What a Grounded+ Difficulty Run Teaches You About The Last of Us Part II Remastered

I have played through The Last of Us Part II Remastered more times than I care to count, but nothing compares to the shift in perspective that happens when you commit to a grounded+ difficulty run. The first time I attempted it, I thought I knew the game inside and out. I had memorized patrol routes, knew which bricks were lying around, and could execute a stealth takedown in my sleep. The grounded+ difficulty run humbled me within the first ten minutes of Ellie Williams’s section in Jackson, Wyoming. Suddenly, every encounter felt like a puzzle I had never seen before. That is the real value of this mode: it strips away the muscle memory and forces you to engage with the encounter design on a deeper level.

What Grounded+ Actually Changes

If you have played Naughty Dog games on harder settings before, you know that enemies hit harder and you take more damage. Grounded+ goes beyond that. Resources are scarce, enemy awareness is heightened, and the game removes most of the stealth safety nets. You cannot just hide in tall grass and wait for patrols to walk past forever. Enemies will eventually sweep your position, and if they spot you, you are usually dead within two hits. The mode demands that you think about every shot fired, every bottle thrown, and every melee swing as a finite resource.

What surprised me most was how the grounded+ difficulty run changes the way you approach the skill upgrades and weapon upgrades. In a normal playthrough, you might prioritize whatever sounds fun. In grounded+, you plan your upgrades around survival. I found myself saving scrap for the workbench to craft silencers before I even thought about cosmetic upgrades. The weapon upgrade path becomes a lifeline, not a luxury. The same goes for skill upgrades: I invested in improved listening mode and faster healing early, because staying alive mattered more than anything else.

The No Damage Run Mindset

Some players combine grounded+ with a no damage run, which is exactly what it sounds like. You cannot take a single hit from an enemy. One mistake means restarting the encounter. This is where the grounded+ difficulty run reveals its true teaching power. You start to see every room as a system of threats and opportunities. You learn the exact timing of a clicker’s patrol, the precise arc of a brick toss, and the optimal distance for a stealth kill. I spent over an hour on a single room in the hospital basement because I kept misjudging the line of sight of a single enemy. That kind of repetition drills the encounter design into your muscle memory in a way that no guide can replicate.

The combination of permadeath and grounded+ is not for everyone, and I do not recommend it on your first playthrough. But once you have finished the story and you want to test your mastery, it offers a challenge that feels fair, even when it is brutally hard. Naughty Dog designed these encounters with multiple paths and layered patrol routes, and the grounded+ difficulty run rewards players who learn those layers.

Why You Should Try Chronological Mode

One of the interesting features in The Last of Us Part II Remastered is chronological mode. It restructures the story so that you play Abby Anderson’s and Ellie’s sections in chronological order rather than the original interwoven structure. For a grounded+ difficulty run, this changes the pacing dramatically. You spend longer stretches with each character, which lets you settle into their specific playstyles. Abby’s sections feel heavier and more direct, while Ellie’s segments emphasize agility and stealth. The shift in rhythm helped me adapt my tactics per character without the mental reset of jumping between timelines.

I found that playing chronological mode on grounded+ made the story hit differently too. Seeing the full arc of each character without the back-and-forth gave me a new appreciation for the writing. But more practically, it also meant I could focus on building muscle memory for one moveset at a time. That alone made the grounded+ difficulty run feel more manageable.

Technical Considerations on PS5

Playing on PlayStation 5 with 4K resolution and HDR makes a meaningful difference in a grounded+ difficulty run. The improved clarity lets you spot distant enemies earlier, and the HDR helps you read shadows and dark corners that would otherwise hide threats. I ran the game on PS5 Pro, and the steady 60 frames per second made split-second reactions feel consistent. The DualSense controller adds another layer: you can feel the tension of a drawn bowstring or the impact of a melee hit through the haptic feedback. That tactile feedback becomes useful when you are trying to time a perfect stealth takedown without alerting nearby enemies.

Photo mode might seem like an odd thing to mention in a discussion about a grounded+ difficulty run, but I used it extensively. After failing an encounter multiple times, I would pause and enter photo mode to study the layout. I could see exactly where every enemy was positioned and plan my route without pressure. It is a tool that many players overlook in the heat of a no damage run, but it helped me solve several tricky ambushes.

The Role of Collectibles

When you are focused on survival, collectibles might feel like a distraction. But in a grounded+ difficulty run, collectibles are actually a lifeline. Many of them provide lore notes that hint at safe paths or hidden shortcuts. The trading cards and artifacts often sit in rooms that are slightly off the main combat path, giving you a safe place to regroup. I made a point of grabbing every collectible I could, not just for completion, but because the detour often revealed a safer flanking route. The all collectibles run on grounded+ forces you to explore every corner, and that exploration rewards you with better positioning.

Realistic Expectations

Let me be honest: a grounded+ difficulty run is not something you breeze through in a weekend. I spent weeks on my first attempt. There were sessions where I made zero progress beyond a single checkpoint. But the satisfaction of finally clearing a room that had stumped me for hours is something that easier difficulties cannot provide. The mode teaches patience, observation, and adaptability. It also teaches you to respect the workbench upgrades. A silenced weapon or a upgraded holster can mean the difference between a clean run and a restart.

The 300 percent increase in damage taken is not exaggerated. You die fast. But the game gives you enough tools if you are willing to use them. Smoke bombs, stun traps, and the right skill upgrades can turn a losing fight into a controlled takedown. The key is to never stop moving and never assume a room is safe just because you cleared the visible enemies.

Final Thoughts

If you have played The Last of Us Part II Remastered on standard difficulty and felt like you were coasting, the grounded+ difficulty run is the natural next step. It is not a mode for showing off; it is a mode for learning the game at a deeper level. You will die hundreds of times. You will curse the encounter design. But you will also develop a level of mastery that makes the story feel earned. The emotional weight of Abby Anderson’s and Ellie Williams’s journeys lands harder when you have struggled through every fight they faced.

I recommend starting on grounded mode first to learn the basics of resource management and enemy patterns. Once you can clear a few encounters without taking damage, then consider the grounded+ difficulty run. Take your time with the weapon upgrades and skill upgrades. Use the workbench every chance you get. And do not ignore the collectibles: they are more than just achievements. Treat the mode as a master class in Naughty Dog’s encounter design, and you will come out the other side a better player.