My brother spent 7 years trying to get me to play The Last of Us after it originally released. He had played it and loved it, but my backlog was so dense, and GTA V came out later that year, and I had a bunch of other unspecified reasons that perfectly justify my procrastination. I didn’t have any animosity for the game. I actually purchased the remaster as soon as it became available. It just languished in a pile of tons of games that I “will get to later.”

Then E3 2018 happened. When I saw the trailer for The Last of Us Part II I became genuinely excited to explore the franchise. I had zero information about the first game, but the sequel drew me in with it’s fluid mechanics and visceral combat. The Last of Us Part II led what I considered a practically flawless showing by Sony (hindsight would prove me right. Fight me.). Ghost of Tsushima, Resident Evil 2, Kingdom Hearts III, Death Stranding, Nioh 2, and Spider-Man all made appearances. I preordered Last of Us Part II with the steelbook as soon as it became available, and made it a point to play The Last of Us Remastered leading up to release.

If you’ve played the first installment, you’ll understand why I was calling my brother and cursing him out within an hour of starting the game. He did not prepare me. The rest of my playthrough was intense, but I really felt that I had played this game 7 years too late. The controls felt clunky and dated, the enemy types were not very varied, and the graphics, even in the remaster, were starting to show their age. I still consider it a classic, minor anachronistic critiques notwithstanding. The game made me continually question my approach to this type of storytelling, and did what The Walking Dead could not. It made me care about the little moments. I truly felt that every character I ran across had a reason for being there. I questioned people’s motivations. I felt bad for the unconscionable decisions some people had to make (if you know, you know).

This feeling continued with the sequel, in some ways more so. I had the advantage over most players here. I did not have 7 years of admiring Joel under my belt. Ellie was still just a really well thought out character in a great game I just played. I didn’t have time to create an ideal fantasy sequel in my head to compare against Part II. I was able to play the game raw, without following along with streamers, or watching reviews proclaiming that gaming Jesus has arrived (it actually arrived in 2017, and then again in 2018), or reading the inexplicable social media backlash that, at its core, boiled down to “gay people bad.”

I played my Abby Revenge Exodus unsullied, and, when I realized who she was in the lore, I understood. In the final moments of this game, I got the main message that Neil Druckmann & co. were conveying. I understood the subtext in the narrative. And again, I enjoyed the little moments, albeit in a different way than the first game. The interactions with what would normally be “grunts” or “red shirts” in this game had a lot of depth, as NPCs called out to their fallen comrades in battle and exhibited a true sense of emotion. Some wounded characters challenged you to complete their on screen deaths up close, adding to the atmosphere of brutality in this quest for vengeance. The game also provided insight into its villain’s motivations. It is arguable whether or not it chose the best way to do this when considering pacing, but it is something rarely seen in games today. Overall, while TLOUII wasn’t my pick for GOTY 2020 (I joined many on the Jin Sakai bandwagon), I was not upset with its selection at TGA.

Hopefully, this background lends context to my perspective when talking about the upcoming remake, The Last of Us Part I. Sony announced this remake as part of the Summer Game Fest on June 9, 2022. The game is being advertised as a ground up rebuild with new game mechanics akin to those in the sequel. The story is supposed to remain unchanged. The standard edition comes with the now expected PS5 price tag of $70. A steelbook edition (which I’m currently hunting) is available for $99 and currently sold out.

I understand why some people may expect a remake to cost less than an original game. In context, however, this isn’t an absolute, and certainly doesn’t rise to the level of a “cash grab.” Hyperbole in this era is a deadly gamer sin. There are reasons to be upset about remakes and upgrades being overpriced, none of which rise to the level of a cash grab. I wouldn’t even qualify The Last of Us Part I as an overpriced remake…yet. At least from what I’ve seen of the project so far, it looks like more than just a slight coat of paint has been applied to the game.

If gamers want a definition of a cash grab, the industry provides countless examples, some as recently as last month. There are certain qualities of cash grabs, such as taking advantage of FOMO, that are missing from the TLOU1 release. Micro transactions are also absent in this game. It’s not even a property at the end of its popularity that can be cashed out as a last hurrah.

The fidelity and attention to detail in this project is evident from the trailer, but as gamers, we have been taught to always take these with a grain of salt. The only definite negative to this release is the fact that the Firefly Edition sold out within a matter of minutes with no evidence of replenishment on the horizon. It’s possible that a large amount of the stock has fallen victim to scalpers. Sadly, that has also now become a norm, although it’s a little more difficult to achieve in direct from the publisher sales like this one.

At its core, for players that have never played the original The Last of Us, this remake is a chance to experience a remarkably well written story without the chains of older technology bogging it down. For fans of the original, the Remastered version is still available, and I would be hard pressed to think that Sony would pull it from the PSN store like some other developers have in the past. If they do, I’ll join you all on the picket lines. If, once the game launches, it becomes clear that it is not a high quality game, please criticize the heck out of it and hold the developer to the standard that we as gamers expect. At that point, the game will deserve any backlash it gets.

But it still won’t be a cash grab.