At this point, you can’t help but wonder if Naughty Dog should just reveal everything there is to know about The Last of Us Part 1. After all, it’s already gone gold ahead of its release date on September 2 for the PS5. Going back to the topic of leaks, there are so many of them over on Twitter:
— Bloodborne ( PC ) - Daily Dose (@bloodborne_pc) July 19, 2022 We don’t know what we’re more surprised about, that Naughty Dog hasn’t taken action to take the images off the internet yet or that the leaks include critical and spoiler moments in the remake.
— Nick (@Shpeshal_Nick) July 20, 2022 Unless you’ve lived under the rock for the past decade, you know what happened in The Last of Us. But, we understand why Naughty Dog is so secretive about The Last of Us Part 1. The studio stands to make a lot of money from pre-orders from fans who are expecting to see more than just a fresh coat of paint for the award-winning game’s SP5 release. Now that images and even videos of The Last of Us Part 1 are out in the open, we’re not so confident that people will pay full PS5 game price ($70) for a graphical enhancement of a decade-old game without a multiplayer. Make no mistake. We’re not undermining Naughty Dog’s efforts. We can also see why an animator defended The Last of Us Part 1 from allegations that it’s just a “cash grab.” At the same time, you can’t blame those who feel that the project is underwhelming, because it is. This isn’t like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered for the PS5, which is also getting a PC port on August 12, by the way. The aforementioned remaster initially came as a “freebie” for the standalone expansion, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Sony later made it available as a digital upgrade for those who already owned the game on the PS4 but the company didn’t ask for full price. Meanwhile, The Last of Us Part 1 costs more than The Last of Us Part II without necessarily being better-looking than its sequel. The main point here is that The Last of Us Part 1 could set a precedent where studios can just re-remaster a game for next-gen consoles instead of releasing a next-gen patch. Perhaps this is what Naughty Dog wanted to do all along. The Last of Us Part II still doesn’t have a proper PS5 release. Theoretically, the studio could release The Last of Us Part II for the PS5 as a separate title for $70 sometime next year while fans are waiting for The Last of Us multiplayer spin-off. Nothing is stopping Naughty Dog from doing this, but we hope the studio knows better. In an ideal world, The Last of Us Part I and Part II could have been released together for the PS5 for $70. Maybe then there wouldn’t be as much backlash.
