The Last of Us 2 is drawing nearer and nearer with each passing day, but some fans still don't know what to do with themselves while waiting for Ellie and Joel's next adventure together. In response to this, players should consider playing the original The Last of Us again, but this time with some self imposed challenges. These so called challenge runs will test players' limits as well as their knowledge of the game, and perhaps most of all, their patience. It feels pretty great if one manages to complete one of these runs, so here are some of the craziest challenge runs that others have done.
A challenge run is essentially when someone plays a game but imposes certain challenges on themselves to make it more difficult or to force a different approach. Examples of this would be playing Dark Souls without taking a hit or beating a Mario game without collecting any coins. In The Last of Us, players have come up with all sorts of challenge runs and managed to complete them despite the harsh limitations. Each of these challenges has a strict set of rules and can usually be watched either in its entirety or in a summarized version.
No Death Run
The no death run is a tried and true theme in challenge runs, and it prevails in The Last of Us as well. The rules are simple; in its most basic form, the player must beat the game without dying. That in and of itself is incredibly challenging, but some gamers such as k-hunk in the video above decide to take things to the next level. This means playing through on the game's hardest difficulty, Grounded Mode, and prohibiting the use of the restart encounter mechanic in The Last of Us. This is pretty insane, and k-hunk accomplishes this run in less than four hours.
No Pickup
For this challenge, the player is not allowed to pick up any items. This includes weapons, ammo, crafting supplies, or throwables. Pretty much any time the game instructs the player to use the triangle button to take something, it isn't allowed. There are certain instances in which the game will effectively force items onto players, and these instances are allowed, but all optional items must be skipped. This provides challenges in multiple ways, as one could imagine.
For starters, the player will be stuck with a lot fewer weapons than they would have on a normal runthrough, as things like the flamethrower, revolver, and even the bow are optional. Beyond this, they'll have to rely heavily on stealth and hand to hand combat since ammo will run out incredibly quickly. Medkits, molotovs, and other craftable items won't be usable by default as well, meaning that taking down tougher threats like bloaters is a tall order. That said, it can be done, as is evidenced by the video above.
Throwables Only
Flipping the previous challenge on its head, YouTuber Dante Ravioli asks the question of whether or not one can beat The Last of Us using only throwables. This limits his offensive options to bricks, bottles, molotovs, and nail bombs, and his own rules clearly state that he cannot use weapons or even melee attacks. Most can probably guess that this run is impossible, but with the use of a few glitches, certain problematic parts can be skipped. Still, effective scavenging and resource management are vital to getting through this challenge, and as such it is best attempted on easy mode. There are some points in the game where the player is required to use weapons, namely the sniper part, but other than that the run is pretty impressive.
Minimum Kills
From the same YouTuber as the challenge above comes this gem, in which Dante Ravioli determines the minimum number of kills required to get through The Last of Us. The rules for this run are simple once again. Glitches are allowed but the use of cheats or mods is completely forbidden. Beyond that, the only important thing is that the kill counter in the statistics menu is all that matters. This means that enemies can die if NPCs take them out and that certain cutscene kills don't count towards the kill count.
Though watching the above video is highly recommended as it is both hilarious and impressive at times, those simply wanting to know what the target kill count should be need look no further. Dante Ravioli manages to get through the game racking up only 17 kills and insists that a more careful player may be able to bring that number down a bit with certain underhanded tactics. Thinking about it, 17 kills is not a lot in The Last of Us standards.
Melee Only
A melee only run of The Last of Us will require patience and dedication to complete, and like the other challenges talked about here, mandates some creative thinking. That said, compared to trying to minimize kills, this is definitely far easier, as most things can be punched to death even without a melee weapon. The rules of this run are simple: no guns, weapons, or offensive equipment can be used, although the brick/bottle is allowed. Other than that, the player needs to punch, bash, and stab their way through all the challenges that The Last of Us has to offer.
The Last of Us 2 will be here soon, so players won't need to spend too much time grinding ridiculous and absurd challenge runs in The Last of Us in order to stave off insanity. That said, for those super fans of the game, picking one of these challenges and attempting it could be a good way to pass the time, especially with so many people stuck at home at the moment. There are no doubt other ideas for creative challenge runs that players could come up with as well, but these stuck out from the crowd as being especially difficult or requiring an extra layer of thought to complete.
The Last of Us is available now on PS4.
