The Last of Us 2 Remastered dev says the game's roguelike mode is "stressful" and "not recommended for weak hearts"

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By Hope Bellingham
published

None of us are prepared for how stressful No Return is

The Last of Us 2
(Image credit: Sony)

A Naughty Dog developer has warned future The Last of Us 2 Remastered players that the upcoming game's roguelike mode is "not recommended for weak hearts."

Now that 2024 is officially here, we're just days away from playing The Last of Us 2 Remastered. After being rumored for what felt like years, developer Naughty Dog unveiled the upcoming game in November 2023 - leaving fans just two months to mentally prepare to revisit Joel, Ellie, and Abby's story. Since the remaster is due on January 19, one of its developers has given fans a heads-up before they dive into the game's new roguelike mode. 

No Return will see players take on the role of Ellie, Dina, Abby, Lev, and more as they fight hordes of enemies in familiar locations - including The Last of Us Part 2's most dreaded enemy. The stressful part is that once you die in this mode, you're sent straight back to the beginning again.

As if we weren't nervous enough to come face to face with waves and waves of Clickers, Del Walker, a senior character artist at Naughty Dog, has shared a tweet from the studio regarding No Return and added: "I don't think you guys are ready for just how STRESSFUL the survive mode is for our #TLOU2remastered title." To make matters worse, the developer then adds: "Not recommended for weak hearts." Uh oh.

If this is good news for you, we're going to guess that you're already a fan of the "renaissance of roguelikes" that inspired No Return - for example, Hades or Risk of Rain. Don't worry if you're yet to get into roguelikes, though, as Naughty Dog's developers have said that its new mode borrows "broadly" from the genre and doesn't take from any specific games, meaning it's a good place to start. 

Need something to play while we wait for No Return? Take a look at our best roguelike games list.

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.  

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