When starting your journey in The Last of Us Part 2, you’ll be given the option to choose between several difficulty settings. Naturally, The Last of Us Part 2 offers options for everyone, though it can be hard to determine the differences between some of the standard settings in contrast with the easy and difficult settings. To clear everything up, we’ve put together a guide walking you through all of the difficulty settings in The Last of Us Part 2.
All difficulty settings in The Last of Us Part 2
© Naughty Dog
In The Last of Us Part 2, there are five difficulty settings to choose from. The settings range from extremely easy, allowing you to sit back and enjoy the story, to extremely difficult, requiring a lot of patience and skill in order to complete.
The harder the difficulty, the fewer resources you’ll be given, and the easier it’ll be for enemies to take you out. Below, we’ve listed all of the difficulty settings and their impact on the game to help give you a better idea as to which one you should choose.
- Very Light: The easiest setting with lighter combat. Perfect if you simply want to experience the story on its own in The Last of Us Part 2.
- Light: This setting is closer to the standard “Moderate” difficulty setting, but is a little more forgiving when it comes to resources.
- Moderate: This is the standard difficulty setting which offers a balanced experience for all gamers, though resources are slightly limited.
- Hard: For gamers looking for a challenge, this difficulty setting makes resources even more limited than the Moderate setting and enemies are a lot deadlier.
- Survivor: The hardest difficulty setting in The Last of Us Part 2. Resources are scarce, sometimes feeling as though they’re nonexistent, and enemies can take you out with minimal effort.
If you select a difficulty setting at the start of the game and find that you’re not happy with it, you’re free to adjust as needed in the Last of Us Part 2. In fact, the game is generous in what you can adjust depending on what you’re struggling with.
There’s no penalty to adjusting the difficulty as there are no difficulty trophies to earn in The Last of Us Part 2.
To change the difficulty settings, press Options and in the menu you can go through and select a new setting, or adjust the following aspects of gameplay.
- Player: You can adjust the damage you take from enemy attacks and the availability of checkpoints in the game.
- Enemies: You can adjust how smart the enemy AI is and how aggressive they are along with other aspects of enemy encounters.
- Allies: You can adjust how much help your AI companions provide to you.
- Stealth: You can adjust how effective stealth is from duration to the distance at which enemies will notice you.
- Resources: You can adjust the availability of ammo and resources in the game.
The Last of Us Part 2 places heavy emphasis on accessibility in order to offer the best possible gameplay experience to everyone. If you’re someone who doesn’t want help, you can select a harder difficulty setting and leave it that way for the duration of the game
. If you choose the Moderate setting but find that you’re really struggling with the amount of ammo that’s available to you, you’re free to tweak those resource settings as needed. There’s no penalty for continuing to go back into the settings and adjust as you get acquainted with the game.
Once you beat The Last of Us Part 2, there is a New Game+ option available that makes the five starter difficulty settings a bit more challenging. As a whole, we recommend a Moderate difficulty setting but you’re free to choose between five difficulty presets along with custom presets in order to get the most enjoyment out of The Last of Us Part 2.
Now that you’re familiar with all of the difficulty settings in The Last of Us Part 2, how to change the settings, and whether there’s a New Game+ mode, we have a few other guides you may want to check out including: