“Now if you look at Part I, we’re able to transport you there, make this world feel stifling, lived in, dangerous. Layers and layers of activity.”

Contrasting that, the lush overgrown and disgusting disease-filled areas outside the quarantine zone are also noticeably refreshed. Moss spirals around the character’s legs as they wade through water, while zombie fungus spores hang menacingly in the air around the infected. They’re all the same areas, they’re just imbued with a lot more life.

Game director Matthew Gallant said the process was similar when it came to actually playing. From shooting or throwing molotov cocktails to climbing around the world, Naughty Dog’s technology has improved a lot in the past decade. But instituting it here without it feeling like the mechanics had come in from a completely different game took a lot of nuance. He said this was a big part of what separated the game from a straight remaster, which is what the team did for the game’s 2014 PS4 release.

“[A remaster] is almost just a tech or programming exercise. You take the original assets, port the engine to the next gen, and then say ok well we can bump up the texture resolution, increase the frame rate, push out the distance that objects start to fade out a little,” he said.

“But that’s just like numbers that you’re tweaking. You’re not fundamentally reconsidering the creative decisions or the art direction.”

One specific example of new tech can be seen in the animation, where the developers institute what they call motion match. Actors with motion capture gear give really long performances running in all kinds of directions and taking all kind of actions. As the player moves the character using the controller, the game blends these recordings to create a realistic-looking performance that’s also very responsive.

“Rather than this very canned animation you’re getting this constant, seamless, very organic movement,” Gallant said, adding that great care was taken to make sure playing as Joel still felt like playing as Joel.

“There’s a sense of weight, a sense of being an older man, a bruiser, someone who’s lived in this harsh world for 20 years. We want you to feel like you’re playing Joel but just the best, most smooth, most next-gen feeling version of Joel’s performances.”

Certain aspects of the PlayStation 5 hardware also help the game feel a lot more modern, including its 3D sound capabilities and haptic feedback. The PS5 controller has a different approach to vibration that’s almost like playing an audio file to get a whole range of different tactile feelings, which in the game is used to give texture to everything from ripping a bandage to patting animals.

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One final and very important aspect of Naughty Dog’s technology brought over from Last of Us Part II is the accessibility suite.

For blind or low vision players there are audio indicators, modes that brightly highlight enemies and objects, and very detailed spoken descriptions of story scenes. For deaf players there are exhaustive visual indicators, and that PS5 vibration tech is used to play dialogue through the controller, so players can read subtitles while also getting a tactile sense of how lines are delivered. This all means players who were able to enjoy Part II because of the landmark accessibility options may now be able to go back and experience the original.

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