The Last Of Us Part 1 Leaked Footage Shows Mostly Unchanged Remake

Only yesterday, screenshots from the upcoming The Last of Us remake were unofficially uploaded and spread online. The leaks have since continued with several minutes of uninterrupted gameplay footage from two of the game’s familiar sections. The footage shows Joel doing what Joel does best, sneaking around, hitting enemies with sticks, and shooting with his varied arsenal of weapons. You can see the leaks here.

Along with these videos, came some more screenshots, one of them a close-up of fan-favourite Bill, and the graphical improvements cannot be argued. The character looks demonstrably more detailed and realistic than his 2013 counterpart. The leaks also show an image of the button layout for the PS5 controller, and a short video of Joel on a workbench checking out upgrades for his rifle.

The original The Last of Us came out for PlayStation 3 back in 2013 to thunderous applause from the gaming industry, the game was received well by both fans and critics. It is widely considered to be one of the leading examples of video game storytelling, and it rose the already celebrated Naughty Dog studio, to even taller heights. In 2014, Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Remastered for PlayStation 4 at full price. The game functioned similarly but had higher resolution and small graphical improvements, and it included the Left Behind DLC, as well as the multiplayer factions mode.

Though this leaked gameplay looks graphically stunning and fluid as usual, more discussions continue to emerge regarding the price point of the 2022 remake. Many resisted the idea of this remake existing in the first place, due to the 2014 version looking great, and only being 8 years old, but there was less resistance after screenshots of the graphical upgrades began to appear. However, many were hoping for significant gameplay changes, so the game could play more like the 2020 sequel, The Last of Us Part II.

Some changes can be gauged. Similar to Part II, the listening ability has been made less effective as it now only shows a small white aura if the enemy is really far away, and not their entire outline. Another change is a quality-of-life adjustment to weapon selection, where you can now scroll up and down to choose between your two major slots, instead of having to go far left or far right. However, not much else is noticed.

It’s worth noting that these are only a few minutes of gameplay and aren’t representative of the entire game, but in these few minutes, we do not see any of the other major gameplay changes that were in The Last of Us Part II. There is no prone, no dodging, and no new weapons, and the concern intensifies when you see the controls image and realize that these abilities aren’t mentioned there either. On top of that, though the environments look prettier, they are functionally identical to the original The Last of Us.

One of the most noticeable gameplay improvements from the first game to its sequel was its deeper-level design. There were things like tall grass and cars to prone under, cleverer cover placement, and encounters so large and sprawling, that they yielded innumerable outcomes. One gameplay sequence from the leaks, which we won’t specify here for spoilers’ sake, shows the environment is the exact same as the original game’s, just with higher visual fidelity. Some people’s response to the leaks has been one of anger, especially considering the price point and the lack of multiplayer. We’ll have to wait and see if the official gameplay reveal by Naughty Dog quells these criticisms or entrenches them further.

The Last of Us Part 1 releases on September 2 exclusively for PlayStation 5.