Along with a comprehensive visual overhaul,The Last of Us Part 2: Remasteredintroduced an entirely new way to play the game: its surprisingly deep roguelike mode, No Return. In No Return, players traverse a branching path of levels previously featured in the game, but with new twists and challenges to shake things up. Players accumulate items and upgrades along the way in an effort to survive until the end. No Return features a wide assortment of characters with unique perks and unlock conditions, adding a ton of replayability to an otherwise linear story-heavy game.
Recently,The Last of Us Part 2: Remasteredfinally arrived on PC, and this long-awaited port brought some additional content for players across all platforms. Game Rant sat down with members of Naughty Dog and the porting team at Nixxes—including Naughty Dog game director Matthew Gallant—to discuss the fresh content, particularly the two new characters for No Return.
While No Return initially focused on characters and locations fromThe Last of Us: Part 2, fans of the original game will certainly recognize the first new character: Bill. Aparanoid and shotgun-armed supporting characterfrom the first title, Bill has a powerful perk tied to his background as a smuggler. Gallant points out some of Bill’s highlights:
“With Bill, there was just this really cool opportunity. He’s got that iconic pump shotgun from the first game, and he’s obviously a pretty paranoid guy—he’s setting trap mines everywhere. So right off the bat, we gave him the trap mine. And because he works with Joel and Tess as a smuggler, we tied that into this mechanic in No Return called Dead Drops.
Dead Drops are points on the map during a run that ask for specific crafting items. If you deliver the item, when you return to the hub, you’ll get a reward. Bill’s special trait is that he gets double rewards. Most characters would get a recipe or a gun—Bill gets both. That’s also how he gets his pump shotgun—it’s a Dead Drop reward, and it comes fully upgraded.”
Bill’s bonus rewards fromcompleting Dead Dropsenable him to gear up more quickly for players willing to go the extra mile in their runs, leading to a snowball effect where a heavily kitted-out Bill has excellent odds of making it through to the end of the run. This is both an appropriate perk given his character’s nature and a smart way to entice players to pursue more Dead Drops.
Marlene Can Control the Run in No Return
Marlene is another recognizable characterfromThe Last of Us Part 1as the leader of the antagonist Fireflies militia group. Marlene is armed with her iconic assault rifle from the first title, but that’s not the only perk Marlene brings to a No Return run. Gallant says:
“Then there’s Marlene, who was interesting to design because she’s the leader of the Fireflies. So we asked: how do we tie that into gameplay? First off, she uses the assault rifle from The Last of Us Part 1—the one you only see at the end of the game, used by the Fireflies. It wasn’t in Part 2 at all, so we brought it back just for her.
She’s also got this unique ability where, once per run, she can switch lanes. So if she starts down one path in the roguelike’s branching map, she can pivot and take a different one. That connects really nicely to the biggest part of her kit—what we call “All or Nothing” Gambits.
Gambits are dynamic challenges that pop up during a run. Stuff like: “Get three headshots,” or “Get a kill with a trap bomb.” When Marlene gets a Gambit, she has to complete it. If she doesn’t, she doesn’t get her reward at the end of the map.”
Marlene can change lanes once per run, which would be an extremely welcome feature in manylane-based roguelike games. This flexibility contrasts with her decidedly unflexible ‘All or Nothing’ Gambits, where Gambit challenges must be completed or she’ll earn no rewards at the end of a mission. Marlene is clearly meant to be a character for more advanced players with some knowledge of the mode and how best to strategize a route, which is great news for No Return veterans.
