The Last of Us Part I PC port is in poor technical condition, developer is investigating performance issues

The Last of Us Part I finally hit PC on Tuesday, March 28, and it’s already being bombarded with negative reviews on Steam. At the time of writing, the game has a positive rating of 33%, mostly due to the broken state it came out in. Since its launch, there have been numerous reports about performance issues ranging from hard crashes, stuttering, poor optimization. , and long loading times. Developer Naughty Dog remade its 2013 magnum opus for the PS5 last year and originally planned to port it to PC on March 3. However, it was later postponed until March 28, to ensure the game starts in “the best shape possible”. . Unfortunately, things don’t seem to have gone as planned.

In a tweet, Naughty Dog confirmed that it was “actively investigating” the issues. “We will continue to update you, but our team is prioritizing updates and will address issues in future patches,” it says. Before its launch, it seems that media and content creators did not receive a press copy for The Last of Us Part I PC, which is quite unusual for Sony, as it systematically sent out review codes for days – and sometimes weeks in advance.

This time developer Iron Galaxy has been given the task of bringing the game to PC – the same group that was responsible for the disappointing PC port of Batman: Arkham Knight in 2015. Although it did a fairly decent job with Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collecting in 2022, the TLOU port appears to have been released in a rush.

The Last of Us Part I System Requirements and PC Features Revealed

Gadgets 360 can confirm player reports that the game’s “Shader Building” process was not only time-consuming, but also caused random freezes. The Last of Us Part I PC settings lean more towards CPU usage, resulting in micro stuttering, while graphics memory easily maxes out at medium settings. Players have also reported game crashes while idling in the main menu waiting for shaders to build, in addition to encountering loading screens during in-game cutscenes.

“Pre-purchased and pre-loaded. I launched it as soon as it was ready. I went to the settings. It turns out that this game consumes almost 10 GB of VRAM with maximum settings of 1440p (the game set defaults to maximum),” wrote one Steam user. “I am using an RTX 3080 Ti with 12GB VRAM, mind you. I was never able to get past the menu screen which always freezes when the game shows a notification in the bottom right corner that says “BUILD SHADERS”.

Players on the Steam Deck have also reported issues – saying shaders take at least an hour to build, while running at 30fps on low to medium graphics settings. Keep in mind that Steam only allows two hours of game time, before which you can request a refund. Poor game optimization has been a common problem for PC gamers lately – Gotham Knights and the more recent Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty are prime examples, running with micro stutters even at the lowest settings. Even Hogwarts Legacy on PC requires dedicated shader creation time each launch, although the optimization isn’t as bad.

The Last of Us Part I is available now on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. That said, I don’t recommend you buy it until performance fixes are released.

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