Maybe you didn't think The Last of Us Part II was challenging when you played it. Well, Naughty Dog is living up to its promise to bring the original game's "Grounded" mode into this title. It'll be arriving via a free software update, bringing with it an equally challenging new "permadeath" mode.
Like with the original game, Grounded amps up The Last of Us Part II's intense violence to make it more realistic. The enemies in this mode are smarter, more lethal, and more aggressive. The life gauge isn't available, and just a few bullets can end your run. But, at the same time, your enemies are also more vulnerable to well-placed shots.
You won't be able to see how much ammo your guns have unless you're reloading or switching weapons. Resources are also more scarce here, requiring you to think about how to approach battles and use stealth more.
Meanwhile, permadeath, at its most aggressive, can end your game with a single death. If you have a game-related death wish, you can combine both modes and see how far you can make it.
If that's too extreme for you, permadeath can be set to "one day," which means your character's death can send you back to the beginning of the day you're playing through. There's also a "per chapter" death if you'd prefer that option.
And since these two modes are particularly challenging, the developer introduces two new trophies to the game: one for beating it with any permadeath mode enabled, and another for beating the game on Grounded difficulty. Now, if you're aiming for a platinum trophy for the game, these new trophies won't affect that as these are classified as separate challenges.
If these obstacles aren't your cup of tea, Naughty Dog introduces other changes into the game, including a wide array of accessibility features and new bonus modes.
You can play The Last of Us Part II with unlimited ammo and/or endless craftable supplies, which Naughty Dog says can be likened to cheat codes. But it could also be seen as a way to make the game more palatable to more people.
The game also introduces slow-motion and bullet-speed modifiers, different audio filters, the ability to disable listen mode entirely or set it to an infinite distance, and a "mirror world," which could mean everything in the game is backwards.
There are also "nearly 30" graphics rendering modes, including the 8-bit mode you see above, and the options to change sounds to 8-bit or 4-bit audio.
Source: Engadget