The Last of Us Part I was released for PC recently, and it seems that the port has not gone as smoothly as expected. Early feedback on Steam about the quality of the port has been scathing in many cases, with reviews on Valve’s gaming platform showing as “mostly negative” after over 7,000 opinions have now been aired on the PC remake of the zombie shooter. Naughty Dog, the game’s developer, has stepped in to acknowledge the feedback and is actively investigating multiple issues that PC gamers have reported. Let’s take a closer look at what’s been going on.
The issues Naughty Dog has now acknowledged mirror many of the irate comments from gamers on Steam who have had bad experiences with The Last of Us Part I. They include:
Graphics Drivers Causing Visual Glitches and Instability
Older graphics drivers can cause visual glitches and instability. In all honesty, this is to be expected. Those running an old NVIDIA or AMD (or indeed Intel) driver may want to update to a newer version, or ideally the latest, for the best results with the game.
Shaders Taking Longer Than Expected
The much-talked-about problem with shaders is mentioned, with loading taking “longer than expected” and performance being hit. Some folks are being stuck at the menu waiting with the “building shaders” prompt for an absolute age (like hours rather than minutes).
PCs Failing to Run the Game Even Though They Meet the Minimum System Requirements
Some PC systems are failing to run the game even though they meet the minimum system requirements. This is a frustrating issue for PC gamers who want to enjoy the game but are unable to do so.
There’s a “potential memory leak” thrown into the bargain. The latter could explain poor performance levels.
For more information, please check out our Known Issues page for the PC version to see some of the issues our team is investigating: https://t.co/Xr072rK76T
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) March 29, 2023
The good news is that the memory leak and shaders sluggishness should be easy enough to patch out (in theory), so hopefully, we’ll see some action to fix these problems soon enough. Naughty Dog assures us it’s “prioritizing updates” for all the various gremlins in evidence, as you’d hope.
Meanwhile, the Steam page for The Last of Us Part I continues to be the source of an outpouring of wrath that wouldn’t seem out of place in Biblical times. There are general accusations of poor optimization of the PC port all-round, repeated crashing, and clunky feeling camera movement.
Don’t get the impression that all the feedback is bad, though. There are PC gamers who have bought The Last of Us Part I and enjoyed a problem-free experience out there – and we always have to remember that satisfied customers generally aren’t the ones to leave feedback, too.
It seems that Naughty Dog has a lot of work to do to fix the issues with The Last of Us Part I’s PC port. While there are some satisfied customers out there, the general consensus is that there are severe problems that need to be addressed. The good news is that Naughty Dog is prioritizing updates, and hopefully, we’ll see some fixes soon. PC gamers who want to enjoy The Last of Us Part I may need to exercise some patience while the issues are being ironed out.
