The Last Of Us: Part Two – Remastered review: I was more than happy to play through this masterwork again, writes PETER HOSKIN

The Last of Us: Part Two – Remastered (PlayStation 5, £44.99 or a £10 upgrade if you own the original)

Verdict: remaster piece

Judgement:

With The Last of Us – the game of cold cinematic brilliance that was adapted last year into a TV show of brilliant cinematic coldness – developers Naughty Dog earned the right to do whatever they want. So that’s exactly what they did.

When The Last of Us: Part Two was first released in 2020, it surprised some people with its choices. It jettisoned – or at least continued with – what had been carefully built up in the first game.

The father-daughter relationship between husky Joel and headstrong Ellie? Not so much anymore. The careful explanation of a world infested with mushrooms that turn people into zombies? Not really. Lots of revenge and bitterness and stabbings? Oh, actually, yes – there are a lot.

I found this narrative courage, this subversion of expectations, thrilling at the time. And I’m still excited now that The Last Of Us: Part Two has returned in a newly remastered form.

Wait a second. A remaster? For a game that came out a little over three years ago? It sounds like little more than a cash grab inspired by the upcoming season of the show. But actually, this release does more than enough to justify its own existence.

The graphics, which were already quite impressive, are now pretty much the best way to show off the capabilities of your PlayStation 5. New modes of play have also been added – including a testing ‘survival’ mode against waves of zombies – on top of the 30-hour story of the original.

Or maybe I’m just being controlled by some kind of mind-altering fungus. Anyway, I was more than happy to play this masterpiece again.

Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, £44.99)

Verdict: Back on the throne

Judgement:

The sands of time had almost completely engulfed the Prince of Persia. It’s been over a decade since this once-popular, once-influential series got anything like a proper new entry. Mario, Link and even Sonic have continued to move into the future, leaving the poor prince far behind.

Until now. Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown isn’t just a return, it’s a return to form. Welcome back, Your Majesty.

Its excellence is evident from the start. A snappy prologue introduces your character – a brash but brilliant warrior named Sargon – and his fellow super-powered ‘Immortals’. It’s up to them to defeat an invading army, and they do so. Dodging, parrying, swinging swords. It’s fast, colorful and completely compulsive.

What follows is much the same… in a good way. Soon, betrayal occurs and you save a member of the royal family from a time-bending, demon-summoning group of bad guys in a vast, sprawling ruin complex. The forward momentum of this game is extraordinary, both in terms of plot and moment-to-moment gameplay.

The Lost Crown is recognisably Prince Of Persia: after all, it is a side-scrolling 2D platform game where you have to jump from one thing to another and hit enemies with a scimitar. But it is also learned from games released during the series’ absence.

There’s a bit of Dark Souls in the dodge-and-parry combat, especially when it comes to the (actually quite challenging) boss fights. Modern “Metroidvania” games, like Axiom Verge and Hollow Knight, have also clearly influenced The Lost Crown’s-come-back-here-later-when-you-get-a-new-skill-level design.

To some extent, this makes The Lost Crown a derivative release. But it’s all so well put together, and with so much sympathy for the original Prince Of Persia games, that it’s hard to resist. Long live the, er, not-quite-a-king.