The best way to play a genuine classic.
The basic visual setup in the Remastered version is very familiar, at least by default.
By far the largest prefs difference between the two titles lies in their handling of foliage.
Similarly, in a bar scene, the patrons seem to have proper capsule shadows along their feet.
In other flashback sequences though, the Ellie model looks identical across the two versions.
Overall, the two versions of The Last of Us Part 2 look fairly similar.
From a typical viewing distance though, the difference between a straight 1440p and 4K isn’t profound.
Cutscenes are a slight exception, where the game holds a frame on camera cuts for TAA purposes.
Elsewhere, the game runs at a perfect 60fps as far as I can tell.
This was largely the case as well with the PS4 version running on PS5.
Here, the game occasionally dropped a few frames at a time while engaging enemies.
Curiously, the Remaster runs this sequence just fine, without any frame-rate drop whatsoever.
The fidelity option is unsurprisingly a near-perfect 30fps lock too.
It’s definitely a better experience than the fidelity mode at 30fps.
Both modes appear to have identical visual parameters to their 60Hz counterparts, too.
Loading times have also seen a big improvement.
The new remastered version appears to load into chapter markers at about ~16s, a huge improvement.
Finally, there are a couple of additional configurables worth noting.
The DualSense haptics and trigger feedback can be adjusted extensively too.
By far the biggest addition here is the new No Return game mode.
If you die, you have to start again from the beginning.
Progress unlocks new characters and new modifiers, but everything else is reset.
I think the game plays excellently too.
There’s something wonderfully tactile about choking out an enemy, or landing a headshot on an unsuspecting soldier.
This is simply the best way to play one of the most accomplished last-generation titles.
