The Last Of Us Part 2 Update Live Now: New Difficulty, Game Mode, And More

Update: The patch is now live and includes Grounded difficulty as well as a permanent death feature. Best of luck if you intend on trying either of them.

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The Last of Us Part II is getting a big update later this week which will introduce a new difficulty mode, permadeath, additional graphics options, and more. Patch 1.05 will be available to download on PS4 on August 13.

Teased prematurely by some Trophies that appeared on PSN early, the update brings back the Grounded difficulty mode from The Last of Us to really test your skills. Just as before, enemies will be tougher to take down while supplies will be much harder to come by. Most HUD elements will also be restricted, while the game's listen mode--which lets you track enemies through walls--is entirely disabled. A new menu option also allows you to turn this off independent of your difficulty if you want it without the more challenging foes.

In addition to this, permadeath is also being added as an all-new mode that can be played on any difficulty. It does what the name implies; you'll have one life to make it through the game, with death ending that run permanently. Those looking for the thrill but terrified of losing potentially 30 hours of progress can activate the mode on a per act or chapter basis, letting you stretch out checkpoints but still giving you some peace of mind.

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The update also includes new fun graphical modes and gameplay modifiers for you to mess around with. Naughty Dog says you'll be able to choose between 30 new rendering modes, including sepia, cel-shading, and retro looks. Additional gameplay options will let you turn on options like slow motion, infinite ammo and resources, one-hit kills, and more. There's also a handful of new audio modes that let you turn down the mix to as low as 4-bit, for some reason.

Additional options are also being added that will let you tweak your play style, including motion aiming, aiming acceleration sliders, and film grain adjustments. Some small fixes have also been made to some accessibility features, such as the balance on the Ground Zero encounter. Accessibility options for collectible tracking have also been added, which might come in handy for trophy hunters.

Patch 1.05 is out on August 13 for all Last of Us Part II players. If you haven't yet, check out our spoiler-free and spoiler-filled reviews of The Last of Us Part II, as well as our deep-dive into the complex system it uses for its in-game glass breaking.

The Last of Us Part II - Patch 1.05 Features

Gameplay Modifiers

• Grounded Difficulty Mode Added
• Permadeath Mode Added

This modifiers are accessed via the game's Extras menu, and are only unlocked after completing the game.

• 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

New options and improvements

• 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