The Last of Us Part 2 Is Getting a Grounded and Permadeath Mode

More trophies have been added to The Last of Us Part II to signal the impending arrival of some additional difficulty settings. One of those settings is a difficulty level called “Grounded” which should sound familiar to those who played the first game while the other is a permadeath setting players can turn on to create a much tenser experience. The two modes will presumably be added in an update coming soon perhaps alongside other features which weren’t spoiled by the new trophies.

Those new trophies were spotted by PowerPyx and shared online to preview the new tasks for players to pursue. They’re located under their own “Grounded Mode” section and consist of two trophies: “Dig Two Graves” and “You Can’t Stop This.” The first of those is earned by completing the game on Grounded while the second is earned by completing the story with the permadeath setting enabled.

While we wait for the trophies to be added, you can start working yourself up to the difficulty levels of the trophies referenced above so that you can complete them when they arrive. If you want the permadeath trophy, you’ll have to complete the game without dying at all. Dying will presumably kick you back to the start of the game if past permadeath modes are any indication. That’s quite the undertaking in The Last of Us Part II, but we’ll inevitably see players complete it once the trophy has been added.

Grounded is a mode returning from the original The Last of Us. Think of this as the toughest mode of them all where enemies deal way more damage, resources are harder to come by, and certain features accessible to players to give them more information like the HUD are disabled. That’s at least how it was in the first game, but the sequel’s Grounded mode likely won’t be too far off.

With the way the trophies are organized, players should still be able to complete the game’s current trophies to get the platinum. It also looks like you’ll be able to combine permadeath with different difficulty settings, so players hopefully won’t have to use permadeath with Grounded just to get both trophies. A release date for these has not yet been announced yet since Naughty Dog’s said nothing of an upcoming update, but it shouldn’t be too long before they arrive.