Sony and Naughty Dog have released the newest post-launch content update for The Last of Us Part II. The new patch is titled The Last of Us Part II Grounded Update and brings in a bunch of new features to the game. You can find the new details in a new Naughty Dog blog post. But the gist of it is that players are getting a ton of new content, including some very unique difficulty options. If you’re looking for a challenge, The Last of Us Part II Grounded Update is just what you need.
The Last of Us Part II players will get a bunch of performance and bug fixes for starters, but there’s so much more. There’s a new difficulty option that adds a full permadeath option that makes things much more challenging for Ellie and co. Matthew Gallant calls it a “custom mode…with checkpoints on a per-chapter or per-act basis.” This means that the game mode will force the player to plan their approach to puzzles and combat, or be forced to start all over if they go down.
Along with that, there’s a return to form in Grounded Mode. Grounded Mode was a thing in the first game, and now it’s back. There will be much tougher challenges afoot, with fewer resources, smarter AI, and a bunch of other changes that increase the problems you’ll face. Also tied to the new game mode will be a Platinum Trophy that can be earned via completing the new mode.
Alongside all of these changes comes a bunch of accessibility improvements as well. players will have more finetuned control over aiming and input options, as well as some visual tweaks. There are even some cheats being added to the game that add wacky visual effects and other unlockable alterations.
Check out the new trailer released by the publisher that showcases some of this new stuff down below.
