I feel comfortable saying Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was one of the best-looking games on the PS3, if not of the last generation. So how does the studio plan to up the ante with the PS4 port, The Last of Us: Remastered?

The award-winning studio’s Creative Director Neil Druckman, speaking with Edge, didn’t promise a complete visual reinvention, but it’s going to look better its current-gen incarnation:

“We always build the best possible assets and then we can make the call when things aren’t fitting onscreen or in the frame buffer or in memory,” Druckman told Edge. “That way we can pick and choose what we need to emphasize in a moment, and where there’s a compromise on what can [be more detailed] or reduced to a lower quality.”

Basically, Druckman is saying that when they were developing the game, they went as high-quality as possible with the visuals, ultimately paring them back when finalizing the game for the PS3. The “remastered” version will effectively be using the higher-quality assets that got held back along the way.

Joystiq points out that because The Last of Us was developed on an engine built for the PS3, Naughty Dog will still have to create some new assets to accommodate the architecture of the PS4.

Remastered‘s release date is still TBD according to Sony, however, the PS4 port will include all of the previously-released DLC, with the “Left Behind” campaign story DLC as an unlockable once players have completed the game. This last bit could be a pain in the butt for gamers like myself who loved the story and world, but weren’t especially enamored of playing the dang thing.

Finally, The Last of Us Remastered will offer commentary over the game’s cutscenes from the Naughty Dog team and performance capture cast.

With all of this talk of The Last of Us getting a visual upgrade, how long until we hear the same about Uncharted?

HT: Edge via Joystiq