The Last of Us Part II Remastered Beginner's Guide: New Player Essentials

The Last of Us Part II Remastered arrived on PC on 3 April 2025, ported by Nixxes and Iron Galaxy from Naughty Dog's 2020 original. Alongside the visual work it carries three things the 2020 release never had: No Return, a roguelike survival mode with twelve playable characters, three unfinished Lost Levels shipped with developer commentary, and Guitar Free Play. The campaign is unchanged at 11 acts and 46 sub chapters, split between Ellie and Abby across the same three days in Seattle.

Starting The Last of Us Part II Remastered can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.

What Kind of Game Is This?

The Last of Us Part II Remastered is a action game built around Crafting under pressure and Prone stealth and grass. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.

What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.

Choosing Your First Role

Role	Beginner Rating	Why
Ellie	Excellent for beginners	Balanced approach
Abby	Excellent for beginners	Balanced approach
Tommy	Excellent for beginners	Balanced approach
Lev	Excellent for beginners	Balanced approach
Manny	Excellent for beginners	Balanced approach

Our recommendation: Start with Abby. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.

Avoid Manny as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.

First Session Step-by-Step

Step 1: Learn Crafting under pressure

Molotovs, shivs, health kits, explosive arrows and trap mines all draw on one shared pool of alcohol, rags, blades, binding and explosives, and crafting runs in real time without pausing. Every health kit you make is a Molotov you did not.

This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Crafting under pressure works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.

Step 2: Head to Jackson

The opening act, seven sub chapters running Prologue, Waking Up, The Overlook, Patrol, The Horde, The Chalet and Packing Up. It teaches every system in snow and quiet before the story turns.

Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.

Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade

Look for Bow: it's the most accessible early upgrade. Ellie's silent option, and the only weapon whose ammunition is recoverable from bodies and walls after a kill.

Step 4: Understand Prone stealth and grass

Part II added going prone, dodging and sliding under vehicles, which turns tall grass into a genuine hiding layer instead of scenery. Human enemies call your last known position to each other, so a broken stealth run becomes a coordinated sweep.

This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.

Step 5: Push to Channel 13

A flooded television station on Ellie's Seattle Day 1, a tight interior stocked with Infected rather than humans and one of the campaign's most claustrophobic stretches.

Essential Mechanics Explained

Crafting under pressure

Molotovs, shivs, health kits, explosive arrows and trap mines all draw on one shared pool of alcohol, rags, blades, binding and explosives, and crafting runs in real time without pausing. Every health kit you make is a Molotov you did not.

Prone stealth and grass

Part II added going prone, dodging and sliding under vehicles, which turns tall grass into a genuine hiding layer instead of scenery. Human enemies call your last known position to each other, so a broken stealth run becomes a coordinated sweep.

Listen Mode tracking

Holding Listen Mode outlines nearby enemies through walls after a brief focus. Lev's No Return trait improves it, while Grounded strips it out entirely along with most of the HUD.

Weapon and skill upgrades

Parts upgrade guns at workbenches and supplements buy skills, but each skill branch only opens once you find its training manual. Ellie has Survival plus Crafting, Stealth, Precision and Explosives; Abby has Field Tactics plus Covert Ops, Close Quarters, Firearms and Ordnance.

No Return run structure

A run chains randomised encounters of four types, Assault, Hunted, Holdout and Capture, with optional gambits paying bonus currency, and finishes on a boss. Six bosses unlock in sequence from the Arcade Bloater to the Rat King, after which they appear at random.

Common Beginner Mistakes

1. Hoarding supplements while never picking up the training manual that would open the branch you want to spend them in

This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.

2. Crouching in tall grass rather than going prone, which is the exact habit Part II added prone to defeat

This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.

3. Trying to break line of sight from WLF dogs, which track scent and will find you anyway

This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.

4. Burning Abby's Flamethrower fuel on scattered Runners instead of saving it for grouped Infected

This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.

5. Choosing Tommy or Bill in No Return without noticing that neither of them can dodge

This is a common trap that costs new players significant time.

First 5 Hours Checklist

• Understand Crafting under pressure and Prone stealth and grass
• Choose Abby as starting role
• Clear Jackson main content
• Acquire Bow or equivalent upgrade
• Reach Channel 13
• Crafting draws on one shared pool, so a health kit and a Molotov compete for the same alcohol and rags. On Survivor and Grounded most players over craft health kits early and then have nothing to throw when a Bloater arrives.
• Skill branches open by finding training manuals, not by spending supplements. Ellie's Crafting, Stealth, Precision and Explosives and Abby's Covert Ops, Close Quarters, Firearms and Ordnance each need their manual first, so exploring directly widens your build.

Tips for New Players

1. Crafting draws on one shared pool, so a health kit and a Molotov compete for the same alcohol and rags. On Survivor and Grounded most players over craft health kits early and then have nothing to throw when a Bloater arrives.
2. Skill branches open by finding training manuals, not by spending supplements. Ellie's Crafting, Stealth, Precision and Explosives and Abby's Covert Ops, Close Quarters, Firearms and Ordnance each need their manual first, so exploring directly widens your build.
3. Going prone is new to Part II and it is the biggest stealth upgrade in the game. Tall grass conceals a prone character properly, and sliding under vehicles breaks line of sight in a way enemy search patterns handle badly.
4. WLF patrols bring dogs that follow scent rather than sight. Breaking line of sight achieves nothing against them, moving continuously does, and killing the handler will not call the dog off.
5. Arrows are recoverable from corpses and from the walls they stick in. The bow is the only weapon that can leave an encounter carrying roughly what it started with, which is why Grounded runs lean on it so hard.
6. Abby's Flamethrower arrives in The Descent on Seattle Day 2 and it trivialises grouped Infected. Save the fuel for the hospital basement instead of burning it on the first pair of Runners you meet.
7. In No Return every character is effectively a class. Tommy starts with a sniper rifle but cannot dodge, Mel starts with two health kits and gains speed from healing, Manny carries 50 percent more parts and 150 percent maximum health, and Bill trades dodging for doubled drop rewards.
8. No Return bosses unlock in a fixed order: Arcade Bloater, Theater Infestation, Rattler Captain, Garage Bloater, Seraphite Elite, then the Rat King. Once the Rat King is cleared they start appearing at random, which is when runs get genuinely unpredictable.
9. Gambits are optional objectives inside a No Return encounter, things like three kills from prone or a full stealth clear, and they pay currency for the Safe House Trading Post. Taking the easy ones costs nothing and funds a better loadout for the boss.
10. Permadeath can be set per chapter, per act or across the whole game. Per chapter is the version most people actually finish, because one death in Abby's Seattle Day 2 does not erase the previous fifteen hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Remastered version add over the 2020 game?

No Return with twelve playable characters, three Lost Levels with developer commentary called Jackson Party, Sewers and Boar Hunt, Guitar Free Play, a speedrun mode, full developer commentary, and accessibility work including Descriptive Audio and Speech to Vibrations. The campaign story itself is unchanged.

How do I unlock the other No Return characters?

Ellie and Abby are available immediately. The rest unlock by completing encounters as the previous character: two Ellie encounters for Dina, three Dina for Jesse, three Jesse for Tommy and four Tommy for Joel, with a parallel Abby chain running Lev, Yara, Mel and Manny. Bill and Marlene came with the PC update.

What are the Lost Levels?

Three levels cut during development and restored in unfinished form with commentary: Jackson Party, Sewers and Boar Hunt. Each runs about ten minutes, with grey box geometry and missing audio deliberately left visible.

How does the PC version run?

It supports DLSS 3 and FSR 3.1 upscaling with frame generation, DirectStorage, uncapped framerate, ultrawide at 21:9, 32:9 and 48:9 plus triple monitor setups, full keyboard and mouse remapping, and DualSense haptics. Nixxes and Iron Galaxy handled the port.

Which difficulty should I start on?

Seven are offered: Very Light, Light, Moderate, Hard, Survivor, Grounded and Custom. Survivor removes most of the safety net without turning combat into a resource puzzle, while Grounded strips Listen Mode and most of the HUD and works far better as a second playthrough.

More The Last of Us Part II Remastered Guides

• The Last of Us Part II Remastered The Last of Us Part II Remastered Overview
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Best Builds
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Tier List
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Walkthrough
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Tips & Tricks
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Weapons Guide
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Combat Guide
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Boss Guide
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Maps & Locations
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Crafting Guide
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered Classes & Characters

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