Review: The Last of Us, Part I – PS5
A Classic Masterpiece – Flawlessly Rebuilt, Gorgeous, and Accessible
In 2013 Naughty Dog redefined cinematic storytelling with The Last of Us, an action video game released by Sony Computer Entertainment for the venerable PS3. Later, in 2014 we received The Last of Us Remastered for PS4 and now, almost 10 years later, they pushed the envelope even further by bringing the game to a third generation of consoles with updated visuals, gameplay, sound, and haptics.
What is even more impressive is the fact that they continue to improve and redefine once again gaming accessibility with The Last of Us, Part I for the PS5! The Last of Us, Part II was already playable by the blind, low vision, deaf and other impaired gamers, but the team at Naughty Dog wanted to do even more for the disabled community and they delivered the most accessible, inclusive, and enjoyable game yet.
Last Friday I received my download code for The Last of Us, Part I from PlayStation Romania, with some delay I may add, but I forgive them because this doesn’t happen often. During the Weekend, on Monday, Tuesday and today I played the game. It is fully accessible for me as a blind gamer! Everything that made TLOU Part II playable for people without sight is here and now we also have audio descriptions in the cinematics, provided by the talented people at Descriptive Video Works who have done a great job in describing the events in the cutscenes for those who turn on this option. The AD tracks are available in multiple languages which is also much appreciated.
We have a new auto pickup option for items and the revolutionary Haptic Feedback for dialogue, which I also love to have turned on, although I think it is a feature created for deaf players. This is something absolutely incredible. When activated from the dedicated Accessibility Menu, the DualSense PS5 Controller will simulate human voices through vibration and haptics, complete with the intensity of the dialogue, pitch of the voices, and spatial positioning of the characters.
As you already know by now, I’m blind, but I was able, multiple times, to tell where enemies were situated in the level thanks to this feature and to the excellent 3D Audio coming through my PS5 Wireless Headset. A short example, at the beginning of the game, when we are in the car with Sarah, Joel and Tommy, I told Alina that this is incredible because I felt in my hands that Tommy was driving, that Joel was riding shotgun, and that Sarah took the back seat and was moving from side to side in order to look through the rear and side windows of the car. I think this is just like a deaf individual touching the neck of someone speaking in order to pick up vibrations from their vocal cords. Amazing, as I said, and nothing short of revolutionary!
There are a lot of accessibility features in The Last of Us, Part I, but I won’t list them all here. What I’ll say is The Last of Us, Part I should be playable by blind, low vision, deaf and gamers with motor disabilities alike. You can read about all the accessibility features available in the game by clicking on the button below.
The Last of Us Part I: full list of accessibility features
Now, let’s talk about the rest of the game, aside from the groundbreaking accessibility suite.
The Last of Us, Part I is exactly what everyone thinks it is. The best game ever, rebuilt from scratch, updated with high resolution graphics, just perfect for this latest generation of home consoles from Sony PlayStation. Released under the PlayStation Studios umbrella, but developed by the amazing people at Naughty Dog, The Last of Us, Part I takes advantage of absolutely every functionality the PS5 has to offer. We have gorgeous 4k resolution, High Dynamic Range, Variable Refresh Rates, 3D Audio that puts the gamer right in the middle of a living soundscape, Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers with the amazing DualSense PS5 Controller. Last, but definitely not least, the levels load much faster and there are seamless transitions between gameplay and cutscenes thanks to the high-speed SSD.
The voice acting is as moving as always, the music perfectly accentuates the mood of the game and the 3D Audio in combination with the sound cues, menu narration, text to speech and the haptic feedback from the controller brings the entire world to life in a unique, sensorial way in the gamer’s mind.
This is the epic adventure of our beloved Joel and Elly through the post-apocalyptic territories of the United States in search of safe harbor and hopefully a cure for the plague that transforms human beings into ruthless monsters and has decimated the population for over 20 years.
Alina tells me that the game looks amazing! From the dark, claustrophobic, small confines of abandoned buildings, to the lush, colorful, vivid nature scapes, The Last of Us, Part I is a visual feast treat for the eyes.
The gameplay is completely different from the original The Last of Us. Now everything is smoother, the action moves faster and the encounters are more visceral. The AI is also much smarter and will keep the player on the edge more than ever before. The mechanics are very similar to those in Part II and this is definitely a change for the better.
The story is as atmospheric, dramatic, gripping, heartbreaking, and entertaining as we all remember it, but with the added benefit of better graphics that allow more emotions to make their way on the screen.
The Last of Us is an extremely popular and important IP for Sony, with two titles that gamers and critics alike say are the best in the industry and now with a TV Show ready to air and stream on HBO in early 2023, The Last of Us, Part I comes at just the right moment to make this name even more iconic.
If you have a PS5 and played the game on PS3 or PS4, you may think that this is a cash grab, as I see a lot of people saying, but that’s not even close to the actual reality.
The Last of Us, Part I is a new game completely, if you are not interested in it, just move on and shut up! If I don’t like a game I just don’t play it, don’t buy it, I only complain when something is not accessible for me, but don’t care about pricing and throwing rocks at developers or publishers.
There are millions of gamers out there who want to play this, a lot of them are disabled, others just want to see what’s new in Part I and there are those who have never experienced this gem ever before. Nobody is putting their hand in your pocket and stealing the wallet! But, if you are open-minded, as I hope it is the case, look at what Naughty Dog did here and tip your imaginary cap, because this is the definitive, complete, and most inclusive way to play The Last of Us!
I am so happy and grateful that I have the opportunity to play this game again. The Last of Us was the last title that I was able to finish, multiple times I may add, before my vision started to drop. The last game I fully enjoyed while still sighted. I spent probably thousands of hours in the multiplayer, even while going blind. If I have one regret now is that the online segment has been dropped from this release, but I completely understand the decision. We know that a multiplayer game is in development at Naughty Dog for a few years now and I have faith in them that I will be able to play that one as well. I hope they will create special lobbies for blind players where we can use accessibility features that we have in Part I AND Part II.
I can’t end this review without saying a million thanks to the people at Naughty Dog who made this possible and of course, to the guy who started this all-accessibility revolution by asking the right question, at the right time to the right people, award-winning accessibility advocate and consultant Brandon Cole!
He inspired me to do the same, to raise awareness about the need for accessible games, technology, and entertainment. Brandon showed me that it is important to talk about my disability, to recognize it, and embrace it because it is not my fault that I am like this and there is definitely gaming after blindness.
Hopefully, the professionals in the gaming industry will look at The Last of Us, Part I and Part II and realize that they need to step up their game when it comes to accessibility. Thanks again to Sony Interactive Entertainment and Naughty Dog for sending me this review code! Even if they were to not send me one, I’d have purchased the game in just a millisecond.
I love The Last of Us, I love Uncharted and I think that we all need to be more considerate and less self-centered. There are only two AAA titles playable by the blind and both of them are The Last of Us. The only game that at this time incorporates audio descriptions is The Last of Us, Part I, so, this is definitely something special!
And before some smartass decides to tell me that I say all this because I’m blind and I can only play these games, let me assure you that I thought the same about Naughty Dog and their games even before going blind. Now I just ‘’see’’ them from a different perspective. Now all I have to do is to wait for Part III and for the standalone Multiplayer experience.
The Last of Us was already the best game out there and now it’s even better! Millions of new players will discover it and for sure love this epic tale! For me, being able to re-live these adventures was like I have never gone blind! Disability happens when accessibility doesn’t, this time the accessibility suite was so good that I almost didn’t feel disabled in any way.
The Last of Us, Part I releases September 2nd, exclusively for the PS5, and includes the additional Left Behind episode. The title is also in development for PC.
Buy The Last of Us, Part I PS5 now!
Victor Dima
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