Pyrenees Gaming: A great return to “The Last of Us Part 2”.

The announcement a few weeks ago of the remastered version of “The Last of Us Part 2” would have raised a smile given the amazing graphic quality of the game, which will be released in 2020 on PlayStation 4. Three and a half years later, Naughty Dog’s masterpiece still beats almost all current games and we wondered what more the remastered version could bring.

A few days after its release, exclusively on PlayStation 5, the answer is clear: it brings a lot. Not only on the graphic level – although there are more details – but also on the content. overview.

A welcome rogue-lite mod

In addition to the game, which we will return to later, this new version has a new advantage with a mode simply titled “No Return”. Here we are in a kind of rogue-lite that uses the game’s excellent gameplay to offer a series of encounters and fights. Everything comes together perfectly and even if the rogue-lite aspect forces us to start all over again every time we die, the progression system is such that we progress no matter what. A real game within a game where you have to demonstrate both stealth and aggression to overcome enemies.

Another new feature: the presence of three cut scenes in the final version. The three levels can be played as they are more or less advanced in their development, as is done in a DVD or Blu-ray bonus. We also take advantage of developers’ comments and explanations, in particular, to understand why they were abandoned.

Similarly, you can enjoy the game’s cut scenes to hear them tell behind the scenes of development. We also hear interpreters from Joel, Ellie, and other characters. A great initiative from Naughty Dog, full of jokes, which we want to see more often.

These two big new features allow us to further expand this second part of Joel and Ellie’s adventures. Four years after the events of the first episode, the two symbolic heroes of the first episode live in Jackson, a self-sufficient city that manages to ensure the sustenance of its people in a world ravaged by Cordyceps, a fungus that lives at the root of the fungus. brains of humans and makes them hyper-aggressive.

Appearing twenty-four years ago, cordyceps set the world on fire. Chaos reigns supreme and only a few well-ordered towns and villages like Jackson manage to survive against the hordes of the infected. Highly contagious, the infection has spread at great speed and humanity is experiencing a temporary decline.

To save her, we rewind a few moments to the first episode. Without spoiling too much, we meet Ellie’s character, a 14-year-old girl who is apparently immune to cordyceps. She is then taken by Joel to join the Lucioles, an organization specifically trying to create a cure for Cordyceps. For them, Eli is the key to making a vaccine.

Then we find ourselves in a real road movie that takes Eli and Joel from Boston to Pittsburgh to Salt Lake City. However, we won’t say more so as not to spoil this great story. So this second episode is a direct continuation of the first. At once grand and poignant, the scene of this second half deserves to be said as little as possible because it must feel as empty as possible.

Today is the best way to play it

Although we could mention everything else, it would go quickly. The technique is impeccable, as is the gameplay. The same goes for the music and especially the universe that will haunt you for a long time. In short, “The Last of Us Part II” is a masterpiece that largely lives up to the first episode.

This remastered version is clearly the best way to find it, though not necessarily for those who have already done it on PS4. If they still have it, they will have to pay about ten euros to get this enhanced version. Otherwise, the game is sold at 50 euros full price, which is a reasonable price for a remaster.

Finally, let us add that the two opuses also form two sides of the same coin. They are without a shadow of a doubt in the pantheon of the greatest games of all time. Undoubtedly.