The Last of Us Part 1 is officially out on Steam Deck, and its issues are as bad as the infected apocalypse that haunts its characters. While fans were expecting a few rough issues with the PS5 game’s port to PC, the game has still surprised players with just how bad it’s turned out.
Fans have been posting their experiences online and it isn’t pretty. One viral Twitter post showing how low settings need to be pushed to run on Steam Deck shows a particularly rough experience.
The character model for protagonist Joel Miller is hilariously compressed, forcing his beard and eyebrows to look absolutely horrible.
Multiple commenters mocked the new port’s visuals, with many claiming the port turns Joel into famous actor Eugene Levy. However, poor visuals are nothing compared to the game’s long shader compilation.
It can take over 30 minutes to cache in shaders The Last of Us Part 1 on the highest end PCs, with some gamers waiting up to three hours to play. Steam Deck owners have had to wait even longer, with some saying that it takes four hours. Considering how Naughty Dog promised that it would be verified, the news is pretty disappointing.
We’re genuinely amazed at how weird the game can look, even on a strong PC. Most of us were expecting it to look better than the PS3 version but that looks masterful when compared to the Steam port. Granted, the PS3 original was that system’s best-looking game but we still expected more from the PC version.
Naughty Dog has promised to keep supporting The Last of Us Part 1 on PC and Steam Deck for the foreseeable future. Expect a number of improvements to be made in the coming weeks and months, which will hopefully lead to a playable experience. Considering how those with high-end computers are struggling with the game, the port is a bit embarrassing.
Admittedly, a number of PlayStation ports have stumbled a bit when ported to PC. Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves have seen their fair share of problems when coming to gaming computers. Marvel’s Spider-Man has also had some performance problems, most noticeably, an odd bug that stopped the game to load the city when swinging too fast.
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The Last of Us Part 1 is now available on Steam but we recommend players stick to the PS5 version first. Fans with a PS4 can also enjoy the game’s first re-release, which runs a lot better than the PC port.