The Last of Us Part I on PC: An Anticipated Adventure Marred by Disappointing Port Performance

Undoubtedly, The Last of Us has captured the attention of PC gamers since it debuted on the PS3 in 2013. This game is such a significant title that it has seen two additional releases on later PlayStation consoles, adapting and proving its longevity over time. The latest PC rendition of The Last of Us Part I is a straightforward port of the PS5 remake — completely redesigned with enhanced visuals and updated gameplay mechanics to compete with the standards established by 2020’s The Last of Us Part II. As a standout game from Naughty Dog and following a three-week delay for fine-tuning, one would expect it to launch in optimal condition. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, as the studio enlisted Iron Galaxy for the porting process — the same developers behind the disastrous PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight. The end product is a poorly optimized experience with issues cropping up well before the game even begins.

The Last of Us Part I PC review: Setup and experience

If you’ve been online lately, you’re probably familiar with the infamous images of a caveman-like Joel and an Ellie with spaghetti hair. These amusing visual bugs are unacceptable from AAA publishers like Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), whose rationale I can’t quite comprehend. It’s odd because the company has its own porting team, Nixxes Software, responsible for nearly flawless versions of Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales for PC, achieving smooth frame rates and visuals that even work with older hardware dating back to the days of the Nvidia GTX 950.

Instead of leveraging this existing expertise, they chose a third-party team, which previously delivered a marginally acceptable Uncharted port — whose main issues were eventually resolved in a later update. Given such an inconsistent history, it’s perplexing why Naughty Dog opted for this risky choice. One clear reason is likely the push to release The Last of Us Part I on PC to coincide with the hype surrounding the HBO series, but this resulted in a rough port. Initially launching the game triggers a shader compilation that can take anywhere from several minutes to potentially hours, as noted in some negative Steam reviews.

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The Shader Building process (bottom-right corner) takes a significant amount of time and consumes your system resources
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

From my experience, the shader compilation took an astonishing 30 minutes to complete on my second attempt. Initially, the game crashed completely when I selected the Options menu to check the settings. You wouldn’t even want to risk watching a YouTube video in the background to pass the time, as this process monopolizes your system’s resources. All eight cores of my AMD Ryzen 7 5800x were at full capacity, causing any other applications to lag as I stared patiently at the home screen.

This behavior is not typical for any contemporary game, and I foresee this being a huge issue for players with lower-end CPUs. The ‘Shader Building’ process, as termed by Iron Galaxy, could extend to an hour on such machines or even on the Steam Deck, effectively halving the gameplay time you have to explore. Steam permits only two hours of playtime for a refund request, and I sincerely hope other publishers do not adopt this as a dubious strategy to increase profits.

The Last of Us Part I PC review: Gameplay

Thanks to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation, even individuals who don’t game are now familiar with its heartrending narrative. It tells the perilous story of two survivors, the rugged loner Joel and the young Ellie, as they traverse a post-apocalyptic America filled with infected mutants, desolate survivors, and some unsavory individuals. Throughout their journey, they forge a father-daughter relationship, grappling with their sorrow and finding moments of hope in an otherwise bleak world.

All that needs to be said about The Last of Us game has already been articulated numerous times over the years, so I’ll focus on the technical aspects now. In terms of content, you’re receiving the same experience as the PS5 remake, which features the base game, the Left Behind prequel DLC, a photo mode, and a permadeath option for seasoned players. However, multiplayer is absent from The Last of Us Part I, as Naughty Dog works on a standalone multiplayer title with a new cast and setting.

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The PC version includes all of the single-player content from the PS5 remake, including the Left Behind DLC
Photo Credit: PlayStation/ Naughty Dog

The keyboard and mouse setup is mostly user-friendly, offering full button mapping capabilities that can be stored in custom profiles for easy access. However, mouse camera controls exhibit the same issues as Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, leading to noticeable stuttering, which only worsens in conjunction with character movement.

The jitter remained even with motion blur activated, but it vanished when I shifted to a PS5 DualSense controller. It’s perplexing how one can develop a PC game without accurately implementing default peripheral support. Did the developers overlook the platform this was designed for, or simply decide it wasn’t a priority and ran out of time to revise? To maintain smoother gameplay, I primarily used a controller while occasionally switching to keyboard and mouse for more precise aiming during gunfights. While not ideal, it was manageable.

The haptic feedback on the DualSense controller deeply immerses you in TLOU’s lush environment. As usual, PC users can only experience this via a wired connection, producing appropriate sensations such as the rumbling of a tank, jolts when jumping from heights, the click of a firearm, or the impact of smashing a Clicker’s face with a brick. These sensations occur even during stealth moments, reflecting a victim’s struggles as you strangle or stab them. Atmospheric weather elements like thunder and the gentle patter of rain are effectively relayed through your hands, with intensity settings adjustable via sliders.

Vibration intensity on the PS5 DualSense controller can be adjusted via sliders
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

Meanwhile, drawing back on a bowstring or firing weapons causes the DualSense’s adaptive triggers to provide resistance. However, at times when the vibrations and adaptive triggers were activated together, the force was so great it would momentarily disconnect my controller, which was quite frustrating. Additionally, the absence of vibration effects when moving through foliage was a significant immersive aspect that was present in Horizon Forbidden West.

Moreover, there are abundant accessibility features, catering to individuals with visual, auditory, or mobility challenges. In addition to basic visual aids and options for motion sickness, there are audio descriptions for cutscenes, a text-to-speech function, heightened color contrast to help easily distinguish allies from enemies, and much more. There are reportedly over 60 features, all welcome enhancements to make gaming more inclusive and enjoyable for all players.

Increased color contrast options assist in easily differentiating between allies and enemies
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

The Last of Us Part I PC review: Visuals and performance

First and foremost, it’s important to highlight that Naughty Dog misled users with their system requirements for The Last of Us Part I. Even setting aside their inconsistencies, the minimum specs claim that a 4GB graphics card — such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 470 — would suffice to run the game at low settings at 720p 30fps. However, when I tried those settings, the in-game VRAM usage showed that it was consuming 4.5GB of video memory — or 5.7GB when including ‘OS + Apps’ — which far surpasses what was suggested.

It’s unclear why there’s an extra 1.2GB usage, as my PC’s Task Manager indicates only 600MB of dedicated VRAM usage when idle — something doesn’t add up. Even external monitoring tools like MSI Afterburner and Process Explorer displayed higher numbers, suggesting that the game itself could be reserving additional memory for unknown reasons; either that, or the in-game VRAM indicator is malfunctioning.

Note how the reported VRAM usage exceeds the limit at 720p 30fps
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Rahul Chettiyar

I tested the game on a mid-range setup — an AMD Ryzen 7 5800x 4.25 GHz processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super GPU with 6GB of VRAM, 16GB RAM, and a 500GB SSD. This review is based on the game’s latest 14GB performance patch, which resolved crashing issues for me but still struggled on the performance front. There were ongoing micro stutters, as well as significant lag spikes when swiftly rotating the camera or drawing a weapon and aiming.

The overall experience wasn’t without interruptions regardless of lowering settings or adjusting screen resolution. Occasionally, the audio would drop out, breaking immersion. At times, it would desync during cutscenes for about 10-15 seconds until it regained sync. Compounding these were lengthy load times and dramatic frame drops during transitions between cutscenes and gameplay.