The Last of Us 2 gave players an unprecedented way to customize their experience and was widely praised for it. And according to some newly added trophies, Naughty Dog is giving its audience even more ways to tinker with the game through a new Grounded and Permadeath modifiers.
You can find these trophies on PSN itself. They’re under a new separate tab from the base trophy list, meaning you won’t need them for the platinum. Also it’s likely that they’re just part of an update since The Last of Us 2 isn’t getting any DLC.
These trophy for beating the game on Grounded is called “Dig Two Graves” while the one for beating the story with any Permadeath setting is called “You Can’t Stop This.” They are also silver and bronze, respectively. The “any” part of the Permadeath trophy implies that there will be multiple different ways players can implement it, which makes sense, given how customizable the game already is. Players should also be able to individually put the Grounded setting on any of the different facets of the game like enemy health, supplies, player damage, and more.
Grounded is the level of difficulty that sits one notch above Survivor and two above Hard. It’s fairly punishing in the first game and can often kill the player in just a couple hits. Listen Mode and most of the HUD is disabled, which includes the light bar that shows the player’s health. Most checkpoints are also removed and allies don’t help out as much. Items also don’t flash. It’s unclear how many of these hurdles from the first entry will be in the second game.
That first game also got its Grounded difficulty after launch. It was part of the Grounded Bundle that came out with some multiplayer maps, perks, and weapons. Single-player sadists could also buy just the difficulty for $4.99. The PS4 remaster included that mode from the start.
While it is assuredly coming, Naughty Dog and Sony still haven’t confirmed it. However, it’s probably coming soon since the trophies are already live.
