Sony has confirmed that on August 13th, 2020 there will be a free update for The Last Of Us Part 2 which will add a new Grounded Mode as well as a Permadeath Mode.
Fans of the original The Last Of Us should be well aware of what the grounded mode entails. Enemies will be deadlier, ammo and crafting items will be scarce, and players will not be able to use the Listen mode or various parts of the HUD to survive. Essentially players will be left with very little to fight their way through the game, instead having to rely on creativity, their ability to sneak, and blunt force objects such as bottles and bricks to survive encounters.
In addition to the Grounded Mode, Naughty Dog is also releasing a Permadeath Mode. In this optional mode death is permanent – players only have one shot at completing the entire nearly 25+ hour long campaign. Death will force the player to return to the beginning of the game. Thankfully, if you are not quite ready to complete the whole game with Permadeath enabled, you will be able to enable it a per-episode or per-chapter basis.
New trophies will be rewarded for both modes, one for completing the Grounded Mode and another for completing the Permadeath Mode. Thankfully, neither of these trophies are necessary for earning the Platinum trophy for The Last Of Us 2.
In addition to the new play mode, Naughty Dog and Sony have revealed various other updates included in the Grounded update package including nearly 30 new graphic rendering modes – including cel-shaded and sepia -, several audio modifiers, and unlockable gameplay modifiers such as one hit kills and infinite crafting.
Here’s a complete list of the new unlockable gameplay modifiers found in the Extras menu after completing the campaign:
- Mirror World
- Mirror on Death
- Slow Motion
- Bullet Speed Mode
- Infinite Ammo
- Infinite Crafting
- Infinite Melee Durability
- Infinite List Mode
- One Shot
- Touch of Death
- 8-Bit Audio
- 4-Bit Audio
- Helium Audio
- Xenon Audio
The Grounded Update also features numerous quality of life updates and player requested updates to the gameplay including:
- Saves now display the playtime up to the second
- Fill Grain Adjustment option
- Disable Listen Mode option
- Motion Sensor Function Aiming option
- Arc Throw HUD Display option
- Aiming Acceleration Scale option
- Aiming Ramp Power Scale option
- Accessibility improvements to Ground Zero encounter, collectible tracking, Enhanced Listen Mode for collectibles, and rope gameplay.
All of these modes, improvements, and new features will be available to download on August 13th, 2020 for free on the PlayStation 4 console.
Did you enjoy The Last of Us 2? Let us know in the comments!
