There’s something oddly cathartic about being thrown to the wolves. In a medium full of hand-holding, generous loot drops, and countless second chances, The Last of Us demands your respect, and Grounded difficulty is its harshest teacher. With no HUD, no Listen Mode to help you know where enemies are, and not enough resources to scour through a map, Grounded mode is the real way to play both The Last of Us Games.
And if you can endure that pain, what you get in return is something few games can offer — complete immersion. As such, Grounded becomes the only way to truly feel The Last of Us — no compromises, no comfort, just pure, visceral survival.
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The immersion switch flips the moment you go Grounded
Every shot counts, and every mistake is your last
Turning the difficulty up to Grounded is like flipping a switch that rewires the entire experience. Even on Medium or Hard, you already need to play cautiously, with drops and ammo being abundant, but the enemies still having their heads on a swivel. However, Grounded takes it up ten notches. Suddenly, every bullet matters, and every single enemy is a genuine threat. You’re not fighting video game AI anymore — you’re outmatched, under-equipped, and overwhelmed in the same way Joel or Ellie would be. This isn’t a “get good” moment. It’s a “get real” one, as The Last of Us turns into one of the most difficult games ever.
In Grounded mode, ammo in The Last of Us Part I and II becomes a mythical commodity — a single arrow might be your lifeline, or it might shatter on impact, dooming you to panic and improvisation. Missing a shot is devastating, not just because of the noise but because it drains your already pitiful reserves.
In Grounded, the tension doesn’t ease up.
And while you’re constantly looking for alternate solutions — bricks, bottles, anything — even those feel rare and precious. You’re not spoiled for choice regarding what tool you want to use — far from it. In fact, in Grounded, you must use everything you have if you want to stay alive, and you can’t be thinking of the next encounter because this right here is life or death.
In Grounded, the tension doesn’t ease up — not in combat, not in exploration. It infects the whole atmosphere. This is where The Last of Us games thrive. This is how they should be played.
The Last of Us Part I
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This is stealth perfected
A masterclass in pressure, unpredictability, and organic encounters
Stealth in The Last of Us games is already stellar, grounded in realism, brutal in execution. But Grounded difficulty takes it from engaging to absolutely essential. You’re forced to move like prey in a world of predators. Your plans are dictated by the movements of infected and armed patrols, and one wrong step means instant death. It’s less a power fantasy and more a survival sim. And it rules.
I’ve mentioned this already in my review of The Last of Us Part II Remastered on PC — the stealth in the game is nothing short of masterful. I’d argue it might be the most dynamic, replayable stealth system in any modern action-adventure game, perhaps just short of Metal Gear Solid. On Grounded, no two encounters in The Last of Us games feel the same because enemy behavior keeps shifting. Their alertness levels, their search patterns, their reactions to gunfire or noise — all of it changes constantly.
Grounded is less a power fantasy and more a survival sim.
Sometimes they’ll call out to their partners when they see you, sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they’ll die with a huge yell, and sometimes they’ll slump to the ground without a sound. That unpredictability forces you to think like a cornered animal, not a superhero.
It’s also where melee becomes art. A brick isn’t just a distraction — it’s a potential lifesaver, or a way to take out a guard when your shiv count is running low. But even melee takedowns carry weight. The animations are long, brutal, and personal. You’re watching people struggle for their lives, and your own character doesn’t look thrilled about it either. Violence in Grounded doesn’t feel cool — it feels desperate, just like it should.
The Last of Us Part II
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The world-building thrives on scarcity
Grounded makes even the empty drawers part of the story
Scarcity is where Grounded truly shines — not just as a difficulty setting, but as a narrative tool. In a world where society crumbled 20 years ago, you shouldn’t find five bullets in a drawer or a medkit under every bench. And on Grounded, you don’t. You find nothing. Over and over and over again. And the more that happens, the more you buy into the bleakness of this universe.
That feeling of defeat when you open your hundredth drawer, and it’s just as empty as the last ninety-nine? That’s intentional. That’s design serving narrative. This is what twenty years after the apocalypse looks like. That frustration is the point — it reinforces the struggle, the futility, the despair. Grounded strips away the comfort of traditional game loops and makes you feel like a real scavenger, hopeful but doomed.
Grounded strips away the comfort of traditional game loops and makes you feel like a real scavenger.
It’s still doable — don’t get me wrong. Even casual gamers can get past encounters on Grounded mode, but they’re going to have to lock in and use every resource at their disposal. That’s why I genuinely believe it’s the only way to play this game.
Even your kills feel heavier. You’re not going around taking down every enemy around the map anymore. You’re carefully charting a plan to make your way to where you need to go, not wasting a step or a bullet as you crawl through hell with a plan — a knife, a brick, and a whole lot of prayer.
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The Last of Us is not for everyone — and that’s the point
You can play easier, but you’ll never feel the same.
Let’s be honest — Grounded isn’t for everyone. Sometimes, after your 50th death in the same encounter, it’s tempting to just turn the difficulty down and keep the story flowing. And honestly, there’s no shame in that. The Last of Us is a story-rich series, and not everyone wants to experience it through the lens of masochism.
But Grounded isn’t about gatekeeping. It’s about offering the purest, most distilled version of the game’s vision. It’s a challenge, yes, but it’s also a reward — one that can’t be mimicked on lower settings. You don’t just watch Joel and Ellie suffer. You suffer with them. And in a game about surviving at all costs, that matters. All of this combined makes it all the worse that the planned multiplayer game set in this world is a game we never got.
There’s no HUD. No listening mode. No forgiving checkpoints. What you’re left with is a stripped-down, grueling, hyper-focused experience that forces you to embody the world rather than just observe it. It’s exhausting. It’s brutal. And by god, it’s absolutely incredible.
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The most punishing version of The Last of Us games is also the most honest
Playing The Last of Us Part I and II on Grounded difficulty didn’t just make the games harder for me — it made them better. It pulled me into its world with unrelenting force, stripping away safety nets and asking, “How far would you go?” And then it showed me the answer, again and again, until I was too broken to resist and too committed to quit.
This is what makes the game linger. This is what makes it unforgettable, not just because of its narrative and the lessons it drives home, but also the gameplay. You haven’t really played The Last of Us until you’ve played it on Grounded.
