With the wait for the highly anticipated second season ofThe Last of Usat an end, the timing for a PC port ofThe Last of Us Part 2 Remasteredcouldn’t be better. Bringing this sequel to the broader PC audience amidst renewed interest thanks to a hit adaptation was a smart move by Naughty Dog, and partnering with Nixxes to achieve this was another.
Game Rant recently sat down with the team behind this long-awaited PC port ofThe Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, including Naughty Dog head of technology Travis McIntosh and game director Matthew Gallant, alongside Nixxes founder Jurjen Katsman and PC product director Coen Fraunfelder. They spoke about the benefits of PC hardware, Steam Deck compatibility, their approach to the remaster in general, and plenty more.This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Naughty Dog’s Partnership With the Porting Veterans at Nixxes
Q: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced bringing The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered to PC? Was there anything tech-wise that was difficult?
McCintosh: At Naughty Dog, we’re really good at targeting specific hardware. Historically, we’ve always shipped on just one PlayStation console, maybe porting it to another PlayStation system later. Because of that, all of our code and our engine are designed around a very specific hardware configuration.
That’s why we needed help fromour partners at Nixxes. They’re the masters of PC development—getting a game running smoothly across 500,000 different hardware setups. So in my opinion—and maybe they’d say something different—the hardest part was taking code that’s super specific, super low-level, and tightly targeted, and turning it into something more generalized, scalable, and adaptable. From a technical standpoint, that’s the real challenge.
Q: On the other hand, did you find there were certain advantages to bringing it to PC?
Gallant:The one that comes most readily to mind for me is that we were able to release thegame on Steam Deck. We’ve now announced that it’s verified on Steam Deck, and that’s a really exciting new way for players to experience games—being able to take it on the go and play portably.
That’s only possible in this port because of the work Travis was mentioning—things like scalability and supporting a wide range of options. When you’re already targeting so many different hardware configurations, being able to support something as low-end as the Steam Deck is a big deal. It opens up the game to a lot more players, especially those who like to play from the comfort of their bed or while traveling.
That was a really unique opportunity we got to explore with this port.
McIntosh:At a high level, the main reason we pursued this port was to reach an audience we couldn’t before. There are players who prefer mouse and keyboard, or those who’ve invested heavily in their PCs and want to experience the game on that platform.
With the show’s release, new fans are discovering the story and might be interested in this part of it. However, they may not own the original version or a PlayStation console. This port offers them an opportunity to engage with the game.
Thanks to the work Nixxes has done, even players with older machines—three or four years old—can enjoy an amazing experience. The game runs smoothly across a wide range of hardware, not just the latest high-end setups.
Q: How do the PC version’s visuals leverage hardware compared to PlayStation?
Fraunfelder:We’ve put a lot of work into scalability, making sure the game runs well across a wide range of setups. When you push it to the very high settings, that preset is absolutely on par with the PS5 version. In some cases, it even goes a bit beyond. But overall, the experience is very closely aligned.
We also worked backwards from there to ensure we had solid medium presets—something more in line with what you’d see on a PS4 Pro—and then went even further back to support devices like the Steam Deck and mid-spec PCs. You might have agaming machine that’s a few years oldor one you inherited from your parents, and we still want you to be able to play awesome games. So we made that happen.
Katsman:It’s also worth noting that on the high end, you can push the game even further. You can play at much higher resolutions—4K becomes a lot more accessible. Wesupport DLSS Frame Generationand FSR Frame Gen, which help achieve higher frame rates as well.
For this title specifically, we also added dynamic resolution scaling. That allows the game to automatically adjust the resolution to maintain a target performance level. If you’ve got extra power to spare on a high-end rig, you can run at full resolution with DLAA anti-aliasing, which makes everything look crisper and more polished.
There’s definitely something here for high-end users—especially in terms of image quality. We’re really excited for players with powerful systems to experience that.
McIntosh:I just want to call out how awesome ultra-wide support is. I’ve played this game—let’s just say, a lot—but experiencing it on an ultra-wide screen felt completely new. I’ve got a big monitor at home, and it’s really cool to see the story I’ve gone through maybe 50 times already, but from this fresh perspective. It makes the whole thing feel new again. It’s very cool.
Gallant:I’ll dogpile one more thing onto this answer—one of the things I think is really cool about the PC version is how many different input devices we support. In a completely open ecosystem like PC, players bring whatever setup they want, and we support a wide range of options.
That includes players who want touse a DualSense controller. If they plug it in via cable, they get the full experience with haptics and adaptive triggers, just like on PS5.
But beyond that, as a studio, we care a lot about accessibility. Supporting a wider range of input devices means we can better accommodate players with custom setups—setups designed specifically to support their individual needs. So we’re really excited to be opening the game up to that broader audience as well.
Q: Were there changes to content going into the PC port, or did you try to leave the game mostly unchanged?
Gallant:We released some new content alongside the PC version of the game, and we’re also offering that same content on PS5. So both player bases get access to it—but yeah, it’s some really cool new stuff.
The headline additions for me are inthe No Return game mode, the roguelike survival mode. We’ve added two new playable characters—Bill and Marlene—who fans will remember from The Last of Us Part I. We’ve also introduced four new maps to the mode. These are locations from the main story that we thought would be especially fun to include, and now they’re part of the random pool when you generate a run.
And one more thing to highlight: for players who choose to link their game to a PSN ID, they’ll receive a bonus cosmetic—Jordan’s jacket from our upcoming game, Intergalactic. It’s available as a skin in this version, which we’re really excited to offer.
Q: Can you talk about your approach to the new characters, Bill and Marlene, in the No Return roguelike mode?
Gallant:For us, when we’re designing a character, the first thing on our minds is identity—we want their identity in No Return to reflect who they are in the story. It has to feel true to their character.
With Bill, there was just this really cool opportunity. He’s got that iconic pump shotgun from the first game, and he’s obviously a pretty paranoid guy—he’s setting trap mines everywhere. So right off the bat, we gave him the trap mine. And because he works with Joel and Tess as a smuggler, we tied that into this mechanic in No Return called Dead Drops.
Dead Drops are points on the map during a run that ask for specific crafting items. If you deliver the item, when you return to the hub, you’ll get a reward. Bill’s special trait is that he gets double rewards. Most characters would get a recipe or a gun—Bill gets both. That’s also how he gets his pump shotgun—it’s a Dead Drop reward, and it comes fully upgraded.
He’s just a super fun character. He’s got great dialogue—gruff, sassy—and I think players are going to love that. He’s iconic.
Then there’s Marlene, who was interesting to design because she’s the leader of the Fireflies. So we asked: how do we tie that into gameplay? First off, she uses the assault rifle from The Last of Us Part I—the one you only see at the end of the game, used by the Fireflies. It wasn’t in Part II at all, so we brought it back just for her.
She’s also got this unique ability where, once per run, she can switch lanes. So if she starts down one path in the roguelike’s branching map, she can pivot and take a different one. That connects really nicely to the biggest part of her kit—what we call “All or Nothing” Gambits.
Gambits are dynamic challengesthat pop up during a run. Stuff like: “Get three headshots,” or “Get a kill with a trap bomb.” When Marlene gets a Gambit, she has to complete it. If she doesn’t, she doesn’t get her reward at the end of the map.
So that’s her whole vibe—high risk, high reward. That’s who she is in the story, too. She gambled the entire Firefly organization on this long-shot hope of a cure. That’s what we wanted to channel with her gameplay: these really tough, all-or-nothing decisions.
We went through tons of prototypes and playtests, and this ended up being a super strong hook for her. She’s a really unique character, and especially for players who’ve already played No Return on PS5, I think she’ll stand out as the “advanced mode” character—the one that pushes you to step up your game. But if you do, the rewards are amazing.
We’re just really excited for both these characters, and we can’t wait to see what players do with them.
The Last Of Us Part 2 Remastered’s No Return Roguelike Mode
Q: I’d also like to talk about the new maps for the mode. What were some of your goals with them?
Gallant:We had the opportunity to go back through our set of levels from The Last of Us Part II, and, of course, we had to pick our favorites. There are a ton of combat encounters in The Last of Us Part II, and we had to decide which ones would work well for our roguelike mode.
In No Return, we tend to look for maps that have natural ways to “valve” the player in—essentially, locking them into a certain area so they can’t just run off into the next area indefinitely. We also look for interesting map shapes. Each game mode has different needs.
For example, maps like School and Nest work well for the “Hunted” mode, which isa time-pressure mode. We keep spawning enemies, and the player has to survive for a certain amount of time. So, for that mode, we need small, dense maps where there aren’t too many places to run and hide. You really have to stand your ground and fight.
On the other hand, Overlooking Streets supports the “Assault” mode, which is more of a traditional wave-based enemy mode. A map with open spaces and long sightlines works really well for that.
Each mode also supports other types of gameplay—Capture and Hold, for instance. One of the nice things about No Return is that we control the run generation, so we can pair modes and maps in ways that make sense and create great gameplay. If we find that a particular mode and map don’t work well together, we can just exclude that combination from being generated in a run.
What really excites me is Overlooking Streets—it’s an incredible map with tons of verticality. You can see the Seattle skyline, and it’s just visually stunning. The School map is unique because there’s something iconic about being in a school in the The Last of Us universe. It’s a location that ties back to the main story, and it feels so fitting.
Streets has thisgreat stealth elementwith tall grass that players can use to their advantage. And Nest is a small, intense map that creates a really scary experience when the infected come in. It was a great map in the main story, and I’m excited that we get to use it in No Return as well.
Q: This isn’t the first time The Last of Us has been ported to PC. Were there any lessons learned or changes in approach when bringing the Part Two remaster to PC?
McIntosh:I would say the biggest difference is our partners. We’re leveragingNixxes' long history with PlayStation porting, and we’ve learned a lot at Naughty Dog, but combining that with Nixxes’ expertise has produced a much better product than we could’ve achieved on our own.
One thing I want to highlight is something Nixxes brought to the table: our new approach to loading. Now, you don’t sit on the main screen for long at all—you jump right in. There’s only a very short shader compilation, and then you’re good to go. That’s all thanks to the changes Nixxes helped implement.
There are lots of other improvements like that, where Nixxes’ expertise really made a difference. Those are the biggest changes, and I think the overall experience is far better than it would’ve been otherwise.
Q: Speaking about the remaster in general, what did you feel was most important to “get right?” Were there certain qualities you wanted to preserve versus enhance?
Gallant:It was a really exciting opportunity for us as a studio to remaster The Last of Us Part II. This is a game we poured so much love, care, and attention into, and it means a lot to us. Whenever we re-release it in any form, we want it to still feel like this incredible journey, one that truly transports players along with Joel, Ellie, Abby, and the other characters. We want players to get lost in the experience.
When we were able tobring the game to PlayStation 5, providing a higher frame rate and enhanced visuals with higher resolution, it was all about serving that goal—getting players even more immersed in the experience. Our artists put so much detail into their levels, and The Last of Us Part II is so ambitious. We’ve got tons of foliage and levels that are open in a way that pushed us as a studio. Being able to leverage more powerful hardware to execute all that makes everything smoother and more beautiful, so we’re really happy to bring this to players.
Another exciting addition with the remaster is all the bonus content. For players who might not be familiar with it, the game is packed with extras. There are skins you can unlock for different characters, and a feature called Lost Levels, where you can play levels that were cut during the original development of the game. These levels are in a rougher state—they’re kind of like alpha content—but you get to play them and listen to developer commentary about why they were created, why they were eventually cut, and the thought process behind them.
We also havea guitar free-play mode. If players aren’t familiar, there’s a fully featured guitar mini-game in the main story of The Last of Us Part II. In this mode, we expanded it with different instruments, levels, and characters, plus cool audio effects and synths. We’ve seen some incredible players doing amazing things with this feature.
But the one I’d highlight the most is No Return, the new feature we added to The Last of Us Part II Remastered. It’s a roguelike survival mode where you play through combat encounters from the game, but everything’s randomized. Enemies are placed in new locations, and you get different guns as you progress. And when you die, you lose everything—it’s not just a simple checkpoint reset. The thrill of that experience, knowing you’re fully losing your progress if you die, adds so much excitement.
Q: For players who are coming back after playing the non-remastered game, are there certain scenes or moments where you feel there’s a “night and day” difference?
McIntosh:I wouldrecommend an ultra-wide screenif you’re playing on PC. Like I said, it’s a game changer for how you experience this game. If you’re a PC player with a big monitor, definitely check it out. It will provide a completely new experience.
Q: Did the live-action series have any influence on things you wanted to include?
McIntosh:At a high level, it’s Neil. He wrote and directed The Last of Us, and he’s also involved with the series, so everything funnels through him. He’s inspired by working on the TV series, and that inspiration comes back to the studio, informing how we work. Essentially, he’s the bridge that cross-pollinates between the two.
Gallant:I can say, as a studio, we’ve been so excited for the TV series. It’s been incredible to see moments we worked on and know so well, brought to life in this different medium, sometimes with real, practical sets and effects. We’re all just blown away by the show, and we’re really excited about Season 2.
Q: Is there anything we haven’t gotten to that you were wishing I would ask about?
Gallant:I’m just glad you went deep on No Return stuff. I could talk about that all day.
Katsman:From our side, we’re just really happy to be working with Naughty Dog. We’ve been fans of their games for a long time, and it’s really exciting to collaborate with them on these projects. But most importantly, we’re thrilled to bring thesegames to PC gamers—gamers who never expected to be able to play these titles on their PCs, and now can. It’s really exciting to deliver these games in a way that makes them shine, and we’re happy to be a part of that and provide this experience to PC players.
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