The Last of Us Part 2 Patch 1.03 is a Masochist’s Permadeath Dream

• Patch 1.03 is heading to The Last of Us Part II.
• The update introduces two new DLC trophies – ‘Dig Two Graves’ and ‘You Can’t Stop This’.
• The trophies reward players for completing the game on a new Grounded difficulty setting and Permadeath mode.

The Last of Us Part II easily stands as one of the most accessible games around. Thanks to a slew of options, players can fine-tune the game to make it as easy or as challenging as desired.

It looks like developer Naughty Dog is now catering to those that favor a more punishing experience by introducing a new difficulty setting and a new mode.

According to trophy-lovers PowerPyx, The Last of Us Part II is set to feature two new DLC trophy achievements categorized under ‘Grounded Mode’ as part of an upcoming Patch 1.03 update.

Grounded Mode and Permadeath Heading to The Last of Us Part II

The first, dubbed ‘Dig Two Graves’, requires players to complete the game on Grounded difficulty, the very same devilishly challenging DLC-introduced mode found in the original The Last of Us, which ups enemy damage, fields smarter AI, and drastically reduces the availability of scavenged resources among other difficulty-upping changes.

It’s unclear if Grounded Mode will offer a similar experience in The Last of Us Part II, though given Naughty Dog’s penchant for testing the patience and mettle of players, we’d expect it to follow the same formula.

The second trophy, called ‘You Can’t Stop This’, ups the ante by introducing a permadeath mode to The Last of Us Part II. Die, and the game brutally wipes the save file. That’s it, no going back even if you’ve poured 20 hours into the story.

The wording suggests this one will be a tad more forgiving as it can be obtained using ‘any Permadeath setting,’ implying players may be able to play on lower difficulty settings.

For those worried the new achievements may tarnish their laboriously-obtained The Last of Us Part II Platinum trophy, fret not as they appear in a separate ‘Grounded Mode’ list.

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Although the trophies are available for all to see on the PS4’s The Last of Us Part II trophy list, the options aren’t available in-game, and we’ve yet to hear anything official from Naughty Dog. Expect a PlayStation Blog post detailing the new patch in the not too distant future.