Here I was expecting The Last of Us’ long-awaited arrival on PC to be a mostly non-eventful yet worthy addition to fans’ Steam libraries. The series just celebrated a hit HBO TV adaptation and the Part I remake on PS5 definitely makes a compelling case to revisit this storied game…certainly the PC version would be in tip-top shape to capitalize on that momentum? Well, that ain’t the case, folks.
The Witcher 3 Meets Tense Roguelike PvE Card-Battling In Rogue Mage
Share SubtitlesOffEnglishShare this VideoFacebookTwitterEmailRedditLinkview videoThe Witcher 3 Meets Tense Roguelike PvE Card-Battling In Rogue Mage
The Last of Us Part I, the remake of the 2013 smash-hit PS3 game, landed on PC via Steam on March 28. Though Sony exclusives have been making their way to PC over the years with mostly good (if not stellar) performance results, TLoU, perhaps one of the most prestigious Sony exclusives, has not been so lucky. Generally poor levels of performance make for a miserable experience, but that ain’t all: The game suffers from an onslaught of varied, hilarious glitches. Character models are screwed up across the board, doing weird things on top of other visual quirks and oddities. It’s been rough enough to shove the game into Mostly Negative status in user reviews on Steam. While the PC release was delayed a few weeks from its original release date of March 3, allegedly for it to arrive in the “best shape possible,” it seems that maybe they should’ve given it a few more.
Character models that’ll make you scream
As one Reddit user pointed out, good hair and skin hygiene probably isn’t terribly common 20 years post-outbreak day—or at least that’s a halfway decent headcanon explanation for these hilarious character model glitches.
When I was a teenager, I individually made the decision to braid my own hair (having never done that before) in preparation for my band’s show at the soon-to-be-closed CBGB’s in NYC…well it seems Sarah may have had similar inclinations prior to Outbreak Day. And much like my father did for me, Joel clearly needed to have a conversation with her about just how bad this looks.
Is this what happens if you eat cordyceps?
Another common glitch seems to make the game vomit up all sorts of delightfully bright and neony colors; I’ve seen a similar phenomenon in Modern Warfare II quite often and, honestly, I could really use a modern, AAA shooter game with this kinda palette.
Some of this, as well as character model issues, may have to do with shader compilation, which is so bad it’s prompting fans to pull out the delightful Joel-panic-attack meme from the show. What isn’t delightful, though, is that in some cases it’s straight up crashing machines. Another common issue seems to be character models spontaneously switching over to their wet variants.
Early signs of infection?
Other fascinating quirks of this rat king mess of a glitchy port include characters just deciding to take flight or move around erratically. As one redditor observed, it might be an effective strat for getting away from the soldiers and infected.
It goes without saying that this probably isn’t the reaction anyone was hoping for with the arrival of such a legendary game on PC. Maybe things will get better with updates, but until then, it’ll be better to just play the game on PS5. Kotaku has reached out to Valve to ask whether or not any special exceptions will be made for refunds of this glitchfest of a port.
