Keep in mind when it took us seven years to get a brand new The Final of Us sport? Keep in mind when there was even a query about whether or not or not we’d ever get a sequel to Naughty Canine’s post-apocalyptic motion sport as a result of the ending was so deliberately ambiguous and thought-provoking? Now, it appears we will’t go a 12 months with out being reminded that Sony thinks as many individuals ought to expertise this collection as attainable, whereas people related to the HBO adaptation reward the sport in ways in which border on the absurd. Now, we’re getting a remaster of The Final of Us Half II, and it appears like we’re reaching peak Final of Us fatigue.
Earlier than anybody tries to color this because the screed of a hater simply trying to hate, let me say that The Final of Us and its sequel are two of my favourite video games of all time. I’ve bought artwork of Ellie and Abby hanging up in my condominium, and there’s a $2000 reproduction of Ellie’s guitar from Half II sitting subsequent to my mattress. So jot that down. However even the largest followers of one thing should acknowledge that when an organization is inundating the plenty with that one factor again and again with out relaxation, it’s time to pump the brakes, and we’ve reached that time with The Final of Us.
Sony hasn’t let The Final of Us relaxation in a decade
Let’s have a look at the timeline of The Final of Us advertising and marketing. The unique sport launched on PlayStation 3 in 2013 to near-universal acclaim. It gained loads of Recreation of the Yr awards, catapulted co-directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley and solid members Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker into family names (for avid gamers, anyway), and has kind of served because the blueprint for Sony’s video games within the decade since. Even the Indiana Jones-esque journey collection Uncharted, whose upbeat, swashbuckling sensibilities initially made it a fairly stark foil for the moody, post-apocalyptic story of Joel and Ellie, took on a way more somber tone in Uncharted 4 after The Final of Us’ success.
In 2014 we bought the superb Left Behind DLC, which targeted on Ellie and fleshed out an important second from her previous, however Naughty Canine additionally launched The Final of Us Remastered on PlayStation 4 a number of months later. The $50 bundle was barely discounted, had a good bit of extras packaged in, and ran at a clean 60 frames per second. Even when it felt too quickly, on the very least the PS4’s lack of backward compatibility, coupled with how many individuals made the bounce to the PS4 with out having owned a PS3, made it an affordable prospect. However because the remaster launched, it was clear Sony wished to make it an occasion, with the corporate gathering the solid and composer for a stage efficiency of among the sport’s most memorable scenes. The Final of Us had develop into a power that would drive cultural moments, and it was clear the sport’s success had set the gears turning at Sony and Naughty Canine.
The sequel was introduced at PlayStation Expertise 2016. I used to be there, and whilst somebody who was skeptical of a sequel, I used to be a blubbering mess after I noticed an aged-up Ellie on the massive display screen. Within the years between reveal and launch, Naughty Canine spun an online of selling jargon to let folks know this was going to be a sport about hatred and cycles of violence, and was meant to be a stark departure from the unique’s story of affection between surrogate daughter and father. Unpacking that framing is its personal article, and if you wish to go down that rabbit gap, be my visitor and be my visitor Half II. However the level is we spent 4 years listening to The Final of Us Half II described as one thing that may take care of heavy, frankly miserable-sounding themes, and by the point the sport truly launched, it was exhausting to unpack.
Come 2020, The Final of Us Half II had develop into such a minefield of vitriolic discourse that even these of us who had charitable reads on its story of grief-driven violence rapidly bored with speaking about Ellie’s revenge tour within the months that adopted. And but, Naughty Canine and Sony have continued to push the franchise into the general public consciousness with out a lot as taking a breath.
The Final of Us Half II was a pillar of 2020 Recreation of the Yr discussions, even taking the title at that 12 months’s Recreation Awards. However whereas the sport’s victory lap appeared like an ideal alternative for Sony to chill its jets and let the collection fade into reminiscence for a bit, it grew to become clear that it might loom over online game trade discourse when it might have been slumbering. In 2021, a Bloomberg report revealed Naughty Canine was engaged on a PlayStation 5 remake of the unique PlayStation 3 sport, which was nonetheless readily playable, and for less expensive, by the PlayStation 4 remaster. Whereas the PS4 couldn’t run the unique PS3 model, which helped justify that console’s port, that excuse doesn’t work right here, so the prospect of a remake felt pointless each by way of preserving the unique sport and as a use of Sony and Naughty Canine’s personal assets.
By the point The Final of Us Half I was introduced in June of 2022,many have been rightfully skeptical of whether or not or not it was essential. In the meantime, Druckmann, Baker, and Johnson took the stage at Summer season Recreation Fest to justify its existence, saying that The Final of Us has been so essential to video video games over the previous decade, and so the group believed it was essential to carry this definitive version to a contemporary console. Ultimately, we bought a really fairly model of the 2013 sport that had only some notable quality-of-life adjustments, the type that may in all probability be most acknowledged by individuals who performed the unique extensively. However The Final of Us ought to be skilled by as many individuals as attainable for $70 as a result of it’s a cultural second, proper?
Properly, that cultural second nonetheless hasn’t stopped, as a result of HBO’s The Final of Us TV adaptation premiered at first of 2023. The present is continually at battle with itself by way of making sweeping adjustments and staying true to the unique story, however by and enormous, it’s been well-received, is up for a number of end-of-year awards just like the Emmys, and even improves upon the supply materials in some spots. However that present as soon as once more ensured that The Final of Us has been within the public consciousness for one more 12 months.
Even I, a long-time fan who has adored the story of Joel and Ellie from the start, am prepared for a break. However by god, Sony and Naughty Canine will not be content material with hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, hundreds of thousands of followers, and heaps of cultural cache. We now have to retread The Final of Us Half II in 2024, and whereas some followers are excited, there are a good variety of folks responding to the announcement with exhaustion, claiming it’s too quickly to remaster a sport from 2020.
Why the timing feels so bizarre for a re-release of The Final of Us Half II
To the credit score of everybody concerned, The Final of Us Half II Remastered feels far much less egregious than The Final of Us Half I felt final 12 months. It’s bought a $10 improve path for many who already personal the PlayStation 4 model, comes with a brand new mode, behind-the-scenes options, reduce ranges from the event course of, and it has a collector’s version with a fairly sick steelbook. So why does it nonetheless really feel so tiresome to have The Final of Us Half II launched once more slightly below 4 years after its authentic launch? I feel the issue is twofold: branding and fatigue.
Taking a look at different PS4 video games in Sony’s portfolio that made the bounce to PS5, The Final of Us Half II is hardly the one with the shortest journey between authentic launch and dear remaster. Sucker Punch’s samurai open-world sport Ghost of Tsushima got here to PS5 a 12 months after its PS4 launch. Dying Stranding had a two-year hole between launching on PS4 and coming to PS5. Each of those video games have $10 improve paths. So what’s the distinction, particularly if The Final of Us Half II Remastered is popping out a lot later after its preliminary launch? I feel a few of it comes all the way down to calling it a “remaster” when Ghost of Tsushima and Dying Stranding’s ports have been labeled as Director’s Cuts.
Remasters and remakes have develop into a prickly topic in recent times as they start to really feel much less like a method for firms to make sure that outdated video games stay playable as expertise adjustments, and extra like a method for them to easily repackage and promote outdated video games. The Final of Us is a major instance of this, with The Final of Us Remastered popping out so quickly after the unique sport and The Final of Us Half I putting many as pointless.
However it is a downside of the corporate’s personal making. Consoles are deliberately constructed to not play outdated video games, so firms like Sony and Nintendo (the latter of which has performed heinous shit like making entry to remasters a limited-time affair) have created a brand new demand they will provide. Calling one thing a Director’s Lower, nonetheless, suggests a artistic impulse slightly than a purely business one, the chance to introduce new materials that the folks behind the sport want might have been there from the start.
In principle, The Final of Us Half II’s new behind-the-scenes options, reduce ranges, and commentary, all indicate what you’d usually count on of one in all these. So if you slap the “remaster” branding onto a port that feels prefer it’s come alongside too quickly, it carries extra baggage than calling it, say, The Final of Us Half II Director’s Lower. Now, the remaster label implies a degree of recognizable visible and technical touch-up that isn’t all that seen within the footage we’ve seen up to now. I don’t suppose this is able to change how some folks really feel a few PS5 launch, but it surely does draw consideration to how simply the slightest framing change can alter public notion.
However calling it one thing like Director’s Lower or Definitive Version wouldn’t change that Naughty Canine and Sony have been pushing The Final of Us continuous for the previous decade, and have performed so with solely two video games to attract from. The unique sport was a cultural second as a result of it wasn’t a franchise but, and whereas we have been definitely being bombarded with zombie fiction through collection like The Strolling Lifeless, Naughty Canine’s tackle the style was contemporary and felt just like the sort of once-in-a-generation sport that may shift the trajectory of what builders have been making. The Final of Us has performed that, however Sony’s insistence upon by no means letting us overlook it has meant we’ve not been rid of the collection in so lengthy that it appears like Half II occurred extra just lately than it truly did. Oh, and there’s purported to be a multiplayer sport sooner or later. Perhaps.
Regardless of its acclaim, The Final of Us might be some of the divisive franchises on this house. Loads of folks, myself included, take into account the collection one in all their favorites of all time. But it surely’s typically scornfully handled as emblematic of Sony’s shift to status on the expense of the smaller-scale, progressive video games of PlayStation’s early years. Tales of its growth cycle are cited as a case research of issues in AAA growth like layoffs, crunch, pivots to photorealism, and notions of auteur principle, which has tainted the sport in some folks’s eyes. Even for followers, it’s generally laborious to even discuss concerning the sport in public areas as a result of the “get woke, go broke” crowd has made sure discussions across the sport exhausting. However The Final of Us Half II is very fraught proper now due to Druckmann’s public assist for Israel within the ongoing battle between it and Palestine, and his personal admission that the sport takes inspiration from this battle. What The Final of Us Half II’s textual content truly has to say when seen by that lens is a dialog for one more day, but it surely does on the very least depart me feeling like possibly we don’t have to revisit this sport proper now.
Whether or not fits need to admit it or not, franchise fatigue is hitting all sides of well-liked tradition. Regardless of The Marvels sounding like a fairly good Certainly one of These, the newest MCU film’s field workplace efficiency is proof {that a} collection that after dominated the multiplex is shedding its vice grip on the movie trade. Sentiment round Name of Obligation is at an all-time low after annual releases have been hitting us for nearly 20 years. The Final of Us could also be on prime of the world proper now, however it isn’t resistant to the identical hubris as every other large franchise. Although on this case, as an alternative of the franchise increasing, it merely repeats itself and costs cash for it.
The Final of Us Half II Remastered could promote effectively sufficient when it launches on January 19, however ultimately, the diminishing returns will develop into clear, as they do for anything that by no means will get a break. Video games from the largest franchises can solely be the cultural occasion Sony needs The Final of Us to be in the event that they spend sufficient time away to make folks miss them, and proper now I by no means really feel like I’m with out easy accessibility to Joel and Ellie, as Sony retains attempting to ship them to me with expedited transport.
