The Last of Us 2 Remastered is surprise dropping a bunch of very significant new content for its roguelike mode, No Return.
As Naughty Dog details in a new blog post, The Last of Us 2 Remastered: No Return is adding four new maps and two new playable characters, Bill and Marlene. Marlene you'll remember as the main antagonist and final confrontation from the first Last of Us game, in which she tries unsuccessfully to operate on Ellie's brain before being fatally interrupted by Joel, kicking off the events of the second game and The Last of Us season 2.
Bill you might remember from the first game, but it's more likely that you remember him from The Last of Us season 1, which dedicates an entire episode to his heartbreaking romance with Frank. It's arguably the best episode of the show so far and one of the most emotionally impactful television episodes I've ever seen.
The new maps are: Overlook, School, Streets, and Nest. Overlook is near Seattle and features "plenty of verticality," School is the location from Part 2 where Ellie and Dina square off with the WLF, Streets takes place in the overgrown Seattle neighborhood of Hillcrest, and Nest is just Nest. Naughty Dog just says it'll "be familiar to players who have played as Abby through an Infected-infested building," which could refer to several scenes from the game.
While the addition of new The Last of Us 2 Remastered content is a happy surprise, it's not entirely random. The new maps and characters coincide with the launch of The Last of Us 2 Remastered's PC port on April 3, and Naughty Dog assures PS5 players that the new content will be available on all platforms at the same time.
I'm really hopeful that The Last of Us season 2 flips a key part of the game's story – and I think the new trailer just confirmed it.
