The Last of Us Part II gets Grounded difficulty and Permadeath Mode, scheduled for August 13
As was pre-empted by the trophies, it was confirmed by Naughty Dog that The Last of Us Part II will be getting a huge update on August 13 that will add Grounded Difficulty, Permadeath Mode, and a host of new features and modes.
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Naughty Dog confirms the update, describing Grounded Difficulty as the ultimate test by “making enemies deadlier and ammo, upgrade, and crafting materials incredibly scarce, but also removing invaluable tools for survival, such as disabling Listen mode, deactivating elements of the HUD, and more,” and you won’t need to finish the game to unlock the difficulty setting.
Permadeath mode will be a custom mode with no second chances, meaning you’ll start from the beginning if you die. You can choose to enable the mode with checkpoints on a per chapter or act basis, which will make things a little more bearable.
Both Grounded and Permadeath will give players additional trophies.
There will also be about 30 graphical along with several audio modifiers that will allow you to experience the game in a new light. Check out some of the samples below!
There will also be some gameplay modifiers, which you can access via the extras menu, such as the following:
- Mirror World
- Mirror on Death
- Slow Motion
- Bullet Speed mode
- Infinite Ammo
- Infinite Crafting
- Infinite Melee Durability
- Infinite Listen mode Range
- One Shot
- Touch of Death
- 8-bit Audio
- 4-bit Audio
- Helium Audio
- Xenon Audio
On top of all that, a number of frequently requested improvements will also be included in the update, such as:
- Saves now display playtime up to the second
- Film 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
Will this update bring you back into the game? The Grounded update is scheduled for August 13 for The Last of Us Part II, exclusively for the PlayStation.
