PlayStation’s foray into PC gaming has already brought over some of it’s most beloved exclusive IPs to mouse and keyboard. With the like of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Ghost of Tsushima already playable across both PC and Steam Deck, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is the next major once-exclusive title to join the party. The question is, does it run on Steam Deck?
Picking up years after the cliffhanger ending of The Last of Us Part I, the sequel follows Ellie’s revenge arc. After watching someone she loved get brutally murdered in front of her, Ellie sets out to hunt down their killers. It’s a dark and tough story to follow, but ambitious and excellent in most of it’s execution.
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The remake of its predecessor, The Last of Us Part I, hit PC back in March of 2023. At launch, it was totally broken, with many reporting massive issues. More specifically, on Steam Deck, the title was nigh unplayable. After months of patches, it reached a much better and more playable state. Thankfully, The Last of Us Part II Remastered avoids all those issues, coming out of the gate swinging on Steam Deck.
Running on default settings, the game comfortably sits around the 40fps mark, sometimes dipping to the mid-30s in open environments like Seattle. It’s never dropped under 30fps, while sometimes jumping to 45-50fps in smaller areas and indoors. The game hasn’t crashed once, and I haven’t experienced any technical issues whatsoever.
The Last of Us Part 2 runs great on Steam Deck at base settings.
It’s a night and day difference from the launch of the original and runs incredibly well, with one glaring exception. The Last of Us Part II Remastered runs excellently at base settings, and lowering a few others comfortably puts it in the 40fps-45fps range, but frame generation should be avoided at all costs. Turning on FSR absolutely gutters performance, as the screen artifacts horribly and genuinely caused me to feel motion sickness. It’s unplayable with frame generation turned on.
The PC port of The Last of Us Part II brings new changes and more content. It includes more quality-of-life options, including more graphical control and ultrawide support. But the real star of the show is the added content to No Return. No Return is the roguelike mode added when the game came to PS5, with the PC launch adding two new characters and four new maps.
No Return was already fantastic, but having it on the go has been a game-changer. Being able to hop in, knock out a couple of levels in a run, then continue on later is so much fun. Both Bill and Marlene, the newly added characters, play entirely differently than the rest of the cast. Bill has a brutal shotgun and can collect double resources at times, while Marlene is much trickier, being able to modify runs as they happen. The added No Return content will come to the PS5 version of the game as well.
PlayStation has also eliminated the mandatory PSN sign-in that plagued past titles. Instead, they now offer an incentive. Players who sign in to their PSN accounts get the usual trophy support and an awesome-looking jacket from Naughty Dog’s upcoming title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
All in all, The Last of Us Part Two Remastered is a massive win on Steam Deck. With solid frame rates, beautiful visuals, and no technical issues, it’s easy to recommend for any on the go players. As the second season of the hit HBO adaptation of The Last of Us looms right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to journey back to Seattle.
The Last of Us Part Two Remastered is available now on PS5 and PC.
