Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the first episode of The Last of Us.
It’s a big day for The Last of Us in gaming news because in celebration of its first episode dropping on HBO Max, PlayStation has let PlayStation Plus subscribers try the game for free, and we’ve noticed that the show is closer to the game in more ways than we originally thought. In other news, a game in the Friday the 13th franchise is being taken off digital storefronts while The House of the Dead: Remake comes to PlayStation 5.
Read about all of this and more in today’s gaming news roundup.
PlayStation has made a trial for The Last of Us Part I available
If you loved the first episode of The Last of Us which just released on HBO Max, and are interested in seeing if the game might be for you, PlayStation has got you covered. If you subscribe to the PlayStation Plus Premium tier you are able to jump into a trial of The Last of Us Part I on PlayStation 5 at no extra cost. The remake of the original game was released last year, and it will be coming to PC on March 2023, while new episodes of the series are still being released.
It is worth noting that if you subscribe to the Deluxe tier of PlayStation Plus you will be able to play the entirety of The Last of Us Remastered on PlayStation 4, and on the next-generation consoles with backward compatibility. So, if you are somebody who has become a new fan after watching the first episode or you are somebody who played the original game on the PlayStation 3 and is jonesing to replay it again, PlayStation Plus is a great option for you.
HBO’s The Last of Us might be as long as the first game
The first episode of The Last of Us, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness”, proved that the series will be quite accurate to the original game in more ways than one. Even though the episode added some scenes to expand the story of the game, like spending some more time with Sarah, Joel’s daughter, the timing for both stories lines up. We are going to dip into spoilers in the next paragraph, so skip a few lines down if you do not want to know.
The episode ends with Joel killing the guard and we get the reveal that Ellie has been “infected”. If you look at a no-commentary playthrough of the game, it almost lines up with the hour and 20-minute runtime of the premiere, getting to roughly an hour and 10 minutes. You can read more about it here, but it would interesting to see if the runtimes line up at the end of the season.
Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle is being delisted
In a weird move, Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle will be removed from digital storefronts soon. According to the developer of the game, Blue Wizard Digital, they were unable to renew the license for Friday the 13th, and that is why the game will be delisted. You will no longer be able to purchase the game beginning Jan. 23, 2023.
So if you do want the game make sure you buy it on either Steam, the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, the Nintendo Switch eShop, the Xbox One Store, or the PlayStation Store before it is removed, as you will still be able to download and play the game after it has been delisted.
Silent Hill series producer wants more out of the franchise
The producer of the Silent Hill franchise Motoi Okamoto recently sat down with IGN Japan and he claimed that he wants even more out of the franchise. If you were not aware, a slew of Silent Hill projects was announced last year, including multiple games, a film, and an interactive series.
The fact we were reviving Silent Hill was a secret until now, so we couldn’t exactly go out and yell, ‘Hey, everyone! Bring us your Silent Hill projects!’ We can do that now, so if creators from around the world who love Silent Hill bring us their pitches, I promise to look through every one of them.
So, we could be seeing much more of the franchise in the future, even more than we already know of. There is an argument that this might dilute the quality of the series, but we will have to wait until the release of the projects to see if that claim holds any water.
The House of the Dead: Remake coming to PlayStation 5
You might remember the classic arcade game The House of the Dead. Well, you will soon be able to play it on PlayStation 5, or at least the remake of the 1997 game. The House of the Dead: Remake was released in 2022, and it will be coming to the next generation console in just a couple of days on Jan. 20, 2023. There’s nothing more anachronistic than playing an older game on one of the most powerful consoles ever made.
NPD has released the best-selling games of 2022 in the United States
If you wanted to know what the best-selling games across all consoles were in 2022, look no further as NPD has released its list. It is worth noting that this list tracks sales in the United States only. The following games made the list.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
- Elden Ring
- Madden NFL 23
- God of War Ragnarök
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
- Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet
- FIFA 23
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- Horizon Forbidden West
- MLB: The Show 22
There are a few interesting things on that list. First of all, two PlayStation-exclusive games are sitting in the top 10, as well as two Pokémon games. There are also three sports games on the list, and regardless of any controversy coming out of Activision Blizzard, Call of Duty has topped the list. What might be the most surprising game to make the top 10 is LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. It must have sold well amongst Star Wars fans and children.
It is also worth noting that the digital sales for Nintendo titles were not counted in the sales numbers, meaning that the two Pokémon titles could have actually been higher on the list. What do you think will make the list this year, especially if there is no new Call of Duty announced? Could a PlayStation exclusive get even higher on next year’s list with the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2?
Come back tomorrow to read all the latest in gaming news.