Yes, The Last Of Us has a sequel coming! As announced by Sony during last week’s PlayStation Experience, the adventures of Ellie (and maybe Joel?) will continue in The Last Of Us Part II.
Taking place five years after the original game, an older and scarred Ellie seems to be on the path for revenge. Against whom or what remains uncertain, though it most likely will be the Fireflies – the same group that wanted Ellie in the previous game.
Neil Druckmann, the game’s director and writer, said the following in a blog post on PlayStation’s official website.
No release date for The Last Of Us Part II has been confirmed at this time.
However, even without a release date set in stone, the allure of the original game should call to both those who first played in June 2013 and those who still have yet to experience the emotional journey these two survivors take. It’s a poetic tale that, even three and a half years later, remains a highly-enjoyable game to play.
Today, let’s look at three unconventional and challenging ways that you can play the original game in order to get properly prepared for The Last Of Us Part II. Obviously, this refers to the story mode, not the multiplayer mode.
Also, playthrough suggestions here also can work for the game’s DLC/side-story, Left Behind. For those unfamiliar, Left Behind is the story of Ellie and her close friend Riley. Half of the story in Left Behind takes place prior to the beginning of the main game, while the other half takes place when Joel is injured after the University level.
Before we start, let’s make this a bit interesting. All of these playthrough options should be played on Grounded, the hardest difficulty in the game. How hard is Grounded, you ask?
Few supplies are available. No Listen Mode for Joel. No HUD (Heads-Up Display) Fewer checkpoints Opponents can take more hits unless shot in the head or choked.
The challenge awaits us…
The Silent Treatment
This one is the simplest of the unconventional playthroughs, but also the most difficult: no guns. In order to properly endure and survive, you’ll have to rely on brute force, stealth, and any non-gun weapons you can find (the bow is acceptable, as are throwable weapons like Molotov Cocktails).
Guns and ammo are limited in this game, sometimes to the point of frustration – but it’s on you at this point in the apocalypse to learn how to survive without a shotgun or an assault rifle. Besides, would you really want to shoot on an entire level of dangerous, well-armed bandits and lure them all to you?
Obviously, moments where you’re required by the game to use a gun (like the part in Bill’s town where you fall into one of his traps and have to shoot away Infected with UNLIMITED AMMO) get a pass here, but can you survive a Bloater encounter with only Molotovs? Will you be able to move past that horde of Infected using proper stealth?
The best piece of advice I can give here is to upgrade your shivs as best you can – because without guns, taking down a clicker that gets close becomes near impossible. That is, unless, your shiv is properly upgraded enough that you can just stab them in the neck.
I also suggest going for the element of stealth as much as you can, moreso than in a regular playthrough. Even if it’s just throwing a glass bottle at a wall to distract some runners, use stealth and get out of dodge as fast as you possibly can.
On the other hand, you could also try your sharpshooting skills by relying only on guns after you obtain your first pistol. Here, with the exception of moments like Ellie’s fight with David where you’re specifically limited to one weapon, the only weapons you’re allowed to fight with are guns. Yes, that means your fists, baseball bats, and throwable items are all off limits.
You Go First
This method is the perfect combination of lazy and fun because, due to the game’s coding, your allies (Ellie, Tess, Bill, etc) can’t get hurt by enemies unless the plot demands it. Technically, Ellie could run into an entire herd of Bloaters and, due to the code, wouldn’t ever get hurt.
With that being the case, why not let your allies do all of the work instead? While there are parts of the game where you’ll have to do things alone (i.e. the hotel basement in Pittsburgh), make Tommy and Ellie handle the bandits in that cabin. Those subway station clickers that seem to terrify Ellie? Have Tess take care of them!
This becomes even funnier afterwards because other characters will thank Joel for saving them when all he did was watch or work on his shiv. In the same way that Lee told Clementine in The Walking Dead that instead of Ben Paul watching her, she was watching him, you could run into a situation where Ellie is technically protecting you.
Unfortunately, there’s one problem here: AI-controlled characters will often cling to your side unless directly attacked or spotted by an enemy. Good luck figuring how to make things work!
No Crafting
This one is similar to the first one’s instructions of no guns, but you can at least survive without guns or without baseball bats. Can you really survive a Grounded playthrough on The Last Of Us with just the basics in your arsenal?
We’re talking about no upgraded holster and no ability to have two weapons on your back. You can upgrade your health all that you want and have it be insanely high, but how do you plan on keeping all of that health without the upgrades that come with crafting?
It’s no secret that playthroughs like this are common, but think about the type of game that The Last Of Us is and how much of your success is dependent on crafting. If you run out of shotgun shells with five Infected coming your way, then you need to quickly switch to another gun.
Without crafting, though, you’re in a world of trouble. In the late parts of the game where your enemies will have assault rifles – not to mention the high-quality AI that comes with the highest difficulty – you need what you’ve made through crafting to survive.
Good luck surviving the hospital level without any crafting upgrades!
Do you have an unconventional game style you’re planning on using for another runthrough of The Last Of Us? Make sure to let us know in the comment section below!
