The Last of Us Part II Remastered Announced for Next Year

After a brief leak yesterday, Naughty Dog has announced The Last of Us Part II Remastered for the PlayStation 5, scheduled to release next year.

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The critically acclaimed action-adventure will release on January 19, 2024, and will feature updated visuals, new content, DualSense integration and more. You can check out the trailer below:

The Last of Us Part II Remastered will bring a slew of improvements to the game, including 4K native resolution in Fidelity mode, faster loading times, graphical enhancements, hours of developer commentary and full DualSense integration.

More crucially, the Remastered will also feature new content, such as the Lost Levels, allowing players to explore “early development versions of three new levels not seen in the original”. Along with that, the PS5 version will also introduce No Return, a roguelike survival mode where players must survive “as long as you can in each run, as you choose your path through a series of randomized encounters.” Players will be able to unlock different characters, including “never-before playable” in The Last of Us franchise, each with unique gameplay traits. The survival mode will also feature “different foes and memorable locations from throughout Part II, all culminating in tense boss battles.”

In addition to that, a Guitar Free Play mode will also be included to allow players to live up to their musical potential with different unlockable instruments to play. There will also be a Speedrun Mode for those skilled enough to blitz through the game.

Naughty Dog also announced an upgrade path for those who already own the PS4 version of The Last of Us Part II. Digital version owners can upgrade to the Remastered edition for $10. However, those who own the disc will require the PS5 with a disc drive to avail of the upgrade. “Owners of PS4 disc copies must insert them into the PS5 every time they want to download or play the PS5 digital version,” Naughty Dog said in the blog post.

Curiously, there has been no mention of a PC version of the remaster, which is quite odd as now would have been a great time to launch both versions together. But considering how buggy and resource-intensive the original game was when it was released on PC last year, they might be cooking it in the oven for a little longer.

The Last of Us Part II was released in 2020 to high critical acclaim and quickly became one of the highest-rated games on PlayStation. It has garnered a 93 per cent rating on Opencritic and Metacritic.