Yes, The Last of Us Part I is still worth playing on Steam in 2026—but only if you want a premium cinematic survival game and are willing to check your PC first. Naughty Dog’s remake delivers an extraordinary story, superb facial animation, and tense stealth encounters, while its launch reputation for shader-compilation stutter and heavy hardware demands remains the biggest warning. At a discount, it’s an easy recommendation. At full price, it’s a beautiful but familiar trip through a story many players already know.
This is the 2022 remake of the original game, not a simple remaster. It includes the full Joel and Ellie campaign plus the Left Behind prequel chapter, improved character models, denser environments, DualSense support, expanded accessibility options, and a range of visual modes. It does not, however, reinvent the campaign with the free movement and prone mechanics later seen in The Last of Us Part II.
The short verdict in 2026
The Last of Us Part I remains one of the strongest story-driven games on Steam. Its 14-to-18-hour main campaign is tightly paced, the performances still feel remarkably grounded, and the combat creates memorable panic without turning every encounter into a shooting gallery. The PC release is also in far better shape than it was during its disastrous launch window.
That improvement matters. Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy released several patches targeting shader compilation, CPU performance, texture streaming, crashes, and memory behavior. The game can now be played comfortably on a modern mid-range system, but it is still more demanding than its linear structure suggests. Expect a long first-time shader process, occasional traversal hitches, and VRAM-related texture problems if you push Ultra settings beyond your graphics card’s limits.
| Question | 2026 answer | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Best reason to play | Story, acting, atmosphere | Joel and Ellie remain exceptionally written and performed. |
| Biggest weakness | Familiar gameplay structure | It lacks Part II’s prone movement, dodging, and broader enemy sandbox. |
| PC concern | Performance overhead | 16GB RAM is the floor, while 32GB and a fast SSD feel much safer. |
| Best buying advice | Buy during a sale | The remake is easier to recommend when discounted rather than at launch pricing. |
If you’re comparing it with other demanding PC ports, our ELEX PC crash and FPS fixes show the same basic lesson: matching the recommended specification isn’t always enough. Storage speed, shader compilation, and driver stability can decide whether a port feels polished.
Why the story still works
The Last of Us is often reduced to its famous emotional moments, but the writing’s real strength is how quietly it builds its central relationship. Joel begins as a hardened smuggler transporting a teenage girl across a collapsed United States. Ellie starts as guarded, funny, impulsive, and desperate to prove she can survive. Their bond develops through small exchanges in places such as Bill’s Town, Pittsburgh, the flooded hotel, and the university at Colorado.
Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s television performances may have changed how audiences approach these characters, but Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson’s original voice work still gives the game its own identity. The performances are supported by expressive animation: Joel’s posture changes after major events, Ellie’s jokes become less performative, and background conversations often reveal more than the mission objective.
The moral tension also holds up because the game doesn’t turn the Fireflies into cartoon villains. The hospital finale is intentionally compressed and confrontational. Joel makes a decision based on personal loss, while the Fireflies frame Ellie’s immunity as a possible route toward a vaccine. You don’t get an objective narrator to settle the argument. The final lie to Ellie is powerful precisely because the game lets you understand why Joel says it and why she may not believe him.
Left Behind is essential rather than disposable bonus content. Its Ellie-and-Riley story explains the emotional weight behind Ellie’s fear of abandonment, while its two-track structure cleverly contrasts a present-day fight for survival with a memory built around friendship. It’s shorter than the main campaign, but it earns its place in the package.
Combat depth hides beneath the cinematic surface
At first glance, The Last of Us appears to be a cover shooter with crafting. On higher difficulties, it’s closer to a resource-management stealth game. Every bullet, blade, bottle, and healing item competes with something else. Crafting a shiv can open a Shiv Door or save you against a Clicker, but the same supplements and binding could support a medkit or Molotov.
Stealth is about information, not invisibility
Listen Mode highlights nearby enemies through walls, but it isn’t magic radar. Movement speed is reduced while using it, and higher difficulties restrict its usefulness. Runners can be distracted with thrown objects, Clickers must be avoided or killed with a shiv unless you have a weapon such as the Shorty, and Bloaters demand distance because their spore projectiles punish close-range greed.
The best stealth habit is to move after every confirmed takedown. Enemies investigate bodies and suspicious noise, so staying in the same patch of cover eventually exposes you. Bricks and bottles are not interchangeable: a brick is a strong melee tool after you commit to a target, while a bottle is better for pulling a patrol toward a trap or isolating a Runner.
Weapons reward deliberate upgrades
The 9mm Pistol is reliable but weak against armored targets. The Revolver hits harder and becomes far more useful after its reload upgrade. The Hunting Rifle can delete human enemies with careful headshots, while the Bow is the quiet option for players who want to preserve ammunition. The Shorty is devastating at close range but consumes shells quickly, and the Flamethrower is particularly useful when multiple infected collapse on your position.
Weapon sway is a real tactical issue, not cosmetic noise. Upgrading sway on the Hunting Rifle or Bow turns long-range shots from frustrating coin flips into dependable openings. Weapon holsters also matter because switching from the 9mm to the Revolver is faster than reloading under pressure. On harder modes, prioritize tools that expand your options rather than simply increasing raw damage.
| Weapon | Best role | Upgrade priority | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | Silent human and Runner takedowns | Range, draw speed, capacity | Arrows are limited and body shots may not finish targets. |
| Hunting Rifle | Long-range precision | Sway reduction, reload | Slow handling and scarce ammunition. |
| Shorty | Emergency close-range damage | Capacity, reload | Short reach and expensive shells. |
| Flamethrower | Groups of infected | Range, power | Limited fuel and loud encounters. |
| Shotgun | Stopping rushing enemies | Capacity, reload | Noise and ammunition consumption. |
The best skills and upgrade path
Skill upgrades use supplements found in drawers, bathrooms, abandoned offices, and side rooms. You won’t max every path in one normal playthrough, so your choices should match your difficulty and habits. Maximum Health is universally helpful, but it’s not always the best first spend. A player who avoids damage gains more from Listen Mode Distance, Weapon Sway, and Crafting Speed.
| Skill | Priority | Best for | Why it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum Health | A-Tier | New players and grounded difficulty | Provides more room for mistakes during ambushes. |
| Shiv Master | S-Tier situationally | Clicker-heavy routes and Survivor | Extends shiv durability and makes emergency escapes possible. |
| Listen Mode Distance | S-Tier | Stealth-focused players | Improves enemy tracking before you commit to movement. |
| Crafting Speed | A-Tier | Players who craft under pressure | Reduces exposure while making medkits, bombs, and Molotovs. |
| Healing Speed | B-Tier | Action-heavy players | Useful after fights, but it doesn’t prevent the initial damage. |
My preferred general route is Listen Mode Distance first, then Maximum Health or Shiv Master depending on the difficulty. Crafting Speed follows once recipes begin competing for the same materials. Don’t dump every supplement into Healing Speed just because it looks practical; healing in the open is still dangerous, and the better solution is often repositioning before you use the medkit.
PC performance and the settings worth changing
The Steam version’s biggest technical mistake is communicating a simple console-style experience through unusually demanding PC requirements. The game streams large, highly detailed environments and compiles shaders before and during play. A hard drive can turn loading and texture streaming into a slog, so install it on an SSD with at least 100GB of free space available for the game and patches.
| Setting | Recommended value | FPS impact | Visual trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texture Quality | High if VRAM allows | High VRAM impact | Low visual loss when reduced one step. |
| Shadow Quality | Medium | Medium to high | Small distant-shadow loss for steadier frames. |
| Reflections | Medium | Medium | Wet surfaces and glass become less precise. |
| Volumetrics | Medium | Medium | Fog and light shafts lose some density. |
| Ambient Occlusion | High | Low to medium | Preserves contact shadows in indoor scenes. |
| Motion Blur | Off or Low | Small | Cleaner aiming and less image smearing. |
| Dynamic Resolution | On for unstable systems | Positive stability | Resolution dips during heavy scenes. |
The official Steam listing gives a useful baseline: the minimum configuration includes a Core i7-4770K or Ryzen 5 1500X, 16GB RAM, and a GTX 970 4GB or RX 570 4GB. The recommended tier moves to a Core i7-8700 or Ryzen 5 3600X and an RTX 2070 Super or RX 5700 XT, still with 16GB RAM. Those numbers target different resolutions and presets, so treat them as starting points rather than a promise of locked performance.
For a smoother 2026 setup, 32GB system memory, a recent six-core CPU, an SSD, and a GPU with 8GB or more VRAM are the comfortable targets. Cap the frame rate to a number your system can actually hold; a stable 60fps feels much better than a swing between 45 and 90. Enable FSR 2 if native resolution is too expensive, but inspect faces and foliage after changing the sharpening slider.
Before troubleshooting, update your GPU driver, let shader processing finish, and avoid judging performance from the first five minutes. The game’s initial shader work can make CPU usage look alarming. If you’re still seeing crashes, our coverage of PC crashing and low-FPS fixes offers sensible general checks for drivers, overlays, and background applications.
How it compares with other versions
The PS5 version remains the easiest technical experience: install it, choose Fidelity or Performance, and play. Steam wins on flexibility, ultrawide support, mouse aiming, adjustable graphics, high refresh rates, and community troubleshooting. It also gives you the cleanest route to replaying the campaign on a powerful PC, especially if you want photo mode captures at high resolution.
Compared with the original 2013 release and the 2014 Remastered edition, Part I has dramatically better facial animation, lighting, character detail, and accessibility. It also includes permanent death, speedrun, mirror-world, and gameplay modifiers for repeat runs. But the core encounter design is still recognizably old-school: enemies can feel constrained by their patrol logic, and Joel cannot leap, dodge, or crawl under cars the way Ellie can in Part II.
That distinction is why some players bounce off it in 2026. If you’re coming directly from Part II Remastered, Part I may feel stiff and unusually deliberate. If you want a compact, character-focused survival adventure rather than a huge action sandbox, that restraint is a feature. The game knows when to stop adding mechanics and let a location or conversation breathe.
Who should buy it on Steam?
Buy it if you missed the original, want to experience the story before Part II, or value a polished single-player campaign with excellent accessibility tools. It’s also a strong choice for players who enjoy stealth games where avoiding a fight can be more satisfying than winning one. The official Steam page is the best place to check the current PC requirements, controller support, and sale price.
Skip it for now if your computer barely reaches the minimum specification, you dislike shader-compilation waits, or you already played the original recently and need genuinely new mechanics. You may also prefer to wait for a deep discount if the same campaign is familiar. The remake’s technical and visual work is impressive, but it can’t make the plot’s major turns surprising a second time.
For first-time players, I’d choose Moderate difficulty, keep Listen Mode available, and avoid obsessing over collectibles on the opening run. After finishing, replay Pittsburgh or the hotel basement on Hard, experiment with modifiers, and try a stealth-first route using the Bow, smoke bombs, and carefully saved shivs. That’s where the systems become more interesting than the cutscenes.
Final verdict: The Last of Us Part I is still worth playing on Steam in 2026, and it remains an exceptional recommendation at sale price. Its story, performances, sound design, and atmosphere have aged better than its basic combat movement. The PC port is no longer the technical catastrophe it was at launch, but it still demands sensible settings and modern hardware. If you can accept a faithful remake rather than a mechanical reinvention, Joel and Ellie’s journey remains every bit as devastating—and, occasionally, as thrilling—as it was the first time.
For more demanding PC-port advice, Steamoz’s Far Cry 6 performance settings guide and Far Cry 2 PC requirements breakdown are useful companions when deciding whether your system is ready for another heavyweight Steam release.
Official references: Naughty Dog, the PlayStation game page, and the Steam community announcements.