Recently Naughty Dog launched an update for The Last Of Us Part 2. This was a Grounded and Permadeath game mode, as well as a whole host of different graphical settings, and a few other bits and pieces. It’s a wonderful update that really does add value to the game. It gives you a bunch of different challenges that you can play through, even though just Grounded and Permadeath alone are enough. Now though, we know a lot more about these game modes.
Grounded is a game mode that removes many of the features you rely upon in The Last Of Us Part 2. For example, there’s no listen mode, which is something that I use a lot in the game. This really is a completely different, and way more realistic, way to play the game, and most players who try it find that they love it. Permadeath is new though. As you’d expect, it limits you to one single life. If you die to a Runner in the wrong place, that’s it, your game is over.
The absolute best thing to do with this update is to play with both Grounded and Permadeath turned on. It’s the hardest experience you can get, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. Now that the update has been out for a while, players have discovered some secret unlocks that occur when you complete the game with both of the new modes turned on. First, there are two trophies for playing and completing the game with both modes enabled. In the credits for Grounded mode, Joel is heard singing Future Days, which is different to the credits of the game on other modes. For example, on Normal mode the song is Wayfaring Stranger.
Once a player has completed the game on Grounded and Permadeath, the song changes again to Through The Valley. These changes are subtle, and Naughty Dog hasn’t clarified them in any sort of patch notes, but that’s a good thing. There are way too many datamines these days that ruin surprises like this. Completing The Last Of Us Part 2 in Grounded and Permadeath is a challenge that all players must want to master, and these tiny rewards are the things that only those sorts of players would notice.
