*The Last of Us Part I* Sparks Controversy! Should a Remake Really Erase the Original?

When I first came across cinematic narrative works like The Last of Us back in the day, my feelings were actually quite complicated. It wasn’t wuxia, nor xianxia, yet it still carried a kind of post-apocalyptic jianghu flavor. The characters struggle to survive in desperate circumstances, which strongly reminded me of that old-school wuxia sense of bleakness—holding on to the very end with one last breath. And precisely because of that, I’ve always felt that when works like this are remade, what deserves to be cherished most is not the surface, but the soul that the original creators painstakingly forged stroke by stroke.

What sparked discussion this time was not the usual complaints from ordinary players, but the original combat designer of The Last of Us, Benson Russell, speaking out personally. According to GamesRadar+, this developer, who worked at Naughty Dog for eight years and left in 2015, recently talked about The Last of Us Part I and bluntly called it “a knot in my heart that has never been untied.” That is already very strong wording, showing that this is not just a simple difference in creative philosophy, but a long-lasting sense of loss over seeing his own work replaced.

As for the game itself, Benson Russell’s biggest dissatisfaction lies in the fact that The Last of Us Part I did far more than simply make the visuals clearer. According to him, Naughty Dog used the technical framework of The Last of Us Part II to reconstruct the original game’s combat encounters and related content. Even the scripts he wrote back then, the spawn points he placed, and the combat logic he designed were all removed wholesale and replaced with the new version’s implementation. Refreshing the art is one thing; tearing down and rebuilding the core design in its entirety is another matter entirely.

What made him even angrier was the way the official marketing packaged the game as “the best way to play” and the “definitive edition.” From a developer’s perspective, that kind of messaging sounds like it is telling everyone: the old version no longer matters, and is not even worth remembering. For someone who worked on frontline content, that feeling really cuts deep—it’s like the move set you painstakingly left behind being burned by later generations, who then tell you that only the new techniques count as authentic.

Beyond nostalgia, what is truly worth discussing here is an industry trend in game remakes over the past few years. Players naturally want smoother controls, stronger visuals, and a more modern experience, and there is nothing wrong with that. But looking at it calmly, upgrading the experience and preserving the original work’s creative traces should never have been an either-or choice. Benson Russell made this very clear as well: he is not opposed to high-definition remasters; what he cannot accept is “completely abandoning the original content and replacing it.” It is a very direct statement, and it touches the most sensitive nerve of remake projects.

From a player’s perspective, I can understand why many people feel that The Last of Us Part I is more suitable as an entry point for newcomers. Especially for users accustomed to modern action feedback and presentation, they will most likely find the new version easier to accept. That makes for a very practical buying recommendation: if you have never touched the series before and care more about the overall experience by today’s standards, it is still a convenient choice to jump in with; but if you care about the work’s history, and about the original expression of its level and combat design, then the value of the original version must never be lightly brushed aside by a phrase like “definitive edition.”

My strongest feeling about this is not anger, but regret. A remake of a classic should be like reforging an old sword’s edge—preserving its grain while adding new brilliance. But if even the original steel at its core is replaced, then whether it is still the same sword as back then becomes a question worth asking. The further the game industry moves forward, the less it can afford to treat the traces left by creators as dust that can simply be wiped away. After all, what truly holds up a classic has never been just the resolution, but also the painstaking effort embedded in its levels, scripts, and combat rhythm.