Naughty Dog director tips his hat to roguelike greats like Vampire Survivors, Hades, and Dead Cells for inspiring The Last of Us 2 Remastered's No Return mode

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered — (Image credit: Naughty Dog)

The Last of Us 2 Remastered's new roguelike mode, titled No Return, was directly inspired by genre greats like Dead Cells, Hades, and Vampire Survivors, according to game director Matthew Gallant.

Gallant, who directed The Last of Us Part 2 for PS4, returned to helm the PS5 native remaster, which adds improved 4K visuals and performance enhancements, new "lost" levels complete with developer commentary that were scrapped from the original game, and chiefly, a whole new roguelike survival mode.

"Why make a roguelike?" Gallant prompts himself in a newly published blog. "We certainly took broad inspiration from the amazing games that have revitalized the genre in the modern era; some of my personal favorites include Spelunky, Hades, Dead Cells, Vampires Survivors, FTL, Cult of the Lamb, Prey: Mooncrash, The Path of Champions, and Inscryption. The sheer variety of these games proves that the fundamental roguelike concepts can be flexibly adapted to serve many genres, and to resonate with different design goals." (What do you know, almost all of those games are on our list of the best roguelikes you can play today.)

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Speaking with GamesRadar+ in December about the goal and challenge of bringing a roguelike mode to the narrative-focused The Last of Us 2, Gallant said: "From my perspective, it's the combination of the permadeath, that gives every playthrough stakes [...] and then also the randomization aspect is very interesting. Because if you can throw the player into situations where maybe they haven't seen this particular combination before, that's where you get the brunt of thinking on your feet."

The Last of Us 2 Remastered launches Friday, January 19 exclusively for PS5. That leaves just a couple of days until the broader public can make up its mind about it, but critics are largely entranced by the port, with reviews culminating in a 'Universal Acclaim' Metacritic rating.

If you have a copy of The Last of Us 2 on PS4, it's a $10 upgrade for the remaster, and if you don't, the standalone game costs $50.

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.