So much of the potential fun that can be had in No Return,The Last of Us Part 2’s roguelike mode, is determined by how unforgiving and inconvenient the board is. Thankfully, there’s a casual, cut-and-dry looseness with which players can tackle No Return since each run is fleeting, and everything outside of character or skin unlock challenges resets completely between them. It can be tough to simply eke one’s way through a run, though, let alone setting tall goals of ranking highly in a daily run, and the addition ofMarlene as a playable charactertosses a compelling wrench into No Return overall.
No Return will have a surprisingly rich longevity if it is capable of sustaining itself with future updates and content releases, as was the case withPart 1characters Marlene and Bill now making their way intoThe Last of Us Part 2. Bill is a fairly straightforward character, joining Tommy and Joel in their inability to dodge while doubling down on bonus weapons and crafting recipes received via Dead Drops. Rather, Marlene is easily one of the oddest characters inThe Last of Us Part 2’s roguelike mode due to a peculiar playstyle revolving wholly around gambits.
The Last of Us’ Marlene is High-Risk, High-Reward in Part 2’s No Return
Marlene’s playstyle leaves everything to RNG, but the rewards can be well worth it if players are able to accomplish gambits and choose encounters based on the amount of parts, supplements, and currency they’ll earn. Essentially, players only earn encounter rewards—parts, supplements, and currency—if they complete that encounter’s gambit.
Therefore, competitive runs are basically doomed if players can’t achieve at least four out of five available gambits as they’ll be forgoing crucial resources or upgrades and wading empty-handed into subsequent encounters. This playstyle encourages and rewards purely improvisational players, and her initial upgrade branch, Calculated, is phenomenal as it unlocks triple encounter rewards, infinite trading post re-rolls, and the Endure perk.
Her base kit is nice, too, with a semi-auto pistol and a semi-auto rifle, giving her plenty of options for tackling random gambits. Of course,Marlene’s All or Nothing traitcan be quite infuriating if players happen to receive a more generic gambit, such as “Kill enemies with 3 different weapons” or “Grab and kill an enemy from stealth,” that is ill-suited to the environs or faction, or even one that would otherwise make sense for an encounter but isn’t ideal to perform given unforeseen circumstances.
OnNo Return’s Assault, gambits don’t appear until the second wave and don’t take into consideration players’ actions in the first wave, requiring players to be improvisational, and it is grating if the first wave would have presented an optimal opportunity to perform the challenge.
Marlene’s Board Rerouting is a Game-Changer in No Return
As if that wasn’t enough, Marlene is bolstered further by her ability to switch to another route on the board once per run, which is perfect if players are anticipating particularly agonizing encounters or the gambits within them. Because there are different gambits for different encounters, players are more likely to predict the same pool of gambits if they select the same encounter type or faction often. Rattler encounters have a chance to feature the “Unchain 2 clickers” gambit, for example, whileSeraphite encountershave a chance to feature the “Kill the highlighted brute first” gambit.
Marlene is the onlyLast of Us Part 1characterwho can dodge inThe Last of Us Part 2’s No Return.
Going down one encounter path and swapping to another when an optimal encounter is available would be a grossly overpowered trait if not for how grueling it can be to strictly accomplish gambits. Gambits aren’t always worth the minor rewards they offer, and All or Nothing making them mandatory for players to earn ordinary encounter rewards is a stroke of genius as they are now far more paramount than they’ve ever been—when playing as Marlene, at least, whom players will need to be accustomed to if they dabble in dailies.
