Pushing the Limits: My Experience with a The Last of Us Part II Remastered ng+ no damage Run on Grounded+

I have played through The Last of Us Part II Remastered more times than I care to count. Each run taught me something new about its systems, its pacing, and the sheer weight of its story. But nothing prepared me for what it takes to complete a full ng+ no damage run on Grounded+ difficulty. This is not the kind of challenge you jump into for fun on a lazy Sunday. It demands a level of patience, map knowledge, and muscle memory that most players never need to develop. And I wanted to see if I could actually pull it off.

The idea first came to me after watching a 4K ultra gameplay walkthrough of the Remastered version on PlayStation 5. The clarity of the image, the smooth frame rate, and the subtle environmental details made me realise how much I had missed on previous playthroughs. I decided to start a new game plus file with maximum upgrades already unlocked, and I set the difficulty to Grounded+ with permadeath mode turned off. I wanted the lethal enemy damage but I did not want to lose three hours of progress to a single mistake. Even so, the rules I set were strict: no damage taken from any source throughout the entire run. One graze from a bullet, one bite from a Runner, one stumble off a ledge that costs health, and I would restart the encounter. That was the only checkpoint I allowed myself.

Why ng+ no damage Changes Everything

On a normal playthrough, even on Grounded+, you can trade hits. You can absorb a bullet and hide behind a counter until the screen stops pulsing red. You can craft a medkit mid-combat and keep pushing forward. In a ng+ no damage run, none of that exists. The moment you take any damage, the run is effectively over. You have to reload the last checkpoint and try again from the start of that encounter. This changes the way you approach every single room in the game.

I found myself thinking about the geometry of spaces more than I ever had before. In the supermarket in Seattle, I spent forty-five minutes studying the patrol routes of the WLF soldiers. I needed to know exactly when each guard turned his back, exactly how long the gap lasted, and exactly where I could slip through without making a sound. One wrong step on a piece of broken glass, and I would have to restart. One badly timed brick throw, and the entire room would be on alert. The margin for error in a ng+ no damage run is basically zero.

The Role of Stealth and Combat in a Clean Run

Stealth becomes your primary language in this kind of challenge. I relied on it heavily during the Seattle day sections, especially when playing as Ellie. Her movement speed and the precision of her bow make her ideal for picking off isolated enemies without alerting the group. But I also had to learn when stealth was not the answer. Sometimes, the patrol patterns are too tight, and the only way through is a well-timed explosive or a crafted trap. In a normal run, you might toss a pipe bomb and then rush in while the enemies are staggered. In a no damage run, you toss the bomb and then you wait. You wait for the dust to settle, for the remaining enemies to calm down, and for a new opening to appear.

Combat encounters that I used to breeze through became multi-hour puzzles. The hospital basement with the Stalkers, the Rat King fight, the encounter in the theatre with Abby and the Seraphites, every single one of them demanded a fresh approach. I started using the accessibility options to help me practice. The game lets you adjust enemy awareness, damage output, and even the audio cues for danger. I turned everything to its hardest setting for the actual run, but I used easier settings to learn the patterns. That practice was invaluable. Without it, I would never have understood the timing needed to dodge a clicker's lunge or the exact spot where an infected's attack animation ends too late to hit you.

Collectibles and Chronological Mode: A New Way to See Seattle

One of the surprising joys of this run came from using chronological mode. The Last of Us Part II Remastered includes a feature that lets you play through the story in the order events actually happen, rather than switching back and forth between Ellie and Abby. I decided to use it for the ng+ no damage run because it gave me a cleaner mental map of the timeline. I could focus on one character's journey for longer stretches, which helped me build consistency with their specific tools and movement styles.

Collectibles also took on a new meaning. Normally, I grab them as I go, often during combat lulls or while backtracking. In a no damage run, every detour is a risk. You cannot afford to step into a room full of spores just to pick up a trading card. So I planned my routes around the collectibles I absolutely wanted to grab. I used the 4K ultra gameplay footage I had watched earlier to memorise their locations. I knew exactly which shelf held the artefact in the synagogue and which desk in the hospital contained the note from a dead doctor. That preparation meant I could move through those spaces with purpose, never lingering longer than necessary.

The Emotional Weight of a Perfect Run

People sometimes ask me why I put myself through this. The story of The Last of Us Part II Remastered is already heavy. It deals with loss, vengeance, and the impossibility of breaking a cycle of violence. Playing it on Grounded+ with no damage adds a layer of tension that mirrors the narrative themes. Every time I died to a random bullet or a misplaced step, I felt the same frustration that Ellie feels when her plans fall apart. Every time I cleared a room without a scratch, I felt the same grim satisfaction that Abby feels when she survives another day in Seattle.

The ng+ no damage run also forced me to appreciate Naughty Dog's craftsmanship in a new way. The enemy AI is incredibly responsive. They flank, they communicate, they react to sounds and visual cues. In a normal run, you can brute force your way through many encounters. In a no damage run, you have to respect the AI. You have to bait them, misdirect them, and use the environment against them. Photo mode became my friend here. I would pause the game, orbit the camera around a room, and study the layout. I would note which windows could be shattered for a quick escape and which shadows were deep enough to hide in while a patrol passed by.

Practical Tips for Anyone Attempting This

If you are thinking about trying a ng+ no damage run on Grounded+, here are a few things I learned the hard way. First, use the maximum upgrades from the start. The Remastered version gives you access to all skills and weapon upgrades on a New Game Plus file. Max out your health, your crafting speed, and your weapon sway reduction. Every advantage matters when you cannot afford to take a hit.

Second, learn to love the dodge button. In The Last of Us Part II Remastered, the dodge is not just for show. It has invincibility frames, and if you time it right, you can slip through attacks that would otherwise land. I spent an entire afternoon in the game's practice mode just drilling the timing against different enemy types. It paid off during the Rat King encounter, where I dodged through a series of lunges that would have ended the run.

Third, do not be afraid to use the accessibility options to help you learn. The game includes sliders for enemy awareness, damage taken, and even the speed of enemy patrols. You can set these to their easiest values while you learn the map layout, then crank them back up for the real run. This is not cheating. This is preparation. The HBO adaptation of the first game showed the world how brutal this universe is. You need every tool you can get to survive it.

Finally, take breaks. The mental fatigue of a no damage run is real. I found myself making stupid mistakes after two hours of sustained focus. I would step on a mine that I knew was there, or I would miss a headshot by a pixel. When that happened, I saved the game, turned it off, and came back the next day. Fresh eyes make a huge difference.

What the Run Taught Me About the Game

Completing a ng+ no damage run on Grounded+ did not make me feel like a god. It made me feel like I finally understood the game on its own terms. The Last of Us Part II Remastered is not a power fantasy. It is a survival horror game dressed in emotional drama. The scarcity of resources, the lethality of enemies, the weight of every bullet and every bandage, these are not bugs. They are features. They exist to make you feel the desperation of the characters. When you play without taking damage, you are not just avoiding a game over screen. You are honouring the fiction. You are saying that Ellie and Abby are skilled enough to survive this nightmare without a scratch.

I do not know if I will ever attempt this challenge again. It took me weeks, and I lost count of the restarts. But I am glad I did it. It changed the way I see Seattle. It changed the way I hear the infected shriek from a dark room. And it gave me a story to tell that I would not trade for anything.