The Last of Us Part Ifinally debuted on PC on March 28th, but it’s been a bumpy launch, to say the least.
In the past 24 hours, players have been reporting a slew of technical issues with the remake of the seminal 2013 PS3 game, including repeated crashes, inconsistent framerates and lengthy wait times to load shaders. At the time of writing, the game has a “Mostly Negative” rating on Steam based on more than 7,000 reviews.
Naughty Dog, the original developer of The Last of Us that also assisted port studio Iron Galaxy on the PC version, took to social media to acknowledge the issues.
The Last of Us Part I PC players: we've heard your concerns, and our team is actively investigating multiple issues you've reported.
We will continue to update you, but our team is prioritizing updates and will address issues in upcoming patches.
“We’ve heard your concerns, and our team is actively investigating multiple issues you’ve reported. We will continue to update you, but our team is prioritizing updates and will address issues in upcoming patches,” tweeted Naughty Dog. The developer also directed players to a page listing known issues with the PC port while also asking players to submit a ticket for any others they my encounter.
It’s a remarkably bad look for PlayStation, which had already delayed the port by a few weeks for extra polish. It’s also a blemish on Naughty Dog, specifically, a studio renowned for its tightly-crafted, highly-polished games. “We want to make sure that The Last of Us Part I PC debut is in the best shape possible,” wrote Naughty Dog in a February 3rd tweet of the delay. “These additional few weeks will allow us to ensure this version of The Last of Us lives up to your, and our, standards.”
The port also comes several months after The Last of Us Part I was released on PS5 with no significant issues.
Further enhancing the issue is the fact that this port was meant to coincide with the recently concluded first season of HBO’s hit The Last of Us series, which directly adapts the first game. Clearly, PlayStation is positioning the remake as an entry point for people who were introduced to the IP through the series. What’s more, PlayStation also didn’t make review copies available ahead of release, which meant that buyers weren’t able to get any advance feedback on how the PC port actually runs.
PlayStation has revealed the free games coming to PlayStation Plus Essential in April 2023.
Leading this month’s lineup is Build Your Maker on PS4 and PS5 is releasing day one on PlayStation Plus. The first-person building and raiding game hails from Montreal’s Behaviour Interactive, the studio behind Dead by Daylight.
Also notable is Sackboy: A Big Adventure, a co-op-supported, Super Mario 3D World-esque platformer that’s available on both PS4 and PS5.
Rounding out this month’s trio of freebies is Tails of Iron, a hand-drawn RPG for PS4 and PS5.
All three games will be free through PS Plus Essential, the base PS Plus membership, from April 4th to May 1st. March’s Essential titles will remain free until April 3rd.
PlayStation Plus Essential costs $11.99/month or $69.99/year.
For one weekend only, PlayStation Canada has opened a pop-up inspired by the hit franchise in the city’s bustling Union Station. There, visitors will see an infected person stuck in the wall in a creepy, zombified outgrowth. Other imagery, including materials from the game’s fictional Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA), is also featured.
BREAKING NEWS – A Cordyceps outbreak has hit Toronto with one infection already reported. Reports indicate they were a fungi. Experts link this to the increase in players experiencing The Last of Us on PS5. #livefromPS5pic.twitter.com/sFV5lDzzOH
Interestingly, though, the pop-up is inspired by The Last of Us Part I, the PS5 remake of the original The Last of Us PS3 game, rather than the HBO series, specifically. It’s part of the gaming giant’s “Live from PS5” campaign, a series of live-action skits in which fictional reporters cover events from PS5 games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Final Fantasy XVI.
Those interested in attending The Last of Us pop-up in Toronto can do so at the following times:
Friday, March 24th (2pm to 10pm ET)
Saturday, March 25th (10am to 10pm ET)
Sunday, March 26th (12pm to 10pm ET)
The pop-up comes right before the March 28th PC launch of The Last of Us Part I, and just a couple of weeks after the finale of the hit HBO series.
Toronto-based Visai Games has announced that its narrative cooking game, Venba, will be coming to Xbox consoles (plus Game Pass) and PlayStation 5 this summer in addition to Nintendo Switch and PC as previously announced.
This marks a slight delay from its original spring 2023 release window.
Venba focuses on an Indian mother who moves to Canada with her family in the ’80s. Through minigames, players will prepare authentic South Indian dishes, which help to connect her to her old home. Players will also engage in branching conversations to learn more about the immigrant family.
PlayStation has revealed what’s coming to its PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium memberships in March. This month’s highlights include Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, Ghostwire Tokyo and more
Below are all of the new games hitting the subscription service:
Extra
Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection
Tchia
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction
Ghostwire Tokyo
Life is Strange: True Colors
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Life is Strange 2
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Street Fighter V Champion Edition
Untitled Goose Game
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
Rage 2
Neo: The World Ends with You
Haven
PlayStation Plus Extra starts at $17.99/month and includes all of the PS Plus Essential perks.
PlayStation Classics | Premium
Ridge Racer Type 4 — PS1
Ape Academy 2 — PSP
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror — PSP
PlayStation Plus Premium starts at $21.99/month and includes all of the PS Plus Essential and Extra perks. PS Plus Extra and Premium members can start playing these games as soon as March 21st.
These players can also play titles likes Battlefield 2024 (PS4/PS5), Minecraft Dungeons (PS4) and Code Vein (PS4) from March 7th to April 4th.
PlayStation Plus Essential costs $11.99 per month or $69.99 per year.
Pedro Pascal took some time during the Oscars to send some love to Canada.
Speaking to eTalk on the award show’s red carpet, The Last of Us star was asked whether Canada “did [him] proud” after filming the popular HBO series in Alberta for a year.
“Incredibly proud,” Pascal responded. “We couldn’t have done it without Canada, frankly, because of its physical landscape, because of our crew. 12 months — I miss it.”
Notably, Pascal went on to say that “we’re going back,” suggesting that Season 2 of the series will once again film in Alberta — or, at least, elsewhere in Canada. This echoes comments from co-star Bella Ramsey, who told Comicbook.com she’s “really excited” to be “back in Canada” for Season 2.
It should be noted that HBO hasn’t yet made a formal announcement regarding where or even when The Last of Us‘ sophomore season might film. For all kinds of business reasons, changes could happen, especially since we’re presumably months out from the start of production. Still, Pascal and Ramsey’s comments now suggest that the current plan, at least, is to return to Canada.
Elsewhere in his brief chat with eTalk, Pascal was asked to give a shoutout to his “Canadian fans,” but that wasn’t enough for him.
“A big shoutout to my Canadian family — I miss you!”
Pascal has been quite open about his love of Canada during The Last of Us promotional circuit. Speaking to MobileSyrupahead of the show’s premiere, the actor raved about “the warmth and the dedication” of the Canadian crew, saying that it ended up being “essential” to film here. He also gave a special mention to Canmore, which stood in for Jackson, Wyoming in Episode 6, calling it a “magical little town.”
The entire first season of The Last of Us is now streaming on Crave in Canada. A release window for Season 2 has not yet been revealed, although we know it will adapt The Last of Us Part II. That said, the creators have confirmed that at least two seasons will be needed to fully cover the events of the sequel.
In an interview with GQ about the March 12th Season 1 finale, creators and showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin were pressed on what’s to come. While the pair have confirmed that Season 2 will adapt The Last of Us Part II, the extent to which has remained unclear. When asked whether Season 2 will “span the entire course of the second game,” Druckmann said, “it’s more than one season.”
Although Mazin had previously teased that Part II is “more than a season’s worth of television,” this is the first time both he and Druckmann have definitively commented on there being multiple seasons in the works. Of course, the final say will come down to whether HBO renews the series again, but for now, at least, we know the creators are planning to tackle the story in this way. Given how popular it’s been so far, though — HBO’s second-biggest series premiere after only House of the Dragon— it’s not a stretch to think Season 2 will garner a similarly large audience.
Interestingly, though, the pair declined to specify whether this means we’re getting two or three more seasons. “You have noted correctly that we will not say how many,” responded Mazin with a laugh. “But more than one is factually correct.”
Those who have played both The Last of Us games will certainly understand Druckmann and Mazin’s reasoning. The first game is roughly 15 hours to complete, while the sequel is nearly 25 hours. Without getting into spoilers, Part II — which takes place five years after the first game — is also much more ambitious in its narrative structure, with many jumps in perspective and time periods.
“Ultimately, we generally stressed the power of relationships and trying to find significance within moments of action,” Mazin said during a virtual press conference, via Variety. “And so there may be less action than some people wanted because we couldn’t necessarily find significance for quite a bit of it, or [there was] concern that it would be repetitive.”
However, he did tease that “it’s quite possible that there will be a lot more infected later. And perhaps different kinds” in Season 2.
It’s also worth noting that Laura Bailey, who plays a major new character in Part II named Abby, also made a cameo in the Season 1 finale. Druckmann and Mazin also teased that she could play a bigger role in future seasons, similar to what they gave to game actors Troy Baker (Joel), Ashley Johnson (Ellie) and Jeffrey Pierce (Tommy).
A release window for The Last of Us Season 2 has not yet been confirmed. Season 1 is currently streaming on Crave in Canada.
Last year, I wrote about how the glut of (otherwise quality) game releases early in the year was a bit overwhelming, leading me to take a much-needed break from gaming.
That said, there’s one game that I’ve been enjoying on the side, and it couldn’t have come at a better time: February’s Theatrythm Final Bar Line. Now, I’m not necessarily surprised that I enjoy it; a crossover game featuring music and characters from Final Fantasy, my all-time favourite series, was up my alley. However, I generally can’t get into rhythm games (including previous Theatrythm titles) due to their inherently repetitive nature, so I didn’t know how much of Final Bar Line I’d actually play.
As it turns out — quite a few hours. A big part of that has to do with the fact that this game marks the series’ console debut; I far prefer using a controller to a device like a 3DS with smaller buttons. Beyond that, though, Final Bar Line is just a fundamentally easy game to pick up and play. For uncoordinated people like me who don’t often play these kinds of games, developer ‘indieszero’ has graciously included a ‘Simple’ mode that relegates all inputs to a single button. That, alongside four difficulty options for each song, ensures that players of all levels of experience can jump in.
Because really, the highlight here is the music — some of the greatest in the history of gaming. With 385 songs from across 29 different Final Fantasy games, Final Bar Line is full of nothing but straight bangers. That includes the god-tier work of original FF composer Nobuo Uematsu (the first nine numbered entries and contributions to many others), Masashi Hamauzu (XIII), Masayoshi Soken (XIV) and Yoko Shimomura (XV). It’s almost a cliché to use the term “love letter” at this point, but Final Bar Line absolutely earns it thanks to its far-reaching celebration of 35 years’ worth of incredible music.
In terms of fan favourites, there’s everything from the sensational operatic grandeur of VII‘s “One-Winged Angel” and tear-jerking X ballad “Suteki Da Ne” to the beautiful Celtic woodwinds of XIII‘s “The Archylte Steppe” and majestic XV violin piece, “Valse di Fantastica.” But indieszero and Square Enix have commendably picked deeper cuts, too, like the menacing “Jack’s Theme” from the meme-worthy Strangers of Paradise, a slew of songs from mobile titles like Mobius Final Fantasy and tracks from lesser-known spin-offs like Chocobo’s Dungeon and Crystal Chronicles. Hell, my favourite game of all time, FFVII, has multiple sets of tracks from the OG VII, its stellar Remake, Crisis Core prequel and other ‘Compilation’ spin-offs.
Final Bar Line also sports an extensive lineup of DLC tracks from other Square Enix titles with their own stellar music, like Live A Live, Nier Automata and Chrono Trigger. Admittedly, I wish some of these included remixes; of the four Live A Live songs, only one is an updated version from last year’s amazing remake, and it isn’t the absolute bop that is “Megalomania.” Nitpick aside, though, the music catalogue is so magnificent and vast — in the base game alone, and only more so with DLC — that there really will be something here for everyone, even if you don’t have a history with some of these games.
That’s to say nothing of the plethora of characters. There’s an undeniable highlight in having parties consisting of, say, VII‘s Cloud and Sephiroth, XIV‘s Alphinaud and Tactics‘ Ramza — characters who would pretty much never meet otherwise. Bringing them together in recreations of iconic FF scenes, like VI’‘s Opera House misadventure, the death of Aerith in VII or XV‘s gargantuan Leviathan encounter only sweetens the deal. While I wish we got an actual narrative to unify them all, there’s enough of a mix here between traditional rhythm stages and FMV-filled ones to serve as a satisfying FF ‘Greatest Hits’ collection.
At the same time, the focus on songs means you’ll generally only be playing for a few minutes at a time. This makes it the perfect game to dabble in here and there, especially if you’ve found yourself a bit burnt out on games like me. The fact that I can just boot up my PS5, run through a few songs at my desired difficulty setting for 20 or 30 minutes and then go on with my day is brilliant. Thankfully, it’s not a time-sink like so many games nowadays. On the flip side, there’s a lot of content here if you want to dig into it, which means it’s worth coming back to over and over. Between Series Quests (an arcade-style campaign that takes you through highlights of each game), Music Stages (free play), co-op (where you and a friend split the notes) and Multi Battle (a surprisingly frenetic four-player competitive match), Final Bar Line is chock full of gameplay modes.
There’s also an RPG-lite element that hearkens back to the FF series’ roots. As you play, you’ll unlock new characters, abilities and summons that can be customized to your party of choice. Each character has their own class (Physical, Magic, Defence, Healing, etc.) to distinguish the types of moves they’ll automatically use as you hit notes. For example, the powerful Ulima Blade can only be used by blade-wielders like Cloud and Sephiroth. On the other hand, V‘s Lenna has a character-specific ‘Arise’ spell that can revive your team when your HP hits zero. Overall, this system feels finely tuned enough that mixing-and-matching configurations will provide benefits in stages but can still largely be ignored — especially on lower difficulties — if you just want to use your favourite characters and focus on the music.
Final Bar Line is easily one of my favourite games of the year so far. With some of the best music in the entire medium, a variety of difficulty options and modes and a structure that makes it easy to pick up and drop, indieszero has created an absolutely delightful experience that I keep coming back to even as I’ve put down other games.
Theatrythm Final Bar Line is now available on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
Now, we’ve learned where Troy Baker, the man who originated the role of Joel in The Last of Us game, likes to eat in the province.
Speaking to Daily Hive, Baker, who plays a villain named James in the TV adaptation’s eighth episode, was asked about his favourite food spot in Calgary. Although he notes that he “spent a lot of time in downtown Calgary,” he says much of that was dedicated to the Charcut Roast House.
“I got to know the staff. I’m a guy who likes the Cheers factor. So, wherever I go if someone knows my name I’m going to spend a lot of time with those people,” Baker added.
He went on to praise the city’s “incredible food scene” and mutual love of wine. “So spending a month there, I got to know the town really, really well.” Baker’s character serves as the right-hand man of David (Scott Shepherd), the leader of a group of survivors that has a run-in with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in the woods.
Notably, Baker’s The Last of Us co-star, Ashley Johnson (the original Ellie before Bella Ramsey), will also play a different role in the series. Specifically, Johnson will appear in this season’s ninth and final episode, March 12th’s “Look for the Light,” as Ellie’s mother, Anna. It remains to be seen what she might say about her own experiences in Alberta.
What we do know, though, is how much the cast and crew as a whole have loved the province. Jeffrey Pierce, who played Tomy in the games and Perry in the show, told MobileSyruphis time in Calgary was “maybe my favourite experience filming ever,” while production designer John Paino has said he was “shocked” at how “clean” Alberta was compared to the U.S.
The Last of Us is now streaming exclusively on Crave in Canada.
