“The Last of Us Part 2” Adding Permadeath and Grounded Mode

Looking for more of a challenge on Ellie’s brutal path of vengeance? Well, you’re in luck. On Monday, Naughty Dog suddenly updated the PlayStation trophies for “The Last of Us Part 2.” Two new trophies are available: one for beating the game on Grounded mode and one for doing so with Permadeath.

In the original “The Last of Us,” Grounded Mode was added to the game after its launch. This extremely challenging mode triples enemy damage output, meaning a single swipe could mark the end of you. If that’s not enough of a challenge, Grounded Mode also removes Listen Mode so you have no idea when enemies are near. It also removes the HUD and extremely limits what supplies are available in the world. Even if you manage to survive all of that, Naughty Dog puts a final nail in the coffin by limiting the amount of checkpoints in the game. Most likely, you’ll be getting very familiar with entire sections after doing them twenty times.

Still not enough of a challenge? You can turn on the permadeath feature. In most games, permadeath means you must start the entire game over if you fail. However, in “The Last of Us Part 2” you can choose from one of three permadeath features. “Whole game” means exactly what it says. Are you on day three and a soldier sneaks up behind you? Too bad, back to the beginning you go. “Per act” means that a death will return you to the beginning of that act. This could mean anywhere from two to five hours of progress lost. This usually means you reset to the beginning of whatever day you are on. “Per chapter” is the most forgiving form of permadeath. Die in this version and you only lose thirty to sixty minutes of progress. Chapters are fairly frequent, so this softens the blow a little.

It’s unclear exactly when these features will be implemented in the game. However, Naughty Dog’s update of the trophies likely means we will see them very soon. So clean your guns and prepare some first aid kits, things are about to get even uglier for Ellie.