Finally, PC users can play the acclaimed video game The Last of Us: Part I. However, the ratings and reviews at the start of the new version are catastrophic. There is a problem behind this, which unfortunately does not occur for the first time.
Huh, what happened there? That’s probably the question for someone looking at the ratings of the recently released PC version of the popular video game The Last of Us: Part I. Because this title is actually considered one of the best of recent years, just like its successor. The HBO series, which was released earlier this year, should actually boost its success. Now, however, bad ratings and reviews are pouring in. The players in particular are angry. But why is that?
The Last of Us: Part I for PC under criticism
Since March 28, 2023, “The Last of Us: Part I” is finally available for the PC. The game was originally released for the PlayStation 3 in 2013. For years, the title was only available to PlayStation players. In fact, it is one of the most celebrated and successful games of recent years. Accordingly, the joy was great when finally a PC version was launched, because after all, gambled in 2022 more than a third via a stationary computer, and a full 72 percent via a laptop.
But now the game gets a devastating one on the well-known Metacritic platform Score of 2.6 from the players. That is somewhat surprising. If you look at the ratings for the other versions, the original from 2013 has a proud score of 95. The PS5 of the remake from 2022 also ends up with a still very good 88 out of 100 points.
Most of the almost 900 reviews received so far (as of March 30, 2023) on the important gaming platform Steam are also negative. If you take a close look at the ratings, you will quickly find out why: Once again, the PC port seems to be to blame.
PC version with many flaws
Unfortunately, it has to be said that this does not necessarily come as a surprise. The original development studio Naughty Dog is not behind it. Instead, the porting was outsourced to the appropriately specialized studio Iron Galaxy. The name is not unknown. Among other things, Iron Galaxy was also responsible for the PC version of “Batman: Arkham Knight”, which also started with many problems and negative reviews. But also away from the studio it happens again and again that problems arise during the porting. For example, the PC control of the legendary 1st part of the “Dark Souls” series was considered to be completely screwed up. The already difficult title was therefore hardly playable with mouse and keyboard.
Unfortunately, The Last of Us: Part I for PC seems to have several problems that are responsible for the bad reviews. First and foremost, Steam users complain about the recurring crashes and long pauses when loading the shaders. In addition, the technical requirements are disproportionately high, especially since – in contrast to other major titles – there is no open world that needs to be calculated. On Steam itself, however, you can only find the minimum and recommended requirements, which do not seem to be enough to guarantee a good gaming experience.
Many are also annoyed that there was no test version for the PC or that it only came out immediately before the actual release of the game. Many errors could probably have been corrected in advance with a longer test phase.
What can players do?
In addition, the mouse control seems to be a reason for the bad reviews in “The Last of Us: Part I” for PC. Naughty Dog is also known, among other things, for its unique camera work in video games. That’s a big issue with “The Last of Us”. The studio programmed this specifically, which apparently caused the developers of Iron Galaxy to face some problems.
The good news: In the past there were a lot of patches for the “Uncharted” series that fixed most of the problems. That should also be the case with “The Last of Us”. Since this is the studio’s flagship game, which also attracts a lot of attention, not least because of the series, fixing the problems should have priority.
In addition, players can also do a lot to work around the problems. You should first make sure that the graphics driver is really up-to-date and, above all, you should give the shaders enough time to load in advance. The shaders are small programs that calculate textures, light and shadows in a 3D world. Also, some users report that limiting the frame rate to 60 frames per second (FPS) along with vertical synchronization (VSync) and triple buffering makes the game run more stably.
Sources
- extra (accessed March 30, 2023)
- Metacritic (accessed March 30, 2023)
- Steam (accessed March 30, 2023)