The original Last of Us game released in 2013 and was an immediate hit, spawning a franchise of its own that now includes a sequel, a record-breaking HBO adaptation, and more. For nearly a decade, anyone wanting to play The Last of Us video games for themselves has needed to own a PlayStation console, but that's finally changed with the PC port of The Last of Us Part 1.

The Last of Us Part 1 is a remake of the award-winning 2013 original, bringing Joel and Ellie's story to modern standards by upping the graphics, adding more accessibility options, and introducing new game modes. The Last of Us Part 1 originally released as a PS5 exclusive last year and earned widespread critical acclaim, with many pointing to it as the definitive way to experience The Last of Us.

The Last of Us Part 1 is nearly a 1:1 remake in terms of the gameplay, story, and general content, with some exceptions. It is missing the original Last of Us' Factions multiplayer mode, which is a shame, because it was a genuinely strong addition to the original game back in the day. It's possible that the upcoming Last of Us multiplayer game played a role in Factions being set aside in The Last of Us Part 1, but regardless, it's still disappointing that it didn't make the jump in the remake.

One thing that The Last of Us Part 1 has that the original didn't is the Left Behind expansion built-in and accessible from the start. Left Behind was a standalone expansion for the original Last of Us that revealed more about Ellie's backstory. Thanks to Left Behind being part of the package, and enjoying the same massive upgrades as the base game, those playing The Last of Us Part 1 as their introduction to the franchise can have a more complete view of one of gaming's greatest stories out of the gate, whereas those that played the original had to wait months for Left Behind to drop.

The Last of Us has one of gaming's best stories, but at this point it's been told, retold, remade, and adapted for television. Those that have already played through the game or watched the show recently may want to focus squarely on gameplay when playing the remake. Luckily, most of the cutscenes in The Last of Us can be skipped, though there are still many moments in the game where control is wrestled away from the player to show an unskippable, albeit brief, cinematic. It would have been a nice quality of life feature to be able to truly skip every single scene in the game, but at least the longer ones can be bypassed.

This can make the beginning hours of Last of Us Part 1 drag a bit for returning players, but those playing it for the first time should be hooked from the start. The Last of Us begins with a heartbreaking prologue and fast-forwards to a post-apocalyptic world where Joel and Ellie's blood-soaked adventure takes place. Over the course of the game, players will find themselves stealthily taking out enemies with brutal executions, fighting against terrifying Clicker monsters, and engaging in explosive shootouts that will leave them sweating.

The Last of Us' action is second to none, with a realistic approach to violence that lends each fight more weight than one might be used to in a video game. It's unnerving to shoot an enemy and hear them choke on their own blood, but it's disturbing details like these that help The Last of Us stand out from other games. It goes out of its way to make everyone feel real, which elevates combat to a level that few games ever reach.

Of course, this was all true of the 2013 original as well. There are some tweaks and improvements here and there, but the core gameplay experience is mostly unchanged from the original to the remake. The big selling point of the remake is the graphics, which have been vastly improved. The 2013 game looked great for its time, but Part 1 pushes things further, with stunning new environmental details and more realistic character models. It looks absolutely incredible when played on High or Ultra settings, but unfortunately, even PC gamers with powerful rigs are likely going to have to settle for playing it on lower graphics settings for the time being.

Despite far exceeding The Last of Us PC recommend requirements, the game struggled with High and Ultra settings on our PC. Setting the graphics to Ultra caused the most frequent problems, with flickering textures and other graphical oddities a regular occurrence. Pushing things down to High alleviated the issues quite a bit, but did not eliminate them completely. Oddly enough, the game only seemed to outright crash when the graphics were set to High instead of Ultra.

The only way to play The Last of Us on PC reliably was to lower it to Medium settings. Someone that has spent a lot of money on expensive PC hardware will not be happy about it, but that's really the only option if one doesn't want the game to suffer from serious technical issues. Naughty Dog is dedicated to fixing these problems with future updates, but at this time, there's no getting around that The Last of Us is poorly optimized for PC.

So while the PC version of The Last of Us Part 1 technically offers gamers more graphics and performance options than its PS5 counterpart, it is currently failing to live up to its full potential. It should also be noted that while playing the game with a mouse and keyboard is perfectly serviceable, it isn't nearly as immersive as playing it with a DualSense controller. The good news is that the PS5 DualSense controller is compatible with PC, though that is an added expense. Right now, one of the only advantages the PC version has over the PS5 release is that The Last of Us is cheaper on PC, but having to buy a DualSense controller to get the most out of the game nullifies that benefit.

The Last of Us is truly one of gaming's best, but the PC port is not the ideal way to experience it. Eventually, The Last of Us Part 1 on PC will be in a state where it lives up to or even exceeds its PlayStation 5 counterpart, but right now it's difficult to recommend. Buried beneath the poor performance is still one of the best games ever made, though, so PC gamers who don't mind playing with Medium graphics may still be able to enjoy the incredible story and gameplay if they absolutely can't wait for everything to be fixed.

The Last of Us Part 1 is available now for PC and PS5. Game Rant was provided with a PC code for this review.