The Last of us Part II Remastered The Last of us Part II Remastered

Gaming

The Last of us Part II Remastered is worth the upgrade

The additions truly add value

All images c/o Sony PlayStation

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It’s always tricky writing about Remastered released for games that were released to a console just a generation ago. But some games make it easy by introducing truly new valuable additions to the game, and The Last of us Part II Remastered does just that. 

For context, the game that precedes it, The Last of Us Part I, was remastered for a second time. The game first came out for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and then a remastered version was released for the PlayStation 4 (PS5). And just in 2022, it received its most significant graphical overhaul when it got a remake, this time, for the PlayStation 5 (PS5). 

That last one wasn’t exactly received well when it was first announced. Primarily because PlayStation and Game Developer Naughty Dog priced it as if it was a totally brand new game. But those who played it, like us, can attest that the changes did feel significant. 

But those graphical changes aren’t exactly that necessary for The Last of Us Part II. After all, it came out at the tail end of the PS4 Pro and was easily one of the best looking first party games of that console generation. 

So, what’s new? 

The Last of us Part II Remastered

A lot, actually. It has everything from native 4K and improved graphics, support for the DualSense controller, to a brand new game mode you can sink your teeth into as soon as you finish the story. 

The graphical improvements don’t feel significant at first. However, if you look for it, there’s a noticeable seamlessness into how the game transitions from cutscene to gameplay. Not that it wasn’t seamless before, it just is even smoother now in this remastered version.

It’s worth noting that if you have beaten the game before, your save file will be recognized and all your trophies will carry over. This also means you can jump right into the couple of new gameplay stuff that The Last of us Part II Remastered has to offer. 

Guitar Free Play

This was a popular thing when the game first came out. Many players posted cover songs using only the game’s guitar playing mechanic. If you’ve advanced to the story enough, you’ll also gain access to more than just the acoustic guitar with Ellie playing during the early part of the game.

Speedrun 

This is pretty self explanatory. Speedrun mode challenges you to beat the game as fast as you can. You can even post your best times for bragging purposes. 

No Return

No Return is most certainly the addition that most players will sink their teeth into. Naughty Dog describes it as A Roguelike Survival Mode. Survival is very apt.

Essentially, you progress from one map to another defeating waves of enemies and collecting loot as you go along. The maps and waves of enemies are randomized. But they’re all ones that you’ve encountered in the main game. 

After every wave, a treasure chest becomes available allowing you some time to retool your loadout or heal if necessary. After completing a stage, you are sent back to the first area which is a hideout. Here you can use the loot you collected in your runs to improve your stats and equipment with the work bench. 

A punishing experience

The kicker is if you die at any point during your run, you lose all your items and you have to start over from the beginning. It can be punishing but it will certainly test your mastery of The Last of Us Part II’s combat.

You start off with just Ellie and Abby available as playable characters. The more runs and challenges you complete, the more characters are unlocked. Each character handles a little differently from each other. Much like how Ellie is more agile and Abby is flat-out stronger, each character will have their own strengths and weaknesses. 

If you love a challenge, then this is certainly for you, but if you’re anything like this writer who is quite impatient and does not really care for roguelikes, this can be an infuriating experience. 

Should you play The Last of Us Part II Remastered? 

The Last of us Part II Remastered

Despite this being a game that yours truly doesn’t exactly vibe with, this is objectively a masterpiece. 

The Last of Us Part II Remastered polishes an already well-made product and adds some gameplay touches that elevate the experience. Most importantly, the new No Return game mode presents a challenge for those that truly enjoyed the game’s combat mechanics. The nature of the game mode even invites multiple playthroughs so it’s definitely something you’ll be investing some time in. 

Unlike The Last of Us Part 1, The Last of Us Part II is a mere US$ 10 upgrade if you already own the game. And if you don’t, it’s worth every damn penny. 

If you missed the first game and don’t have the bandwidth to play through it, you can watch either some quick recaps on YouTube or the Emmy Award-winning HBO show starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

SEE ALSO: The Last of Us Part II review: An aftermath of ruthlessness

Gaming

The regular PlayStation 5 is getting an AI upscaling feature

The feature debuts with Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei.

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Marvel's Wolverine

If you’re an owner of a regular PlayStation 5, watching a PS5 Pro owner might touch you with a tinge of jealousy. Besides the upgraded console’s better hardware, it also has something called the PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), which uses AI to improve resolution and framerate. Unfortunately, that feature isn’t available on the regular console. But Sony is throwing the classic console a bone today by adding Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR), which does the same as PSSR but on the older machine.

Since the introduction of PSSR, fans and developers alike have asked whether the older console can have a version of the technology. Developed with AMD, QSSR is an AI upscaling feature that improves performance for modern games on the PlayStation 5. For now, the feature is debuting first on Ghost of Yotei and Marvel’s Wolverine via a set of patches. Moving forward, Sony will also allow its developers to add the feature for their respective games.

Now, the choice of games is deliberate. Marvel’s Wolverine is still fresh on everyone’s mind. Meanwhile, Ghost of Yotei has just released a Complete Edition, which packs in a new story expansion and a roguelike mode. You don’t even need to Complete Edition or the corresponding paid upgrade to enjoy the new feature.

SEE ALSO: Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition review: More of a great thing

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Gaming

Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition review: More of a great thing

Picking up where Atsu left off

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Ghost of Yotei Complete Edition

A year away from Ghost of Yōtei was enough to make me rusty. It wasn’t enough to make me forget why I loved it.

What immediately jumped out to me is how beautifully connected this game’s open-world mechanics are. Moving about and exploring felt like picking up where I left off after roughly a year of not really touching the game.

The Guiding Wind, the birds that point you toward locations of interest, and the encounters scattered throughout Ezo all work together to keep you busy without the tasks ever feeling like a chore. There is always something worth looking toward, whether it is a quest, a hidden location, or simply another reason to stop and appreciate the scenery.

And of course, the new area is just as beautiful as everything else we’ve seen in the base game.

That is probably the biggest compliment I can give Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition. It does not feel like an expansion bolted onto an existing game. It feels like another excuse to step back into a world that already knew how to pull me in.

Picking up where I left off

Ghost of Yotei Complete Edition

I started my playthrough of the Complete Edition with Echoes of Sekigahara. I thought it was going to be a quick romp, but it’s proving to be a longer experience than I initially thought it would be.

I’ve spent roughly five to six hours playing through it, and I don’t think I’m anywhere near completing the story.

That said, I did get sidetracked quite a bit.

Which tends to happen with these Ghost games.

Not to their detriment, though. Every other quest and encounter in the open world feels like a contained story on its own that is well worth your time. The game has a way of presenting distractions that never really feel like distractions. You can set out with one objective in mind, stumble into something else, and suddenly realize an hour has passed.

That familiarity came back surprisingly quickly.

The new region introduced in Echoes of Sekigahara brings unfamiliar enemies, new weapons, and memories tied to Atsu’s past, giving the expansion its own identity while still operating within the systems that made the base game so easy to lose yourself in.

The Wolf quest line in particular was the first one I tackled, and it was quite a ride.

I’m deliberately leaving the details there.

This is the kind of story that is better experienced without knowing too much going in, and the review guidelines themselves ask reviewers to avoid major narrative developments and surprises.

Finding my footing again

Ghost of Yotei Complete Edition

While movement and exploration felt natural, it took me a while to get reacquainted with the combat.

My Atsu had many skills mastered, but being a year removed from the game meant I was rusty. I was dying against what I would consider fodder enemies.

There is something humbling about returning to a game where you once felt completely in control, only to discover that your muscle memory has apparently packed its bags and moved somewhere else.

Even now as I write this review, I don’t think I’ve gotten to the level I was when I first completed the game.

But I’m getting by just fine.

And that is partly because Yōtei gives you another toy to play with.

Massive weapons make a massive difference

Massive Weapons

The new wrinkle in combat is the Massive Weapons you get to pick up and swing around.

They are an absolute joy to use.

More importantly, they bailed me out of a few encounters already.

There is a satisfying weight to picking up one of these weapons and simply going to town on enemies. It changes the rhythm of a fight without asking you to relearn the entire combat system. After spending several hours trying to remember how I used to fight as Atsu, having the option to grab something enormous and start swinging was a welcome change of pace.

This was a definite win.

It also highlights one of the strengths of Yōtei’s combat. The foundation is already strong enough that adding another layer does not need to completely reinvent it. Sometimes, giving Atsu something massive to hit people with is enough.

Most Wanted keeps the blade moving

If you want to dive deeper into combat, Most Wanted is where it’s at.

PlayStation first-party games have had a habit of adding these roguelike-inspired modes to some of their games. There’s Valhalla for God of War Ragnarök and No Return for The Last of Us Part II.

Most Wanted takes that idea and puts Yōtei’s combat front and center.

The mode is a single-player combat survival experience built around escalating bounties, different playable characters, and experimenting with the game’s combat system. Unlike Echoes of Sekigahara, you can jump into it immediately without existing save data or base-game progression.

I’ve only had a couple of runs so far, but I can say I thoroughly enjoy the mode.

Mostly because I love the game’s combat mechanics.

That is what you engage with for much of Most Wanted, and it gives you a reason to keep testing yourself. You start a run, make your choices, fight your way through increasingly demanding encounters, and inevitably reach a point where things stop going according to plan.

Then you try again.

And again.

There is a particular satisfaction to a mode like this when the underlying combat is already enjoyable. Losing doesn’t necessarily feel like wasted time because every run gives you another opportunity to get better at the thing you were already having fun doing.

It can also be frustrating.

That is part of the appeal.

More Yōtei is still more Yōtei

The biggest strength of Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition is also the simplest.

It gives me more Ghost of Yōtei.

Echoes of Sekigahara gives Atsu another story to tell. Most Wanted gives the combat another place to shine. The Complete Edition also adds cosmetics, Trophies, Photo Mode content, and other extras. Meanwhile, the October 1 update brings additional Watanabe Mode tracks, Beauty of Yōtei mode, quality-of-life improvements, and a new high-contrast accessibility option to all Ghost of Yōtei players.

After roughly a year away, I was surprised by how quickly I settled back into the rhythm.

The wind blew, birds flew, a quest turned into another quest, and a random encounter became a story.

Then I picked up a massive weapon and started remembering why I enjoyed this game so much in the first place.

That cohesion remains Yōtei’s greatest strength. Its world constantly gives you reasons to move forward without making the journey feel like work. The Complete Edition simply gives you more reasons to keep going.

Is Ghost of Yotei Complete Edition your Play Match?

Ghost of Yōtei was already one of the best experiences on PlayStation 5.

The Complete Edition gives you more of it.

Echoes of Sekigahara is shaping up to be a substantial addition rather than a short side adventure, while Most Wanted offers a compelling excuse to keep coming back to Atsu’s combat long after you’ve finished the main story.

I still have plenty more of both to see. But even after only a handful of hours with the new content, I know exactly how I feel about returning to Yōtei.

It feels familiar, fresh, and Most Wanted will both frustrate and hook you.

It’s absolutely thrilling.

Ghost of Yōtei Complete Edition is an easy Swipe Up.

After a year away, I came back rusty.

I’m still swinging. And I’m still having a damn good time.

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered is now available

The Witcher 3 gets a major overhaul

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CD PROJEKT RED has released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered, a free upgrade that brings a wide range of visual, performance, and gameplay improvements to the acclaimed RPG.

The remastered version is available as a free upgrade for existing owners on GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Players who own The Witcher 3 on the original Nintendo Switch can also upgrade for free to the native Nintendo Switch 2 version.

The upgrade also includes both expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, even for players who originally owned only the base game.

PC and PS5 Pro

On PC, The Witcher 3 now supports Path Tracing alongside improved textures, foliage, lighting, rendering, and ray tracing. The remaster also adds dedicated PlayStation 5 Pro support, with PSSR enabling ray tracing at 60fps and a performance mode that can reach up to 90fps with VRR.

Gameplay also gets an overhaul. CD PROJEKT RED has rebalanced the skill system, revamped combat animations, added new finishers, and introduced an adaptive camera. Geralt and Roach also receive updated animations, including more fluid traversal, vaulting, and ladder climbing.

The remaster adds cross-platform mod support through mod.io on consoles. Players can access custom content ranging from new quests and equipment to balance changes.

Switch 2

Nintendo Switch 2 gets additional features through its native version. These include motion controls, gyro aiming, mouse controls, and touchscreen support. Players can use motion controls for actions such as aiming the crossbow, throwing bombs, casting Signs, and controlling Roach. The touchscreen can also be used to navigate menus and play Gwent.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered is also available to purchase on Battle.net and the Microsoft Store, where it supports Xbox Play Anywhere.

The remaster replaces the Complete Edition on supported platforms and includes Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine as standard. It was developed in close collaboration with Yigsoft.

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