not discuss the main plot and production in detail, There are enough videos and articles about it on the Internet. Here I will tell you more how I saw the whole story as a whole, about general impressions.

This story is about us, about people.

About the world:
The most captivates? The fact that he is real. The events look so that if this happens in real life, then most likely everything will look like that. Nature is restored. This is evident not only by the fact that everywhere grass and leaves, but what conditions people returned to.
Someone steals, someone kills, someone eats each other-and everything to survive. Your life, in the eyes of another person – does not cost anything.
People moved back to stone centuries, when the only and important goal was only survival. We all could become like. We cannot say for sure that “Nah, I definitely won’t become a looter, you’re a good guy ”. Therefore, you believe, which means you perceive everything to heart.

Through Joel and Ellie, two faces are shown to us:
The person who saw That world And this one.

Joel Constantly pursues the past. He simply resigned to exist in such a world, but to live – no. For the sake of survival, he became a criminal, fulfilling dirty orders for the sake of food. Everything that happened In that world as if it has no price. Only survival skills were useful to him.

20 years have passed. Joel runs from the past, wants to forget him, so he threw a joint photo with his daughter. At the same time, it still wears the clock that she gave him, although they do not walk. Most likely he wears them as a reminder of Tom world And the fact that he would upset his daughter, if he simply gave up, is an occasion to move on.

The final point on Tom world was set by the murder of a daughter (sary) at the hands of a soldier. People have already lost their previous values, they wanted to survive at all costs, so the soldier (or rather the government), counting them infected, shot them, protecting himself.

Ellie cannot imagine what it is “Think about the guys about which dress to go to the point”. She does not know about “prospects“With which people of that world lived. For her, survival is life. Ellie rejoices a new rifle, more than new sneakers.

DLC tells Ellie’s background that she went to a special military training school and about her friend Riley. Walking around the shopping center and having fun, they attracted the attention of infected. They ran away, but one couple still bit their two, which was supposed to lead to the fact that they would become so. But it turned out that Ellie has immunity, she could not become infected, but Rile does not have him and she died. After that, Ellie is not tied to people. Everything applies to skepticism and is always primarily ready to kill someone with her penknife knife. She also hates her “gift” After all, because of him I have to live. She can only die from bullets and a gnawed throat.

And two such opposites should travel with each other by chance. Joel was offered an order – to protect and take Elli Cicadas to create a vaccine – and he agreed in return for weapons, and Ellie does not mind, she wants to save the world and benefit. Soon, Joel learns about immunity and lights up the idea of ​​creating a vaccine.

After a while, Ellie and Joel still come closer. Even the color of their clothes becomes the same for both.And here is a very important point ..

Music in the game is simple and beautiful.
These are mainly string and percussion tools. Something sincere and alive along with the sound of stone centuries.
That I especially want to note this is how music appears in the game. After the prologue I often had a question, And where is the music? But it turns out she appears after Joel and Ellie became closer. This is their connection, because the music begins to play louder when they lose each other – they worry.

In the gameplay: Ellie tries to stay closer, often talking to him and Aktvino uses his gun, which she received after he saved Joel;indicates him to the location of the opponents and screams in case of dangerous proximity;can give Joel a first -aid kit or cartridges.

Joel receives a serious wound during the battle – for which he cannot temporarily continue the battle. Ellie is left alone and now she must protect Jole.

One of the plot episodes passes behind Ellie. How does it differ from Joel?
She has a knife, but in close combat is not effective: the opponents quickly take it into capture, so you have to first throw a brick/bottle into them to stun and instantly finish. Ellie is very nimble. Moves much faster than Joel. But the accuracy of the shooting of it is slightly worse and the hand staggering harder.

Ellie finds and gives Joel a photograph of his daughter. Maybe this is a hint that Ellie became as close as his daughter?

The last way to the destination point is the most colorful location. The bright sun shines, there are leaves and grass around, well, and giraffes … Here is a slight mood. There is a little left until the end.

But such a colorful location is sharply replaced by what? Again on gray! After all, it turns out that in order to create a vaccine you need to do an operation, after which Ellie will not survive. And then Joel understands that he cannot lose her. He cannot again to lose a loved one, especially Ellie, who became for him as a daughter, during this year of the journey.

In this moment, music sounds deafeningly loud. Joel is confused. Whether he is an egoist, exchanging one life for millions of others or a hero who saved a close and only person for him? He is Helly saying that it is impossible to create a vaccine. Ellie believes.

I missed a lot of little things. And although you now know the spoiler, I assure you, the situation is the same as with Artur Morgan from RDR2. The main thing is not what happened, but why and how it came. Therefore, if you decide to go through the game now, you still get a lot of pleasure.

Final impressions

That the main thing I wanted to tell in my review. I repeat that initially I did not understand why this game got so much attention and then it finally managed to figure it out personally. But I caught myself thinking that if the game went to a PC in my original form, I would not be so interested in.

I believe that this game is exactly what a remake of the original game, and not a simple remaster. They look radically unlike. This is in graphic terms, in animations, and even in gameplay. The chiaroscuro has become much better, as if it had not been in the game before. Thanks to this, the scenes look more lively and cling to the look. Animation and gameplay are also very pleasing, as already said, the entertainment of battles – saves them.
The only real minus of the remake is its price … Still, if it were sold for ~ 50 ~ 40 $, then even more people will be able to get acquainted with the game.

Once I heard the opinion that why did you need to make a remake of the game, about which everyone knows and knows everything about it?
Well, first of all, because the series came out and to attract a large audience of television, moviegoers in the game sphere and to earn even more money.
Well, secondly for people like me. For those who “but who is this tlou yours“. And I believe that as many players as possible to introduce the game as possible – the remake coped with the game. I haven’t had this for a long time to play and went through the game without looking up from the computer all day.

And I also strongly recommend that you try or call the game.

Afterword

I wrote this for a week? Wow, well ..
There will be a minimum of the editorial office, just thoughts in a hearing, Sororyan.

I want to say right away that initially I wanted to talk more about the production. This was really in detail, but re-reading all this, I understood that it could be heard in every 2nd video about this, so I thought that it would be just water and erased.

I decided to try the game itself to go through the PC updates and I was just looking for a Benchmark for him. Well, the game coped with this task. I would never believe that when I would play games with such graphics at home.

What I think about the second part? Waiting for her on PC. Yes, I also know everything about her and the plot and gameplay and so on, but I’m still interested. In addition, as I already wrote, on open locations the game reveals itself (especially on realism), so I will play such a thing.

This is my second, truly serious blog on Stopgame. The difference in time from the first blog is colossal. I could not find a topic for a long time and still decided to write a review again. Practice this). So now I will go for a longer break (read with a heroic voice) “In search of an interesting topic for the blog”.

Thank you, for your attention and for reading to the end) happiness, health, success, well -being and good luck to everyone!