In 2013 Naughty Dog releasedThe Last of Usfor thePlayStation 3 to much critical acclaim.In 2014 Naughty Dog released The Last of Us Remastered for the PlayStation 4, delivering an even more beautiful version of the game for audiences to enjoy. In 2022 Naughty Dog has seen fit tonot only re-release, but entirely remake, The Last of Us Part 1.
It isn’t new, but it is shiny and beautiful, and it takes advantage of everything the PlayStation 5 has to offer. Whether you’re an older player coming back to revisit a favorite, or a new player joining Joel and Ellie for the first time, you’ll be glad you took a moment to brush up on some tips and tricks.
1010/10 Use Photo Mode
Since this isn’t crucial to your survival as Joel and Ellie, the usage of photo mode sits at the bottom of the list. However, as a player about to see abeautifully haunting worldoffering up some of the best graphics the PS5 has to offer, take a moment to stop and smell the apocalyptic roses.
Enjoying The Last of Us Part 1 and its upgraded visuals are part of why the developers went to such lengths to make everything look phenomenal. It’s also a good way to take a breath and decompress between heart-pounding fights and emotional story beats. Taking a breath doesn’t have to mean putting down the controller anymore, you may take a photo as a little digital keepsake for yourself.
99/10 Look Everywhere
Search and search and search. You don’t really get to revisit areas in The Last of Us Part 1, so you want to make sure you haven’t left behind anything valuable. If there’s a room you haven’t gone in or a door you need to unlock with a shiv, make sure you get the absolute most out of every environment.
Even on its easiest difficulty, The Last of Us Part 1 isn’t a walk in the park. You want to be sure that you’re prepared for every encounter because if you don’t have the resources, there’s no safety net to make things easier for you. Preparation and resources are the keys to surviving most of the world’s threats.
88/10 Be Sneaky
There are plenty of enemies in The Last of Us Part 1, whether they’re people or clickers. It’s possible to take down enemies with stealth kills, but it’s also possible to bypass some enemies altogether. For ammo-sponge enemies like clickers, sometimes avoiding a fight and sneaking by is the smartest and safest thing you can do to conserve resources.
When sneaking past enemies, you should try to use as much cover as possible. In case of an emergency, you should also have a strategy about how and where to run if the enemy spots you. This is also a good time to mention that you don’t have to rely on just your autosave. In situations where you’re stealthing by trial and error, you can use your manual save to ensure you don’t lose too much progress during a failed attempt.
77/10 Melee Kills
While it’s never fun to take a ton of damage in almost any game, sometimes you have to take the bad with the good. If you see a melee weapon around, make it a priority to use that weapon. You might take a few extra hits running out from cover and putting yourself in harm’s way, but it’s easier to recover health than it is to find ammunition.
Unfortunately, this might mean incurring a few failed attempts during fights, so be sure you’re making use of your manual save again in addition to your autosave. Don’t worry about banging up Joel too much, he can take a hit when he needs to. Save those bullets for when you need them most.
66/10 Bows
It’s worth emphasizing again that ammo can be such a valuable resource in The Last of Us Part 1. You go through it faster than you think and it never quite replenishes quickly enough. While using a bow might not pack the same punch as firing one of your guns, you have the chance to potentially recover arrows after you finish a fight.
It might take a little extra time both in and out of combat, but the bow can help keep you well-stocked and prepared for moments where you desperately need to use your firepower. Lean on that old-fashioned weaponry every chance that you get.
55/10 Crafting
Being able to take a knee and craft is fantastic, and there are a few reasons you should always make sure that you’re crafting as much as you may. As always, the biggest reason to keep up with crafting is preparation. You’ll find it much more difficult to craft inside of a fight. Enemies might sneak up on you, a stray bullet might hit you, or someone might just run up and end your fun altogether. Make sure you’re staying prepared.
The other reason you want to craft as much as possible is your inability to hold a lot of materials. If you have enough materials to whip up some healing items or weapons, do it. You don’t want to walk by sugar, scissors, alcohol, or other useful materials just because you haven’t crafted enough to make room in your bag.
44/10 Listening Mode
This is another tool that rewards you for slowing down and observing the situation. Listening for enemies can help tell you where the enemies are, what kind of enemies they are, and sometimes which paths are safest for you to traverse.
Using listening mode with a set of (completely optional) headphones and The Last of Us Part 1’s excellent sound design can give you a good feel for any situation you’re about to enter. Just don’t let a little knowledge turn into overconfidence.
33/10 Pills
While you might not go around taking randomly found pills in your own life, these little treasures are going to help you upgrade Joel and his abilities throughout the game. Just know that pills are also a somewhat scarce resource. You aren’t going to find enough pills to upgrade everything Joel has to offer, so you want to ensure you’re spending them wisely.
Upgrading health and weapon sway are extremely valuable. Upgrading the listening mode can also be helpful, though it’s a fairly powerful and useful ability by default. Making Joel more sturdy is never a bad option.
22/10 Shivs
In The Last of Us Part 1, a good shiv can make the difference between life and death. With the ability to use them for melee both offensively and defensively, they can save you from an otherwise deadly encounter with a clicker. They can also help you get into locked rooms filled with lots of resources for Joel and Ellie to use.
You want to have them, you want to upgrade them, and you want to use them as sparingly as possible. They’re little life savers that can’t be substituted with your run-of-the-mill gun or melee weapon.
11/10 Gun Holsters
Use found parts to upgrade your gun holsters as soon as you may. Switching between guns in combat can be cumbersome, but you can work your way up to having four guns holstered at any one time. The good news is that you only need level 1 tools and some parts to make this dream a reality.
After you’ve collected the 75 parts you’ll need, you can find the nearest workbench and give yourself a significant upgrade. Once you’ve done this twice, you’ll be able to have two pistols and two long guns, allowing you to switch between weapons very quickly in combat. Due to both its permanence and usefulness, upgrading your gun holsters easily tops the list as a number one tip.
