Naughty Dog and PlayStation have released a dedicated trailer for No Return, the new roguelike mode included in January’s The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered.
As you’d expect from a roguelike, No Return involves you running through a series of randomized levels and clearing waves of enemies and boss encounters while various modifiers are randomly triggered to keep each run feeling unique.
The trailer’s brief but it gets the point across, and aside from providing a proper look at some gameplay, it also confirms a few additional details. For starters, you aren’t confined to just playing as Ellie and Abby, the main game’s dual protagonists. Eight other characters will be available too, including Dina, Jesse, and of course Joel, the protagonist of the first The Last of Us.
We only get a brief glance of the character select screen, but it appears each character comes with their own starting equipment, playstyle, and traits. For example, Dina’s playstyle is listed as Crafting and she has access to recipes for trap mines and stun bombs. Three of the playable characters—Joel, Tommy, and Mel—have padlocks next to their names, indicating they’ll need to be unlocked somehow.
As for the enemies you’ll encounter, it’s not just the infected; You’ll also have to contend with regular humans and with the modifiers, even experts at the original game will be kept on their toes. At one point in the trailer, one enemy is completely invisible until they take damage—at least we’re assuming that’s a modifier and not a glitch that was accidentally included.
Most disturbing of all, though, is the return of the Rat King, one of the most memorable encounters in the main game. Originally, only Abby had to fight the thing but now even Ellie or Joel can take it on. Given the differing playstyles between characters, this may mean you’ll need to come up with new strategies for killing it and any other returning bosses.
