Is The Last of Us Part 1 a remake or a remaster?

The Elder Scrolls series and Naughty Dog titles don’t get compared often, but Skyrim and The Last of Us are looking more and more similar in at least one area–the number of times they’ve been re-released. The Last of Us Part 1 is looking forward to its PC launch on March 28. This is coming six months after the title’s original release on PlayStation 5, which in itself is a newer version of the 2013 original.

All these different releases can easily lead to confusion over what exactly Naughty Dog is serving us. Even the official title of the new version, The Last of Us Part 1, is different from that of the original, which was simply called The Last of Us.

This difference in itself indicates that what’s coming on PC on March 28 is not quite the same as what PlayStation 3 users were playing back in 2013.

So, what is The Last of Us Part 1 then?

Is The Last of Us Part 1 a new game?

Despite the slightly different title, The Last of Us Part 1 is not a new game. Naughty Dog has likely added “Part 1” to link it with 2020’s The Last of Us Part 2 and in turn, use that format to naturally distinguish The Last of Us Part 1 from the original without adding remake or remastered to the title.

This creative solution unfortunately paves the way for confusion. Without “remake” or “remaster” in the official title, fans might be left uncertain as to what they are getting. Even more unfortunate is the question doesn’t have a clear-cut answer.

Is The Last of Us Part 1 a remake?

According to Naughty Dog and PlayStation, The Last of Us Part 1 is a remake. This is clearly stated on the PlayStation Store, where Part 1 is called “a faithful remake, completely rebuilt from the ground up using Naughty Dog’s latest PS5 engine technology”.

Is The Last of Us Part 1 a remaster?

Depending on what your definition of a remake is, you could disagree with the publisher’s assessment and consider The Last of Us Part 1 a remaster. The vast majority of changes made for the re-release are purely visual, with minimal gameplay improvements and no alterations to the story at all. This description could easily fall in the remaster column instead of the remake one, but it is at the end of the day, a matter of perspective.

Related: Is The Last of Us Part 2 coming to PC?

Of course, if you have been waiting for a decade to play The Last of Us on PC, whether The Last of Us Part 1 is technically a remaster or officially a remake doesn’t matter in the slightest. What’s certain is that The Last of Us Part 1 is the best way to experience the memorable journey of Joel and Ellie, and that’s more than enough to mandate its existence.