Naughty Dog rebuilt the 2013 original on the Part II engine, so Joel and Ellie's trip across a fungal-collapsed United States now runs on modern AI, lighting and animation. The package includes the Left Behind chapter and drops the original Factions multiplayer entirely. The PC port shipped in July 2023 through Iron Galaxy and took several patches before shader compilation and memory use settled down.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best characters, weapons worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Listen Mode
Holding the listen button outlines enemies through walls within a limited radius, but only while you stay still or move at a crawl. It is the difference between reading a Clicker room and walking into it, and Grounded difficulty removes it entirely.
Workbench weapon upgrades
Workbenches spend Parts on holster speed, reload speed, magazine size, fire rate, damage and scope stability per weapon. Parts are finite in a playthrough, so committing early to the Hunting Rifle or the Shotgun beats spreading them thin across every gun.
Crafting from scavenged parts
Alcohol, rags, blades, binding, sugar and explosives combine into shivs, molotovs, nail bombs, smoke bombs and health kits, and every item is crafted in real time with no pause. Alcohol and rags are contested between molotovs and health kits, which is the core resource decision on higher difficulties.
Supplement skill upgrades
Pills and supplement bottles buy permanent upgrades to health, crafting speed, Listen Mode range, weapon sway, healing speed and melee damage. Training manuals found in the world upgrade a whole craftable category, such as sharper shivs or a wider molotov burn radius.
Infected enemy types
Runners still see you, Stalkers hide and flank, Clickers are blind but kill on contact unless you hold a shiv, and Bloaters throw spore sacs and soak an entire magazine. Encounters mix them deliberately, so a room with one Clicker and three Runners has to be solved in a different order than one with two Clickers.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our The Last of Us Part I combat guide.
Characters Overview
| Role | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full stealth strangler | S | Clear rooms one enemy at a time from the back, using thrown objects to reposition patrols. Retreat and reset if an enemy turns rather than committing to a fight. | Listen Mode range, then crafting speed, then melee damage |
| Shiv and bottle specialist | A | Save shivs for Clickers and shiv doors, stun humans with a thrown bottle and finish with melee, and leave firearms holstered until a room goes loud. | Shiv Master first, then crafting speed, then health |
| Molotov crowd control | A | Bait Infected into a corridor, throw one molotov into the chokepoint, and let fire clear a group that would otherwise cost a full magazine. | Crafting speed, then health, then Listen Mode range |
| Long gun marksman | B | Find elevation, open the encounter with a headshot, and reposition after every two shots so enemies converge on the wrong spot. | Weapon sway reduction, then Listen Mode range, then healing speed |
| Brawler with melee weapons | B | Rush human groups after a thrown brick opens the first enemy, and switch to the Shotgun the moment Infected join the fight. | Melee damage, then health, then healing speed |
Full stealth strangler (S-Tier): Choke everything from behind and never fire a shot until forced. It preserves ammunition for the encounters that cannot be stealthed, which is what makes Survivor and Grounded runs viable.
Shiv and bottle specialist (A-Tier): Built around shiv efficiency and free thrown objects. The Shiv Master upgrade gives each shiv extra uses, turning Clicker-heavy areas from resource sinks into free kills.
Molotov crowd control (A-Tier): Fire solves the encounters stealth cannot: Bloaters, packed Runner groups and the Pittsburgh hotel basement. Alcohol and rags are the limiting resource, so this build spends almost nothing on health kits.
Long gun marksman (B-Tier): Hunting Rifle and Bow with the scope and sway upgrades, killing from outside detection range. Strong across Pittsburgh and the Winter chapters, weak in enclosed Infected areas.
Brawler with melee weapons (B-Tier): Machetes, pipes and bats with the binding upgrade, taking human enemies apart at close range. It burns melee weapons quickly and does nothing to a Clicker without a shiv attached.
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our The Last of Us Part I builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Weapons Guide
| Weapon | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| 9mm Pistol | Joel's starting sidearm, cheap on ammo and accurate once the sway upgrade lands. | Every difficulty from start to finish, especially Survivor runs where 9mm rounds are the ammunition you actually find. |
| Hunting Rifle | Bolt action rifle that one-shots Runners and Stalkers at range and staggers Clickers. | Open outdoor encounters and the Winter chapters where Ellie fights David's group across long sightlines. |
| Pump Shotgun | The one gun that reliably kills a Clicker with a single close shot and knocks a Bloater back. | Enclosed rooms, tunnels and any moment a Clicker has already heard you. |
| Bow | Silent, and arrows can be pulled back out of corpses and walls, so it costs nothing while your aim holds. | Stealth clears that thin a group before it detects you, and the low-ammo stretches of the Suburbs and Tommy's Dam. |
| Molotov Cocktail | Thrown fire that kills Clickers on contact and burns groups packed into a corridor. | Bloater fights and any encounter with three or more Infected clumped together. |
9mm Pistol: Joel's starting sidearm, cheap on ammo and accurate once the sway upgrade lands. Two headshots drop most human Hunters and one kills a Runner.
Hunting Rifle: Bolt action rifle that one-shots Runners and Stalkers at range and staggers Clickers. The scope upgrade turns Pittsburgh rooftops and the University quad into safe firing positions.
Pump Shotgun: The one gun that reliably kills a Clicker with a single close shot and knocks a Bloater back. Damage and clip upgrades make it the emergency button when stealth collapses.
Bow: Silent, and arrows can be pulled back out of corpses and walls, so it costs nothing while your aim holds. Headshots kill Runners and Clickers outright without alerting the room.
Molotov Cocktail: Thrown fire that kills Clickers on contact and burns groups packed into a corridor. It also blinds and panics human enemies, who then break cover into your line of fire.
Full breakdowns in our The Last of Us Part I weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Quarantine Zone | Opening chapters | First pistol, first shiv, early Firefly Pendants |
| Bill's Town | Summer | Nail bomb training manual, Parts caches, the truck battery detour |
| Pittsburgh | Fall approach | Shorty shotgun, large Parts caches, Henry and Sam |
| University of Eastern Colorado | Fall | Assault rifle, comics, workbench upgrades |
| Lakeside Resort | Winter | Hunting rifle ammo, machete, Ellie's story resolution |
Boston Quarantine Zone: FEDRA-run ruins where Joel smuggles for Robert and picks up Ellie. Combat is mostly human until the flooded museum wing introduces Runners and the first Clicker.
Bill's Town: Lincoln, Massachusetts, wired with traps by a paranoid survivalist. The high school gym Bloater fight is the first real setpiece and the town hides several workbench caches.
Pittsburgh: Hunter ambush territory, a full city of human enemies who take cover, flank and call your position. The hotel basement generator sequence traps you in the dark with Clickers and a Bloater.
University of Eastern Colorado: An abandoned campus the Fireflies left months earlier. The research wing and dorm rooms hide comics and Parts, and the exit is a running fight against Infected and raiders at once.
Lakeside Resort: Ellie alone against David's group in a snowbound Colorado tourist town. Ammunition is scarce and the burning restaurant finale is the only true one on one fight in the game.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Parts do not respawn and a single playthrough never funds every upgrade. Pour them into the Hunting Rifle scope and the Shotgun clip first, because those two weapons carry the Fall and Winter encounters where ammunition pressure is worst.
- Melee weapons shatter after a few swings unless a workbench binding upgrade is applied. Carry one blunt weapon for stunning humans and reserve shivs strictly for Clickers and locked shiv doors.
- Bricks and bottles respawn on most maps and do more work than bullets. A thrown bottle pulls an enemy to a fixed spot, and a brick to the face opens a free melee execution that costs no resources at all.
- Clickers cannot see you. They navigate entirely by sound, so crouch walking past one in the open works, while sprinting past one across the room does not.
- Choking a human from behind is silent and free, but the animation locks you in place for several seconds. Check the patrol timing of the next two enemies before committing, because being spotted mid choke usually loses the encounter.
- On Survivor the HUD ammunition counter disappears and Listen Mode is off. Learn to count shots per weapon and use the pause inventory screen, which still shows exact ammunition, as your counter.
- Shiv doors hide the largest Parts and supplement caches in the game. Before spending a shiv on a Clicker, check whether a shiv door sits in the same area, because a missed door is a permanent loss of upgrades.
- Molotovs and health kits both consume alcohol and rags. On higher difficulties a split of roughly two molotovs to one health kit works better, since preventing damage costs less than healing it.
- Ellie and other companions do not trigger enemy detection. You can leave them standing in plain view and plan purely around your own line of sight, which makes several rooms far simpler than they look.
- The PC version compiles shaders on first launch and after driver updates. Let it finish before playing, and set textures one notch below your card's limit to avoid the stutter that dogged the July 2023 release.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Spreading Parts evenly across every weapon, so no gun is upgraded enough to matter during Pittsburgh and Winter.
- Punching Clickers. Bare-handed melee against a Clicker is an instant death animation unless you are holding a shiv.
- Burning shivs as combat weapons and then finding a shiv door with nothing left to open it.
- Sprinting through Infected areas because they look clear. Runners reposition and Stalkers deliberately hide in doorways you already walked past.
- Skipping the workbench holster upgrade. Slow weapon swaps turn a single mistake into a wipe when a Clicker closes distance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does The Last of Us Part I include Left Behind?
Yes. The Ellie and Riley chapter set in the Liberty Gardens mall ships with the base game at no extra cost. It is selectable from the main menu as a separate story and runs roughly two hours.
Is there multiplayer in Part I?
No. The original 2013 Factions mode was cut from the remake and never added back, and Naughty Dog's standalone multiplayer project was cancelled in 2023. Part I is single player only.
How long is a first playthrough?
The main story runs about 14 to 15 hours, and closer to 17 with Left Behind and collectible hunting. Survivor and Grounded runs take noticeably longer because encounters get replayed.
Is the PC version fixed?
Largely. The July 2023 launch had very long shader compilation and memory overruns, but patches through late 2023 cut build times and stabilised it. Set textures manually to match your card rather than trusting the auto preset.
Should I play Part I before Part II?
Yes. Part II opens minutes after Part I's final scene and assumes you know exactly what Joel did in the Salt Lake City hospital. Playing them out of order spoils the single decision the sequel is built around.
More The Last of Us Part I Guides
- The Last of Us Part I Best Builds
- The Last of Us Part I Tier List
- The Last of Us Part I Walkthrough
- The Last of Us Part I Beginner's Guide
- The Last of Us Part I Tips & Tricks
- The Last of Us Part I Weapons Guide
- The Last of Us Part I Combat Guide
- The Last of Us Part I Boss Guide
- The Last of Us Part I Maps & Locations
- The Last of Us Part I Crafting Guide
- The Last of Us Part I Classes & Characters
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- Monster Hunter Wilds Guide: action game with similar mechanics
