The highly anticipated release of The Last of Us Part I on PC has left many players disappointed due to performance issues.
Despite being developed by Iron Galaxy Studios, known for their successful port of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves, the game has been plagued with problems similar to those seen in their problematic 2015 port of Batman: Arkham Knight.
Over 2,500 reviews on Valve's platform currently show less than 33% approval, with numerous complaints about long shader load times, high hardware usage causing overheating and maxed-out fans, and frequent crashes. Even positive reviews mention poor performance, which could be a red flag for the developers.
The game's technical issues are affecting players with high-end hardware, with complaints about low-quality textures, uneven shadows, and video cards with over 10 GB of VRAM running out of memory. Even worse, those who attempted to play the game on Valve's handheld, Steam Deck, faced similar problems. Shader installation took almost an hour, and the game ran at under 30 FPS, making for a frustrating experience.
Overall, the game's poor optimization has ruined the player experience. The lengthy shader compilation at the beginning, high VRAM usage, and frequent loading prompts have left players disappointed, especially considering the game's exclusivity. It would be best to wait for a patch from the developers or Sony before purchasing the game.
Despite these issues, players are still hopeful that the developers will release updates to improve the game's performance. Joel and Ellie's post-apocalyptic world is a fan-favorite, and players are eagerly waiting for a stable and smooth gameplay experience.