featured image

Modern monitors and TVs these days come with HDR, which essentially helps improve the picture quality of the media you’re watching. When it comes to video games, you get extra options to play with the HDR to make the game look the way you want it to.

People sometimes make mistakes when it comes to adjusting HDR settings due to lack of knowledge that’s why in today’s topic we will walk you through the best HDR settings in Last of Us Part 1.

Last of Us Part 1 is a remake of the original Last of Us created by the developers of Naughty Dog. With this remake, Naughty Dog wanted to preserve this game for the next generation while also adding accessibility options, new Easter eggs and skins to attract a new audience while encouraging the fans of this game to dive into this world again. Read our Last of Us Part 1 review to learn more about the comparison to the original.

What is HDR

Menu
Menu for adjusting HDR in Last of Us Part 1.

Before we get into Last of Us’ HDR settings, let’s first discuss what HDR is. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is used to improve the image quality of your TVs or monitors.

When it comes to consoles and video games, you can adjust the brightness and contrast of your HDR TVs to suit your needs. Now, of course, there is also a catch here. HDR is available in all types of TVs these days, from entry-level to high-end.

Not all TVs and monitors are built the same, and the same goes for their HDR quality. HDR settings you see on the web for a game may not apply to your TV due to the difference in model. So it’s always important to adjust the settings yourself, but don’t worry about that today as we’ll guide you every step of the way.

Likewise, make sure your TVs and monitors are HDR supported because if you activate HDR on a non-HDR supported TV, the images will look extremely faded and the overall look will be absolutely awful.

Now that we’ve made you aware of the differences in HDR qualities of different monitors and the implications of using HDR on unsupported TVs, let’s discuss how to enable HDR and the best settings for it.

Enable HDR in Last Of Us Part 1

Before you start playing with the HDR settings in Last of Us, it’s important to activate HDR in your PS5 first. If you don’t, activating HDR in-game will ruin your image quality, and the result will be extremely faded graphics.

So it is very important to have your HDR enabled in the PS5 before enabling it in the game. Guiding Ellie through the post-apocalyptic world of the Last of Us Part 1 is no easy task, and going through our guides on the best weapons, the best weapon upgrades and the list of weapon levels will be very helpful to ease your journey.

Activate HDR in PS5

  1. Boot up your PS5 and click the settings icon in the top left corner of the screen.
  2. Clicking the settings icon opens a utility window with several options. Select Screen & Video, just below the “Option” tab.
  3. Then select the Vide Output tab, which will take you to a screen where you can change various settings, including HDR.
  4. Select HDR and enable it.

Enable HDR

  1. Launch Last of Us part 1.
  2. Go to Options and select View.
  3. Once there, click on Brightness, which will open a new window where you can toggle HDR on or off.

Best HDR Settings for Last Of Us Part 1

As we mentioned above, depending on your monitor, you may need to play around with your settings to get the best results. After you enable the HDR, you will see three settings, and details about them are discussed below:

Contrast

Improve shadow details
Contrast slider

The first option we have here is contrast. Now contrast is used to add detail or, in other words, “brighten up” the darker parts of the game. Lowering the contrast will brighten the shaded or dark areas of the game, adding more detail to those areas and making it much easier to see the darker areas of the game.

However, it is definitely not recommended to just move the slider to the negative end of the bar or to -10. Doing this will destroy the beautiful colors of the game and make it look very faded. While you’re at it, you can also peruse our guide to the locations of safe codes in Last of Us Part 1 and learn about the combinations to unlock them.

On the other hand, increasing the contrast darkens the background areas or the overall environments of Last of Us Part 1. Last of Part 1, for the most part, is a very dark game, and I mean it literal. So there’s no point in increasing the contrast and making the game look darker than it already is.

So our recommendation for the contrast is to lower it slightly and set it to -1 or -2, which basically adds more detail to the game’s shaded or dark areas and objects.

There’s little point in raising it, because if you do, you’ll seem like you’re traversing the world with some sort of eternal darkness around you. Only increase it if you feel that the balance between the dark objects and the lighter parts of the image is not right.

Brightness

Change lightness
Brightness slider

The brightness essentially helps you increase or decrease the lightness of the overall image. Before you get confused between brightness and contrast, let’s clear up this confusion as at first glance they both do the same thing.

Contrast helps you adjust the difference between the lighter and darker objects of the game, while on the other hand, brightness helps adjust the midtones and overall peak brightness of the game.

Increasing the brightness will boost your TV’s peak brightness, so only increase it if your TV’s peak brightness is low. You can find out the peak brightness of your monitors by analyzing their Nits value, the unit for measuring the brightness of electronics.

On the other hand, lowering the brightness in Last of Us Part 1 will make the overall picture look darker, which isn’t a good idea unless the game on your monitor looks very bright by default.

So our recommendation for the brightness would be to only increase it from 0 to 1. This will help make the overall game look a little brighter. If you’re having a hard time meeting the game, consider reading our guide to the best battle tips for Last of Us part 1.

HUD brightness

As the name suggests, this option allows you to adjust the brightness of the game’s HUD. The game’s HUD includes hints, tutorial messages, interaction cues, weapon and ammo displays, a health bar, and subtitles. Also, consider reading our guide to the locations of comics in Last of Us Part 1.

HUD generally doesn’t cause a big problem in terms of clarity for most people, but if you feel like the HUD is distracting too much or you have trouble reading the subtitles or noticing interaction prompts. Increasing or decreasing the HUD brightness can help you solve that problem.

Overview

The original Last of Us on PS3 definitely set new standards for generations to come in terms of reliability and performance, and it’s safe to say that the remake, The Last of Us Part 1, also looks absolutely phenomenal and sets a new benchmark. for this put generation consoles also.

So it’s definitely worth going through the HDR settings and adjusting the brightness and contrast to get the best picture quality, as you certainly don’t want these things to ruin your experience.

We hope our guide helped you understand everything you needed to know about Last of Us Part 1’s HDR settings. Let us know what you think of the guide in the comments below.

Next: Last Of Us Part 1 BEST Controller Settings