The Last of Us 2 PS5 version seemingly confirmed by the game’s composer
And potentially features new content
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It seems like the long-rumored, long-expectedTheLast of Us Part 2PS5 edition (a native PS5 edition or re-release) has just been confirmed, or at least strongly hinted at, by the series' composer Gustavo Santaolalla.
No, this is not a huge surprise, but perhaps the means by which the reveal has come about is a little off the beaten track. In an interview with the folks on theBlender podcast, Gustavo Santaolalla speaks about his cameo inThe Last of Us Part 2- near the beginning of the game in Jackson, playing the banjo on a chair next to Buckley the dog - but goes on to say that “in the new editions you’re gonna be able to make me play certain tracks, and well, I can’t tell you anything else”.
For full disclosure, this is all he said on the matter, and with the podcast and discussion in Spanish, I’ve used some translation tools, subtitles, and seen what native-Spanish and Spanish-speaking fans have said on Twitter so as to best translate the above.
That said, the revealing part about ‘new editions’ is, indeed, accurate - though I did see some oscillation between the word ‘edition’ and ‘version’. Either way, it’s a pretty big nod to aLast of Us 2PS5 game. While a PS5 version isn’t a surprise, and will be extremely welcome news to fans like myself, I will say that my interest has been piqued further by this hint at new features and content.
The release of a native PS5 edition ofThe Last of Us Part IIhas always been likely -The Last of Us Remasteredwas released around a year on PS4 after the original PS3 release and set an early precedent for remasters. Afterward, Naughty Dog followed suit by having PS4 Uncharted games come to PS5 natively, followed, of course, withThe Last of Us Part I.
A PS5-optimized version ofThe Last of Us Part IImakes a great deal of sense, commercially, with the huge fanbase bigger than ever thanks to the HBO show and a now-huge player base on PS5. Plus we’ve already had similar ‘Director’s Cut’ PS5-version treatment on other big late-PS4 games likeDeath StrandingandGhost of Tsushima.
While many would look at the PS4 version ofPart IIand state that it doesn’t need an upgrade, we do know that the graphic textures and models used inPart I, while they may look similar, were of higher fidelity thanPart IIso there’s another step there that Naughty Dog could take if it so chose. Throw in all the extras that the PS5 can achieve (DualSensesupports, Fidelity and Performance modes, et al.)andnew content like Santaolalla hints at, and a very attractive re-release package begins to form. Watch this space.
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With The Last of Us Remastered and Part II already being two of thebest PS4 gamesever made, it sure does look like Part I and the Part II re-release are likely to emulate that on the current console generation and make waves on the internet’sbest PS5 gameslists.
Rob is the Managing Editor of TechRadar Gaming, a video games journalist, critic, editor, and writer, and has years of experience gained from multiple publications. Prior to being TechRadar Gaming’s Managing Editor, he was TRG’s Deputy Editor, and a longstanding member of GamesRadar+, being the Commissioning Editor for Hardware there for years, while also squeezing in a short stint as Gaming Editor at WePC just before joining TechRadar Gaming. He is also a writer on tech, gaming hardware, and video games but also gardens and landscapes, combining the two areas in an upcomingbook on video game landscapesthat you can back and pre-order now.
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