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Packs an enormous emotional punch

This was my 6th (I think) playthrough of The Last of Us (TLoU) and my 3rd playthrough of the Left Behind DLC. Last time I played it was like 18 months ago on the PS5. And I thought maybe it was too soon to still have that emotional impact that it had on me before, but that definitely wasn’t the case. TLoU packs an enormous emotional punch each time you’ve played it. And with all the bells and whistles turned up on PC it’s better than ever.
Oh, I forgot that I have to do something
I’ve written this recently in my Ghost of Tsushima review, but how lucky are to be a part of an age in videogaming that allows us to enjoy these games. Sometimes it feels like there’s to little time to enjoy them all. But the feeling that there’s so many good games to choose from, amazing.
TLoU gives me that same feeling again, like I am a part of this journey. When you’re watching cutscenes I noticed that sometimes my mouth was open, still in amazement of how impactful and beautiful this game is. A moment where the camera zooms out and you just stand there, what, is nothing happening? No, this is the part where you regain control and actually have to play the game, TLoU has so many of these moments.
Linear but not limited
TLoU has a linear story and a narrow path to follow when playing, it’s the same as the Uncharted-series. You have areas to explore and it’s always clear on where you need to go next. But it doesn’t feel like you’re on rails with no freedom at all, you do a decent amount of exploring. There are many little easter eggs to find in the game, dialogue to unlock, items to find and plenty of places to see. For me personally, these are the type of games I like the best. Nowadays everything has to be open world, where you’ve got a map with dozens of icons on it, they all feel similar and for me the largeness of these maps make the story feel less impactful.
The places you visit in TLoU feel real, like people have lived there before. Rooms you go through, community buildings you visit, open areas, they feel like they were once part of a vibrant and rural life. This feeling of ‘olden times’ is kept alive by Joel and Ellies conversations also. He was once part of these ‘normal’ times, where she is part of the time where people are only fighting for survival.
You can’t deny those graphics though

I’ve read that the performance of the pc-port of TLoU was mediocre when launched. I can tell you that I’ve had no problems whatsoever during the game, no insane frame drops, no glitching or strange artifacts on screen, it was smooth through and through. Keep in mind that I’m playing on an 7800X3D with a 4080 Super graphics card so your experience might be different.
The game is beautiful, the surrounding, the character animations. I must say that with each new step this game has taken to look and play even better, the impact also became greater for me. Seeing all these tiny details during conversations and also during action scenes, it feels like a movie. And although I don’t necessarily need top-notch graphics to enjoy a game, in this instance it really helps.
Final words
If you’ve never played TLoU, get it, it will undoubtably land somewhere in the list of your favorite games of all time. Even if you’ve played it on of the many PS releases already and you’ve got a beefy pc, I’d also advise for you to get it, seeing it in all it’s glory (for me) makes it worth it.
TLoU tells a story for the ages. Where we see the absolute worst and the most beautiful parts of what makes us human. Where the line between feeling lost and feeling loved is thin. Where at the end of it all you sit there, with your mouth open, contemplating if you want to do it all over again, or need some time to play a game that doesn’t make your eyes tear up when the credits start rolling.