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The Last of Us Part II is getting remastered for the PS5 with bonus content, and Naughty Dog has now dropped an overview trailer for its biggest addition. ‘No Return’ is a roguelite mode that forces players into devastating situations — randomised encounters against swarms of the Infected, Clickers, and more, where each death would take you back to the starting point. There are 12 levels in total, based on memorable locations from the Seattle-set game, all building up to dramatic boss battles. As previously reported, the new version has enhancements for the PS5, including a native 4K output and unlocked framerates for displays with VRR. The Last of Part II Remastered releases January 19.
The trailer for the No Return mode includes both raw gameplay and cinematics captured on the PS5, offering a glimpse at one of the encounters where the game’s antagonist Abby is seen sprinting into hordes of zombies at Jackson City, before getting bit and thrown back to the starting level. The roguelike survival mode lets you pick from familiar characters such as Ellie, Dina, Jesse, and Lev, with the last of them supposedly equipped with a bow and arrow, instead of firearms. Each character comes with respective traits as well, with Dina being adept at crafting trap mines and stun bombs, whereas playing as Jessie grants 30 percent more currency across each room and some ‘unique items’ at trading posts. Keeping with the genre, you will run into special modifications and temporary power-ups that’d help you fare better at oncoming battles. They’ll, of course, be randomised on subsequent runs.
Permanent weapon upgrades and skins (including a spacesuit for Ellie) are accessible through repeated playthroughs, which I’m guessing can be acquired through a special currency — that also includes character unlocks since Joel, Tommy, and Mel are locked at the beginning. Based on The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered trailer, it seems all runs start at the Hardware Store, followed by iconic locations like the Forest, State Street, Hospital, and ending at the Hospital Basement where you face a twisted, monstrous amalgamation of the infected, the Rat King. Enemies gradually shift from human beings and canines to zombies in quick waves, with each level assigning a specific objective to complete. A slew of gameplay modifiers can be enabled to add variety to repeated runs, one of which appears to make zombies invisible, while another grants flaming punches.
As bonus content for an objectively unnecessary remaster — The Last of Us 2 launched in 2020 — this enhanced version features ‘Lost Levels,’ a pack of fully explorable, early development levels that never made it to the final build. A Guitar Free Play mode is also included, letting you pick a character and just strum away to your favourite tunes during downtime, alongside minute graphical improvements. Being a PS5 version, support for haptic feedback and adaptive triggers on the DualSense controller can’t be ignored, in addition to the faster load times thanks to the SSD.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered is out January 19 on the PS5.