The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered adds several new features, one of which is aroguelike survival modecalled No Return. Don’t expect an experience on par with God of War’s Valhalla, though. This is a simpler gauntlet where you go through six stages with randomly generated challenges.
To better prepare you for the journey, the following list details the four gameplay modes you come across during a run. Some of them are more fun than others. Knowing what to expect is essential to properly prepare for the fight ahead. Additionally, you can pick your path through a run and look ahead at what the next encounters are, so you can avoid the worst ones with a good enough strategy.
For a more in-depth look at the whole remastered package,check out our review!
4Holdout
Defend Your Ally
This mode is the most unique in that the person you have to protect can die. Even though The Last of Us is all about forming bonds with people in the post-apocalypse, the gameplay never actually forces you to protect someone until now.
The AI can still defend itself from threats, but it is easy to become overwhelmed by the enemies that come at you. If one gets a hold of the other character while you are far away, the enemy can easily take a large chunk of health away.
It is best to stick close to your ally and make sure no one touches them at all. This mode suffers from just how long you have to wait to win, making a loss frustrating, especially when it pops up during the fifth or sixth encounter of a run.
3Hunted
Survive The Attack
In Hunted, you need to simply survive until the clock hits zero. There is no way to speed up the timer but there is alsono punishment for hiding and letting it run out without engaging in combat.The disadvantage comes in how difficult it can be to gather resources during this mode, especially when there is infected.
If you have no ammunition or melee weapons, there is almost no choice but to run away until the end of the encounter. If you are skilled enough, though, you can get somestealthy kills, take whatever they drop, and take whatever crafting materials are scattered about the level.
In early encounters of a run, you want to be able to save up as much ammunition and resources as possible. Still, don’t be afraid to use a bullet or a weapon if it means getting a kill without taking damage.
2Assault
Clear Each Wave
Assault forces you to go on the offensive. Three waves of enemies come at you and you need to eliminate each of them. The game gives you a break between each wave where you can open up a cache of items dropped in the environment.
The choice between stealth and open firefights is completely up to you, butstealth is advised to take out at least a couple of enemies to save on ammunition. If you are fighting infected in this level type, you are probably going to play it safer and use more ammunition, though.
Even with a character who can dodge, you do not want to get cornered by two or more clickers. If it doesn’t spell the end of your run, it will at least take out most of your health.
The game marks the general direction where enemies are coming from in each wave. Pay attention to this so enemies don’t get the drop on you.
1Capture
Open The Safe
At the start of the encounter, you are pointed in the direction of a heavily guarded safe. You need to open it before the timer runs out and it permanently locks. You can either hastily shoot all the guards or sneak into the room with the safe and open it up without being noticed.
If you do the latter, you still need to take out all the guards before the encounter is over.You would be surprised how much time you waste by sneaking toward the area, so keep a close eye on the timer to make sure the safe doesn’t permanently lock before you even make it close.
