[Update: Confirmed] The Last Of Us Part 1 Remake Goes Official With Leaked Announcement Trailer, PS5 and PC Release Dates Confirmed

Update: Just hours after the The Last Of Us Part 1 leaked, series lead Neil Druckmann officially announced the remake at Summer Games Fest with no new details to add. The original article still remains relevant: 

The Last Of Us Remake has been the talk of the town lately with countless signs pointing towards its existence and imminent release. What started as a plausible maybe has turned into an astounding obviously by now. Since PlayStation is on a roll with PC releases left and right, it seemed quite reasonable that Sony would order a remake of the original Last Of Us, modernized for today. After multiple rumors and reports surfacing over the past few weeks, gaming’s worst kept secret at the moment has finally leaked, properly this time.

In a not-so-surprising turn of events, the official announcement trailer for the Last Of Us Remake has leaked, and you can view it here in glorious 4K. The source of this leak is PlayStation itself as a pre-order page for the remake accidentally went live on the PlayStation Direct site before the game was announced. The page included multiple screenshots (from the trailer), descriptions, and box art for the remake, that were originally spotted by “modiz” on ResetEra.

With this development, the remake is now officially titled “The Last Of Us Part 1“. More importantly, though, at the end of the leaked trailer we see an actual release date.

The Last Of Us Part 1 will release on 2nd September, 2022 for the PlayStation 5, and soon after for PC as indicated by the “Also in development for PC” statement at the bottom. Therefore, that release has not been entitled a concrete date as of yet. Regardless, the remake will also include the “Left Behind” DLC that came out in 2014 as part of the overall game. 

That date is awfully close, especially considering how remakes are announced way ahead in advance, like, literally as they’re starting work on the game. But, The Last Of Us is still a modern game, one that actually already has a remaster that came out a year after the game originally launched on PS3. Considering the relative newness of the title, and the fact that most of the elements of the first game were carried forward to the second, it’s essentially just an asset-swap for Naughty Dog to “remake” The Last Of Us.

The upgrades

Moving on, in the trailer you see the same Ellie and Joel we all know and love. They look ever-so-slightly different to match the portrayals established in The Last Of Us Part 2 with Ellie’s updated face model being the most discernible difference. Joel, on the other hand, looks almost identical with minor tweaks such as the infamous “they-made-him-look-weak” shoulders that Twitter cried about for months with Part 2, but I digress.

Apart from that, the terrain, the grass, the landscapes, the enemies, and those Goddamn clickers, all look exceedingly sharp and crisp, as you’d expect. The Last Of Us Part 2, despite its narrative subjectivity, was universally lauded for its visual fidelity. It’s one of the best looking game of all time and one that rivals the best of the best, such as Rockstar’s Read Dead Redemption 2.

In essence, Naughty Dog is basically bringing the original Last Of Us up to par with its sequel, graphically. However, that’s not the only reason for this remake coming out later this year. Not only does the release of The Last Of Us Part 1 equate in a monetary opportunity to cash in on the hype of playing a classic on a current-gen console, aka PlayStation 5, it’s actually part of Sony’s overall plans to expand its hold on the gaming market.

The Last Of Us — 2022 & 2013 pic.twitter.com/bLlscZ69iC

— best of video games (@bestofvidgames) June 9, 2022

The bigger picture

Sony has said, or at least hopes, that mobile and PC games will make up nearly half of all PlayStation releases by 2025. Moreover, the company is also expecting $300m of revenue from its PC releases for this fiscal year alone, which runs from March 2022 to March 2023. So releasing the game on PC stems from deliberate intent that’s part of a larger scheme.

Lastly, it’s important to mention that the game will cost $70 for the PS5 version. That’s to be expected considering this is a AAA game on a current-gen console, but it’s still a bit of a hard pill to swallow because it is a remake after all. It remains to be seen how much the PC edition will be priced at when it eventually drops, however I wouldn’t be surprised it they maintain the $70 price tag for that platform as well.

Of course, the game hasn’t been officially announced yet so there’s no way to preorder it but it most likely will be unveiled in the coming days as part of this year’s Summer Game Fest. I usually preface things like these with a disclaimer that rumors are rumors and you should take them with a grain of salt each time. However, this isn’t a rumor, but more so a proper leak that is all but confirmed from Sony itself.