Well, it was bound to happen eventually. A new Last of Us mod is allowing players to play as Pedro Pascal’s Joel as seen in HBO Max’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s acclaimed opus.
The mod was created by ‘Specilizer‘ and Alpha Studios and was achieved by taking a highly detailed render of Pedro Pascal’s face and applying it to Joel’s original character model in the game. For the most part, the team has done a pretty stellar job of seamlessly incorporating Pascal’s likeness into the game but it still feels rather jarring when matched with original actor Troy Baker’s rough and southern vocals.
The video showcasing the mod features key parts from The Last of Us’ melancholic campaign. While at times it can seem as if Pascal’s face is glitching – which is about as weird as it sounds – the actor’s stans should be relatively happy with his incorporation into the game. If anything it’s likely that newcomers to the franchise will be more inclined to check out the original game if they can play as Joel in Pascal’s likeness.
The Last of Us Part One PC port has had a bit of a rough time of it since it launched on Steam last month. More recent Steam reviews have been slightly kinder to the game which has brought it up to an overall user score of ‘Mixed’. It’s safe to say though that the initial reception of the game was diabolical. Players blasted the port for its shading loader times, lack of support on Steam Deck, and various booting errors.
Naughty Dog recently released the first patch for the game which introduces fixes for the game’s biggest shortcomings but it’s clear there’s a lot of work to be done. If you were taken with HBO Max’s adaptation of The Last of Us and Pedro Pascal’s performance of Joel, then good news. The series has been renewed for a second season that will partially adapt The Last of Us Part Two and see both Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal reprise their roles of Ellie and Joel respectively.
Does this Pedro Pascal mod make you want to brave The Last of Us PC Port?
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