Grounded

Last of Us 2 update adds way more than Grounded difficulty and permadeath

These difficulty settings make it almost impossible. Are you up for it?

by Tomas Franzese

While Xbox One players might be spending some time playing a game called Grounded, PlayStation 4 gamers just received the first major update for The Last of Us Part II since launch — and it's also called "Grounded." The 1.05 update for Sony's critically acclaimed cinematic horror game launched on Thursday, and it comes with two new gameplay modes, new accessibility options, several graphics style settings, and more.

If you want to know what exactly The Last of Us Part 2's "Grounded" update adds, we've rounded up everything you need to know about it here.

Naughty Dog revealed everything included in the "Grounded" update on August 11 as part of a blog post. The update went live around 12 p.m. Eastern on Thursday for PS4 owners, which is to say that if you're reading this, then you should be able to already download the 451.1 MB version 1.05 update of the game.

These are the additions that you can expect:

Grounded Mode — The namesake of this major update is Grounded mode, which is returning from the first game in the series. For those that didn't play the original, Grounded is the toughest difficulty option that players can choose. An official Naughty Dog post confirms that Grounded mode makes The Last of Us Part 2 more difficult by "making enemies deadlier and ammo, upgrade, and crafting materials incredibly scarce" as well as getting rid of listen mode and some elements of the UI.

Permadeath Mode — If you want to make The Last of Us Part 2 even more challenging for yourself, you can give permadeath mode a go. As its name suggests, this mode makes death permanent and causes players to start the game over from the start if they die. That said, players can also set it so they are just sent back to the start of a checkpoint, chapter, or act. New trophies exist for the players that beat the game on these two modes, though neither is required to platinum The Last of Us Part 2.

Render Modes — Like with Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Naughty Dog has added a bunch of fun new graphics rendering styles to The Last of Us Part 2. If you want to add some levity to this dark adventure, these are the 30 that you can add:

  1. Graphic
  2. Headache
  3. Afterlife
  4. 8-Bit
  5. Watercolor
  6. Dungeon
  7. Void
  8. Pop Poster
  9. 1960
  10. Cool
  11. Warm
  12. Vibrant
  13. Noir
  14. Blorange
  15. Sepia
  16. Vintage
  17. Beasts
  18. Terminated
  19. Gridlocked
  20. Blacklight
  21. Desert Fog
  22. Blood
  23. Inferno
  24. Fire
  25. Trinity
  26. Pusher
  27. Demons
  28. Drugzone
  29. Moonlight
  30. None

Gameplay and audio modifiers — For players that want to make even more minor tweaks to their experience, several new audio and gameplay modifiers were added to The Last of Us Part 2 with the "Grounded" update. These are all of the new options that you can expect:

  • 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 accessibility and gameplay options — Finally, the "Grounded" update improves The Last of Us Part 2's already fantastic accessibility options even more. Naughty Dog claims that all of these features were highly requested by the community:

  • 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

One of the "Grounded" update's beautiful looking graphic rendering modes.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

The Inverse Analysis — While it doesn't bring any new story levels or multiplayer to The Last of Us Part 2, the "Grounded" update still adds depth to a game that was already immensely detailed. For the masochists out there, Grounded and Permadeath will add extremely tough new options. Meanwhile, players looking to have an easier time with the game will appreciate the new accessibility options and gameplay modifiers.

All of the graphical filters really change how the game looks in drastic and detailed ways, and the strong comic-like colors of the Watercolor and Dungeon settings may spark entire replays in those styles for us. If you've been looking for a reason to replay The Last of Us Part 2, everything the "Grounded" update brings gives you a good reason to.

The Last of Us Part II is available now for PS4.

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