For those who can pay $700 for a PS5 Pro, many games will take advantage of its features. Some of the PS5 Pro-enhanced games include Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the Horizon series, and Marvel Rivals, among many other titles.

PS5 Pro enhanced games listed

The P?layStation Store currently has a list of PS5 Pro-enhanced games, with a total of 54 available currently announced.

According to a Redditor named ZXXII??, who found the tag "PS5 Pro Enhanced" on each store pag?e, they include the following:

• Alan Wake 2
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows
• The Callisto Protocol
• The Crew Motorfest
• Demon’s Souls
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• Dragon’s Dogma 2
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• EA Sports College Football 25
• EA Sports FC 25
• Empire of the Ants
• Enlisted
• F1 24
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• The First Descendant
• Fortnite
• Gran Turismo 7
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
• Horizon Forbidden West
• The Last of Us Part I
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered
• Lies of P
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Madden NFL 25
• Marvel Rivals
• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
• Mortal Kombat 1
• My Little Universe
• Naraka: Bladepoint
• No Man’s Sky
• Pro Baseball Spirits 2024-2025
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Redacted
• Resident Evil 4
• Resident Evil Village
• Retrieval
• Rise of the Ronin
• Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered
• Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2
• Spine: This is Gun Fu
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Star Wars Outlaws
• Stellar Blade
• Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown
• Towers of Aghasba
• Until Dawn
• Warframe
• War Thunder
• Marvel's Wolverine
• World of Warships: Legends

cyubeVR and Kayak VR Mirage are also supported with PS5 Pro enha?nced support for PSVR 2. We'll update this list if more games get announced for PS5 Pro enhancements.

What improvements will the PS5 Pro add?

It seems like the improvements the PS5 Pro will add will vary by game. However, it is supposed to support ray-tracing at higher resolutions and AI upscaling called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution. Some fans have complained that the Performance Mode for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is blurry while the game runs at 60 frames per second (FPS). The PS5 Pro supposedly gives the game higher-quality visuals (via Digital Foundry) while running at that pace rather than 30 FPS.

The post All PS5 Pro enhanced games confirmed so far appeared first on Destructoid.

Up to 40% of a game's total sales occur in the first month, according to the SSRN Electronic Journal. Consequentl?y, the best strategy for studios is to ensure their titles launch with a bang. Some strategic marketing is necessary to achieve this. Piling up good reviews from critics and gamers is also vital, meaning it'?s essential for games to launch in a polished state.

Over the years, a few titles h??ave missed the mark terribly, resulting in catastrophic laun?ches. The following list contains some of the worst offenders in gaming history.

2024 addendum

To borrow a common internet adage, it's like Concord read this list and said, "Hold my beer." As ?such, we felt it would be a good time to add to this list. It felt as though it would remain inco?mplete without what is currently the most talked about crash.

But rather than slotting in Concord and calling it a day, I'm going to also add a couple of my fa??vorite launch failures. Smangeliso already did a bang-up job on compiling some of the worst, so those are left untouched.

13. Trespasser - Jurassic Park

The move to 3D graphics was a painful one. Over-ambition was common, and nowhere was this more obvious than with Trespasser, a game based on the Jurassic Park franchise. The lead-up to the launch promised a game that used a real-time physics engine and artificial i??ntelligence that would make dinosaurs flock together and act based on their specifi?c needs.

Trespasser was technically impressive when it launched. However, the game was rushed so urgently that every promised feature was only technically implemented. Dinosaur AI, for example, wasn't ready for prime time, so the dinosaur's anger was cranked up to maximum, and that was it. The real-time physics and inverse kinematic animations resulted in the thunder lizards staggering ??around drunkenly. It's hilarious, it's easily one of my fa??vorite terrible games.

12. SimCity (2013)

The first SimCity was released in 1989 and became one of the most influential games in the history of the industry. It practically created the city-builder genre and laid the groundwork for all kinds of management games. Makes sense that EA would be the ones to screw that up. The publisher decided that the once single-player city builder should have a multiplayer element, and that was enough to warrant an always-online requirement for SimCity (2013). Previous botched attempts at always-online had soured the already mixed feelings on the requirement, and?? it proved to be warranted when many players had difficulty downloading, connecting, and staying connected to play the game.

It didn't stop at the online issues, however. Many changes to the SimCity formula were not well received, such as an almost micros?copic map size to build on and mindless traffic that players would put through veritable mazes of streets to demonstrate their insistence on taking the most direct path, rather than an easily acceptable and better alternative. Three years later, EA would remove the always-online requirement, but a??t that point, it was far too late.

11. WWE 2K20

The WWE franchise has had a long presence in the gaming scene, and titles like Smackdown! vs Raw 2006 and SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain are memorable games that successfully replicat??e the testosterone-floode??d action of sports entertainment.

When WWE 2K20 launched in October 2019, day-one buyers ended up with a game sporting atrocious graphics that looked like they belonged on a PS3. The gameplay wasn't any better, and the numerous glitches made WWE 2K20 a pain to play. The game's terrible reception was one of the reasons WWE 2K21 was canceled. It was for the best, as when the franchise returned with WWE 2K22, it ach??ieved double its predecessor's launc?h sales.

10. New World

Amazon's New World hit stores? in September 2021, and the launch was nothing but chaos. Servers were flooded, resulting in players waiting for hours before they could start playing. When people were eventually able to p??lay, they discovered that while the core game was good, it was also plagued with game-breaking glitches. Since release, plenty of updates have been pushed out, and the game is in a better state, but it failed to be the enduring classic that Amazon was likely aiming for.

9. Anthem

When Anthem was announced, the flashy marketing successfully caught the attention of the gaming world. Unfortunately, when Anthem launched in 2019, it was immediately critically panned. Critics and gamers alike complained about ?many elements, including bor?ing missions, technical glitches, poor performance, and excessive grinding. The game failed to meet EA's expectations, and future developments for it were cut in 2021.

8. The Last of Us Part 1 (PC)

Though the PS5 version launched without any major issues, the PC port of The Last of Us Part 1 has been nothing short of a disaster. Players were greeted with technical issues and absurdly long loading times, maki??ng the game unplayable for some. Since launch, many have pointed the finger at Iron Galaxy, the studio Naughty Dog entrusted with the port. It won't be the last time the studio appears on the li?st, so there may be some truth to the accusations.

7. Fallout 76

In 2018, Bethesda took Fallout online with Fallout 76. The game promised to allow players to explore dystopian settings with friends, which is an idea that has great potential. When Fallout 76 launched in November 2018, it was far from what gamers expected, resulting in the PC version scoring a measly 52 on Metacritic. Due to the bad press, many gamers stayed away, and as a result, Fallout 76 had lower launch sales numbers than Fallout 4 and Fallout New Vegas.

6. Batman: Arkham Knight (PC)

Arkham Knight's PS4 and Xbox One versions were developed by Rocksteady Studios, and the PC port was handed off to Iron Galaxy. This proved to be a mistake. When Arkham Knights launched on PC, it crashed constantly and featured technical issues ??that rendered it unplayable for many.

The situation got so bad that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment suspended sales of the Windows version of the game in June 2015 while developers worked on patches to fix the game. Though the game has improved plent?y, the historically disastrous launch won't be forgotten any time soon.

5. eFootball

The free-to-play sports game eFootball was released in September 2021. The concept wasn't a bad one, though the execution left a lot to be desired. Gamers were met with atrocious graphics, endless te??chnical issues, and visual bugs that have made for som??e hilarious screenshots. With a score of 25 on Metacritic, it is one of the lowest-rated games of all time.

4. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition

When it was revealed that the GTA trilogy wou??ld receive a remake, excitement was high. Launch day arrived in November 2021, and gamers were less than satisfied. The trilogy was rife with technical issues, ugly ch?aracter models, and visual errors, which should have been spotted during the QA phase of development. To placate fans, Rockstar offered the original trilogy to all customers who had purchased the remake via the Rockstar Store.

3. Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is a title that has been a ubiquitous fixture in gaming for years, and not always for good reasons. When Cyberpunk 2077 launched in 2020, the experience was so bad droves of gamers dem??anded refunds, and Sony eventually pulled the game from the PS Store. Fortunately, the story doesn't end on? a sour note, as developers have worked hard to improve the game, and after several patches and updates, the game is one of the most enjoyable open-world titles on current-gen consoles.

2. No Man's Sky

Like many other titles on the list, the developers made plenty of big promises before the game's release. When No Man's Sky launched, gamers realized that many of the promised features were missing, and the performance was poor. There was plenty of outrage, though Hello Games didn't abandon No Man's Sky. Instead, developers got to work releasing patches and updates that slowly but surely improved the game. Today, No Man's Sky i??s a bestseller available on almost? all platforms.

1. Concord

Concord's failed launch was so severe that it will probably be studied for years to come. It was enough to warrant an update on this list. It was reportedly the result of years of work and millions upon millions of dollars, and lasted two weeks before it was pulled from marketplaces with a refund being issued to those who had bought it. At least one report suggests that Sony dumped $400 million into the project and was betting on it being the future of the brand. Take that with a grain of salt; it hasn't yet been substantiated. However, the live service sector of the industry is packed to the gills with people hoping to be the next Fortnite, and simply dropping an expensive game in there is not enough to capture the crowd. Whether or not Concord reappears in some form in?? the future ??remains to be seen.

There's no shortage of games with failed launches, and the future ?will feature plenty more. From these cases, we learn that although delays m??ay be frustrating, terrible launches are far worse. We also see that even the worst launches don't have to spell the end for a game so long as developers persevere.

The post Top 13 worst game launches in ga??ming history, r?anked appeared first on Destructoid.

The Last of Us Part II's about to be seen in a whole new way. Grounded 2, a making-of documentary for The Last of Us Part II, premieres next week.

In a post on Naughty Dog's Twitter, the studio confirms the new documentary arrives on February 2. It's a follow-up to Grounded, the making-of for the first Last of Us, and will head to both YouTube and in-game for those who own The Last of Us: Part II Remastered.

The documentary premieres at 9 ??a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET for those waiting on the? YouTube upload.

Hitting the ground running

As I used to study Game Design (and will pay monthly for around 10 years), I've been interested in behind-the-scenes of the game industry for a while. In fact, one of my favorite documentaries is Raising Kratos by PlayStation and Santa Monica. Can't get more geeky than? that.

I remember watching the first Grounded documentary when I finished The Last of Us Remastered for the first time. It was amazing seeing how a simple idea can become as big as the original did. I did watch it again before The Last of Us Part II's release, so to have a new documentary for Part II is kind of exciting, personally.

The Last of Us Part II is having its moment in the spotlight after its release in 2020. While met with some controversy, the game went home with dozens of Game of the Year awards. Meanwhile, the Emmy-winning HBO show is going onto its second season, which is set to adapt the sequel, and growing out its main cast for characters Abby, Jesse, and Dina.

Just last week, The Last of Us Part II got the remaster treatment for PlayStation 5. Our own Smangaliso Simelane rated the game a 9, saying in his review: "Nevertheless, it manages to not only justify itself but also gives the most seasoned veterans something new to experience." It's a great time to be a Last of Us fan. Just, don't watch it if yo??u want to be blissful in ignorance of what happens in the sequel. Hate to see someone watch it and find out about the golfing incident.

Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part II will be released in-game within The Last of Us Part II: Remastered and to YouTube on?? February 2 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET.

The post Grounded 2, a makin?g-of doc on The Last of Us: Part II, premieres next week appeared first on Destructoid.

The grime from Joel's POV

It may have been a huge, bug-ridden let-down when The Last of Us Part 1 released on PC, but a series of patches is aimin?g to fix the biggest problems. And it's not just Naughty Dog that??'s tinkering with the remake, either. One modder has been looking to implement a first-person mode for the game, and a recent video shows off this work-in-progress.

Visual artist and YouTuber Bryan Ortiz (aka Voyagers Revenge) has uploaded some footage from their first-person modification of The Last of Us Part I on PC. Specifically, the video shows the "brutal combat and new aggressive gameplay." Over the course of nearly nine minutes, you'll get to see the crumbled world of Part I from the perspective of Joe?l, as he fights off both the infected and attacking? gangs.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFhTdX-3Hvc

When will we get to play it?

Unfortunately, this mod is not currently available, and is still being worked on by Ortiz. In re??sponse to a comment that asked whether this first-person mode will become available, Voyagers Revenge says it's currently unstable. It's also been built for an early version of the game, and is "crashing the game multiple times." However, they did say they'll "pull some strings soon," so it's possible they may look to releasing the mod at some poin??t.

When it came out earlier this year, the PC version of the Last of Us remake was panned due to a laundry list of technical issues. It was a shame, really, as for many PC users, it was the first time they'd had a chance to check out Naughty Dog's critically acclaimed game. However, the updates must be doing the trick, as recent scores on Steam show that Part I is now sitting at "Very Positive," though still "Mixed" ??overall.

The post Fan-made The Last of Us Part I First Person Mode video shows off ‘brutal combat’ appeared first on Destructoid.

Patch 1.1.0 brings several fixes as well

If you've been waiting to play the remake of The Last of Us Part I on Steam Deck, you're in luck. The latest update for the game now ma??kes Naughty Dog's masterpiece compatible with the Valve handheld.

Update 1.1.0 for the game also comes with a ton of tweaks and changes. Looking at the patch notes on Steam shows a healthy list of fixes. Chief among these are important ??optimizations for CPU and GPU performances, improvements to texture loading, as well as a number of glitch repairs and bug fixes.

When The Last of Us Part 1 was released on PC back in March, the game was plagued with more than its fair share of issues. This led to a series of negative reviews on Steam, as players were understandably upset about the state of the anticipated remake. Several updates have been released since launch, fixing around 40 bugs and glitch??es, so it's in much better shape these days,?? at least.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxVyuE2Nn_w

Easily considered one of the best releases of the PS3 era, the original The Last of Us was a tour de force in video game development and storytelling. A slick remaster was released for PS4 in 2014, while the smash-selling sequel launched in 2020. The Last of Us Part II did split the crowd somewhat, but it was still ??an impactful game fro?m Naughty Dog.

Despite the series' reputation, some were skeptical that the studio was remaking something that was barely a decade old and already looked stunning even on previous-gen hardware. That said, the remake enjoyed a positive reception, and the HBO adaptation was highly praised indeed. In short, The Last of Us, as a brand, is doing very well for itself, and now you can even play Part I on the go!

The Last of Us Part I is available now on PS5 and PC.

The post The Last of Us Part I is now Steam Deck verified appeared first on Destructoid.

The best PS5 single-player stories and experiences

The best PS5 single-player games make the platform one of the greatest consoles to own today. With exclusives like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and God of War Ragnarok, there are many outstanding experiences on the beloved system. While it's sad that some double-A exclusives like Gravity Rush 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3 have fizzled from PlayStation's priority list, there are still grand single-player campaigns that will take your breath away. Here are 10 of the best PS5 single-player games you can check o??ut.

Marvel’s Spider-Man series

[caption id="attachment_377150" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via PlayStation[/caption]

If you're a big comic book fan or just like action games in general, you can't go wrong with Marvel's Spider-Man series from Insomniac Games. Web slinging feels the best it's ever been, evolving the system from the beloved Spider-Man 2 PS2 game and letting you do tricks in the air. Boss battles are immensely important and truly up the stakes of the storyline. Finally, this Marvel version of New York is so detailed as you're beating up foes across the stunning map with a glorious battle system. The follow-up based on Miles Morales is also stellar, perhaps outdoing the original game, with an elevated battle system and intense, drama-filled story. Now's a good time to get into the series as Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered is getting a standalone release on PS5.

God of War series

[caption id="attachment_377151" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via PlayStation[/caption]

If you love single-player games on PS5, you owe it to yourself to play the Norse God of War series. I personally found the PS2 and PS3 entries hard to get into. The action gets repetitive, there ??are oddly placed puzzles, and the harsh overtones of Kratos' personality repelled me. However, this new reboot-quel with Kratos as a father is a game changer. The way Kratos evolves past his violent origins and grows as a person is refreshing. Both of these games act as a fantastic coming-of-age story for his son Atreus as well. The combat takes a slower, more methodical third-person approach. The axe feels satisfying to wield, and the powers Kratos attains over the course of the series make you feel strong. There are plenty of cinematic bosses that amaze you too.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

[caption id="attachment_377154" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via PlayStation[/caption]

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart hosts some of the best PS5 graphics, bar none. Reviewers often say this series looks like a Pixar film for a good reason, and I agree. But it's not just a tour-de-force of graphics, however. This sci-fi game features two engaging platforming heroes trying to save the multiverse from Dr. Nefarious and company. Most of the guns on offer pack a punch, like the Shatterbomb, while other weapons turn your enemies into cute objects like pixels with the Pixelizer. The storyline is also impactful and gets sur??prisingly emotional.

The Last of Us Part I

[caption id="attachment_377155" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via PlayStation[/caption]

Talking about emotional stories, The Last of Us Part I will leave you weeping. This post-apocalyptic has yo?u play as Joel, a father who lost their child, and connects with a girl named Ellie as they face the harsh zombie-filled environment. Yes, they're called the Infecte??d (not zombies, per se), but what makes them unique is how they have to listen to the environment to know where you are. It gets creepy as you have to slowly work your way through dark hallways to succeed. Otherwise, they'll come rampaging toward you, and you need your wits to shoot them in the correct spots. What's even scarier, perhaps, are the people you meet along the way, and the storyline gets very heavy as Joel and Ellie try to keep themselves alive. It's one of the best PS5 single-player games because of how intense it gets. I haven't even gotten into the impressive graphics, either.

Elden Ring

[caption id="attachment_377156" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Bandai Namco[/caption]

Elden Ring is a tough S.O.B., but the grind is well worth your time as you defeat tough bosses with a big smile on your face and scale across a dangerous fantasy landscape. I've personally never connected with a Souls game, but for some reason, Elden Ring grabbed me. The open world allows you to explore, challenge other bosses, and level up at your own speed. You can find mysterious areas naturally, get awesome loot, and then attempt to defeat a tough boss once more. That game loop is absolutely engrossing and far better than the linear Souls style as you finally have options. You're not stuck with one boss over and over and over again. The world-build?ing is also a strength of the game, with gorgeous scenery and architecture to gaze at.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

[caption id="attachment_377157" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Eidos Interactive[/caption]

I'll say it. This game is better than the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies. The characters are written so well and are different enough from the Hollywood vers??ions. There's a fantastic character arc for Eidos Montreal's interpretation of Starlord, and you truly feel the connection between all of the members of the group. The script is also quite funny. The third-person shooting gameplay is thrilling as you're zooming around foes with your jet boots and instructing the squad on what to do. Bosses also feel like a big deal in this game.

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade

[caption id="attachment_377162" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Square Enix[/caption]

If you need an RPG to play on your PS5, Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intergrade is ready for you. With spectacular visuals, fast-paced yet strategic combat, and an engrossing storyline, this game will grab you from beginning to end. The music is also phenomenal. The Intergrade edition com?es with a chapter that introduces Yuffie into the mix that you can't play on the PS4.

Astro’s Playroom

[caption id="attachment_377165" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via PlayStation[/caption]

Want a game that the kids (or your inner child) can play? Astro's Playroom is a wonderful pick. It fully uses the DualSense controller's functionality, such as the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, to make a memorable experience. The platforming is some of the best the PS5 has to offer, as well. Additionally, it references great moments in PlayStation's long history. The best part is that Astro's Playroom is free to download!

Resident Evil 4 Remake

[caption id="attachment_377167" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Capcom[/caption]

This is an almost perfect horror game. Stunning graphics, a creepy environment, an epic story, tough bosses, and stellar third-person shooting gameplay. The puzzles are also a treat in Resident Evil 4 Remake. There's not much else to say other? than pick this game up.

Horizon series

[caption id="attachment_377550" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via PlayStation[/caption]

While the sequel, Forbidden West, covers familiar ground in terms of its gameplay, it's still a tour-de-force of graphics. The unique robot-filled post-apocalyptic setting is striking. You also have some stellar performances by Ashley Burch (Aloy) and the rest of the cast. The storyline is also intriguing as we learn bits and pieces about why our civilization failed many years ago. Horizon: Zero Dawn is an incredible open-world game as you upgrade your gear and defeat titanic robots along the way, strategically breaking their parts until they fall. Forbidden West is still impressive, but to me, fails to capture my i??????????????????????????nterest as much as the original.

Honorable Mentions

There are some other stand-out titles that didn't quite make the Best PS5 single-player games list. One of them that is likely mentioned in the comments is Ghost of Tsushima. It presents a gorgeous open world inspired by the Mongolian invasion era of Japan. However, it strikes me more as a PS4 game rather than a PS5-specific entry for this list. It has received a remaster with additional content set on Iki Island. Additionally, there's Returnal. It's gained a large fanbase since its release, but can arguably be considered a co-op game, following one of its post-game updates.

The post 10 of the best single player games you c?an ?play on a PS5 right now appeared first on Destructoid.

Repairing a fallen society

Naughty Dog continues in its efforts to roll out patches for its disappointing PC port of The Last of Us Part I, with each new update bringing it closer and closer to the quality expected o?f the Californian studio. The newest patch, Version 1.0.4.0, released yesterday with another fistful of fixes.

Looking at the patch notes, i?t seems that this particular update focuses on CPU/GPU compatibility, while optimizing the PC edition of the dramatic remake for the Steam Deck platform. Graphics in g?eneral have been improved at lower settings, (water no longer appears as a black void), while an array of random crashes and U.I. bugs have also been eliminated, including one which saw the game report a critical error occasionally when skipping cutscenes during loading.

Mush Room for Improvement

For all of you Achievement fans, the busted "It Can't Be for Nothing" achievement should now pop, while non-English speaking players will be pleased to hear that multiple corrections have been made to language errors in the menus and in-game subtitles. Naughty Dog ends the notes by reiterating its commitment to improving The Last of Us Part I's PC port in the coming weeks and months.

"We at Naughty D??og and our partners at Iron Galaxy are closely watching player reports to support future improvements and patches. We are actively optimizing, working on game stability, and implementing additional fixes which will all be included in regularly released future updates."

The Last of Us Part I is available now on PS5 and PC/Steam.

The post Naughty Dog con??tinues to roll out Steam update??s for The Last of Us Part I appeared first on Destructoid.

The Last of Us on PC is one of those ports

Before I begin, let me discuss the article I planned to write about The Last of Us on PC.

I agreed to cover the PC port of this game because, somehow, in 2023, I do not know a single thing about The Last of Us. I've dodged all story spoilers, and I deliberately avoided the HBO series so I could play this game completely blind. My logic was this would be a refreshing take, especially with the impending decade anniversary of the original game’s release. I even workshopped some jokes about how I was too busy grinding Pokemon effort values at the time to play one of the most critically acclaimed vide??o games ever made.

I mean, what else was I going to talk about? ??T?he performance?

[caption id="attachment_372453" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Chapter 1: The Performance

In case you haven’t heard, The Last of Us on PC is a mess. It’s a classic case where a critically acclaimed game debuts on Steam with a negative review consensus. We all know what this means; this article now must unfortunately become a technical analysis of The Last of Us. I am about 5% as qualified to talk abou??t these things as some hardware masters; but I do have ?a pretty new computer to play with, so I have that going for me.

For con??text, here’s what I’m working with in terms of specs:

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
1TB WD Blue SN550 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
32 GB RAM* (I’ll come back to this)

News of The Last of Us�nonsense port reached my ears quickly, but I wasn’t too worried at first. Elden Ring was similarly review bombed on launch, but I had still a great time with that port. I’ve also enjoyed the Resident Evil 4 remake on nearly maxed setti?ngs, even though the RE Engine has faced criticism for its PC performance.

Maybe The Last of Us will have issues, but I mean, look at my specs! I decided to treat my mid-pandemic depression with one of those fancy graphics cards people couldn’t shut up about, and I’ve only mildly regretted that decision since then. I’ve gotta be able to overpower any issues The Last of Us could have, right?

[caption id="attachment_372454" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Chapter 2: Building Shaders (and other things I waited for)

Protip to any of y’all interested in playing The Last of Us on PC, and this is ??very important: the first thing you want to do is not play it.

Upon loading the game, you are advised to refrain from playing until the shaders have been built. If I had any foresight, I would have immediately run a timer on this step. The Last of Us takes a hilariously long time building shaders, to the point of becoming a meme among people who have played this port. It’s not quite “it takes long enough to disqualify you from a Steam refund�that people have joked, but I do want to say it took a good 40 minutes. I later timed this process on my Steam Deck, and I was surprised to see the Building Shaders Phase�only took 30?? minutes. This is likely due to hotfixes that have since gone live.

Thankfully, you’ll only have to endure this waiting period a single time. I say this waiting period because The Last of Us still ??subjected me to some of the longest loading times I’ve experienced since I got a Solid State Drive. It takes about 25 seconds to reach the title screen once?????????????????????????? the game opens. About 50 seconds will elapse between hitting “Continue�and actually entering the game. There aren’t any notable load times once I’m in game, so there’s that.

However, I gotta tell you, I compared these load times to footage of The Last of Us on PS5. Do you know how long the game tak??es to load on a console? Not 50 seconds,?? that’s for sure.

[caption id="attachment_372455" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Chapter 3: So far so good?

Surprisingly, after jumping through these hoops and finally getting into the game, things seemed�generally okay? The opening cinematic of Joel being a dad with his daughter looked pretty good, and the character models had that crisp polish I would expect from a current-gen game. E??ven the open sequence where the world immediately goes to hell (spoilers) ran at a pretty stable framerate. Maybe this port isn’t so bad after all!

A few cutscenes later, and I?? take control of Joel in a deformed world filled witAHHHHHHHHHHH

[caption id="attachment_372456" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Chapter 4: AHHHHHHHHHHH

No. No way. I did not pay the money I spent on the hardware I have to look at walls like that. What is this, Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS!? Any immersion I had built up was immediately blown away by this janky PS2-quality wall merely existing in the world of one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. You might be saying to yourself “Tim, it’s just a wall, it’s no big deal.�To that, I say, look at it.

[caption id="attachment_372457" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Now, my first thought was that the game may have incorrectly defaulted to “low�settings for some graphics options. The good news is that, indeed, this wall looks so bad because the applicable settings were on low. The bad news is that this was no accident. This wall, in all its horrifying, low-poly horror, was the best the game could do. Nearly 8 GB of VRAM were being consumed so the game could spit out that. I am not a tech guy, but I can confidently say that this wall is the graphical equivalent of the Fyre Festival. ??This is the only q?uote that Sony is allowed to use from this article for marketing purposes.

[caption id="attachment_372464" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Chapter 5: RAM intermission

At this point, my life was a blur. I decided to upgrade my RAM from 16 GB to 32 GB because�you know what, I don’t even know at this point. I wanted to clean my system anyway to spare it from what The Last of Us was putting it through, so why not make an inexpensive upgrade that will help me with other PC ports? Or maybe my? brain just couldn't process the VRAM consumption and I thought of something RAM-related to cope.

After upgrading my computer, I realized that my machine no longer displayed an image on my monitor. My mind immediately jumped to “I must have jostled a component,�so I made sure my RAM was clicked in firmly and nothing was unplugged by mistake. This happened about 15 minutes before my regularly scheduled Pokemon raid coverage, which triggered a frenzy of frantically ?finding?? a backup computer so I could literally do my job.

Afterward, I got my go-to tech guy on the phone and we determined that my issue was that apparently one of the display ports in my 3070 d??idn’t wo?rk. I used the second port and all my problems were resolved. None of this would have happened if I just downloaded my RAM like someone said I should on a forum 20 years ago.

At this point, you might ask yourself “Tim, what does any of this have to do with The Last of Us?�/em>