The game “Last of Us” launched on PC with technical issues. A tester has now reviewed the game months later on an expensive laptop, and his conclusion is far from positive. Because despite having high-end hardware, the game runs anything but smoothly.
In spring 2023, the critically acclaimed Last of Us released on PC, but it was met with poor reviews: Although the story and gameplay were impressive on PC, the game offered terrible performance: As of now, the game sits at 58% positive reviews on Steam from over 20,000 ratings. Nevertheless, many players still complain about issues.
Dave Meikleham from Tom’s Guide has now tested the game again three months post-release and explains that the game still runs worse on modern PC technology than on Sony’s own console.
The PC version is still plagued by severe stuttering
What are the problems? Meikleham explains in his article that he played The Last of Us Part 1 on a €3,200 ASUS laptop:
- The game now runs solidly but is unremarkable on PC hardware.
- The current patched version of the game still jumps between 50 and 80 FPS and does not feel smooth. Especially when you have high-end hardware, this can be frustrating.
- You can still have a lot of fun with the game if you can get used to the severe stuttering.
He says: He has a gaming PC for €5,000 and a laptop for €3,200 at home. And on both systems, the game runs worse than on the PS5, which “only” costs €500 (via tomsguide.com):
And this is the main reason why I am so angry about the PC version of The Last of Us Part 1: Even though I own an incredibly expensive gaming system, this port is demonstrably worse than the current PS5 remake.
(…)
But it is absurd that a $500 video game console can play [Last of Us] consistently smoother than one of the most powerful gaming laptops that costs seven times more than the PS5.
The game is still great, but the quality suffers due to technical problems.
Last of Us is not an exception among PC games in 2023
PC players have been struggling with difficult releases and PC ports for several months due to challenging releases and PC ports. Many games, such as Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, launched in a disastrous state and have been receiving updates for weeks.
And many players feel similar to Meikleham: I have a fast gaming PC with an expensive graphics card under my desk, but the game just won’t function properly. Even though I theoretically have better hardware and paid more for it.
Many are now concerned that such a weak release could repeat itself with Starfield in September 2023. Will PC players get the worse version again compared to Xbox players?
