The first time I played The Last of Us Part II , it felt like falling into a cold, dark river with no idea how deep it went. It was beautiful and engaging, but it carried the weight of its themes. Now, years later, the remastered version arrives on PC — wider, sharper, and just as gutting.
If the original was a knife to the heart, this one is a clean surgical cut. Same pain, delivered with finer precision and at a higher fidelity. The PC version brings visual upgrades, performance improvements, and a few fresh extras, but at its core, it is the same emotional freight train that more players will now get to experience.
If you have just watched the hit HBO TV series, the story will feel familiar. Set four years after The Last of Us , Ellie is now 19 and living in Jackson, Wyoming. You are soon introduced, quite brutally, to the second protagonist, Abby.
The game then alternates narratives between the two, telling Abby’s story of loss and forcing the player to question who is right and who is wrong, as roles shift from protagonist to antagonist and back again. The adage “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” holds true. The Last of Us Part II is a brutal dismantling of everything that came before it.
That is where its genius lies: offering a lived-in glimpse of life after a societal breakdown. In this world, the fungal monsters outside are less terrifying than the human mind pushed to its limits after years in survival mode. The remaster is not just a shinier coat of pain.
