Naughty Dog's The Last Of Us Part 2 is an intense game set after the aftermath of an apocalyptic event, but you might want to make the game more difficult and scarier than it already is after playing through it completely at least once.
Here's what you can do to make the game feel more intense and an even greater challenge, and don't worry about it being a complicated process.
What You Can Do To Enhance The Intensity Of The Game
There are numerous difficulty settings as well as game options that can improve the game's intensity and challenge. It should be noted that you should play however you want to play the game, and you don't need to follow this guide.
The options below will create an experience that is more difficult than the highest difficulty that's unlocked after beating the game once, Survivor+.
Difficulty Settings
When you start a New Game+, you'll have to pick one out of six difficulty options, which includes the Custom+ difficulty. The difficulties in a New Game+ playthrough are harder than the regular difficulties from when you start a normal New Game playthrough.
What you have to do to get the most intense experience is pick Custom+. This will let you modify the difficulties of the different aspects of the game.
For the Player setting, you need to pick Survivor+. Survivor+ will make it so Ellie is the most fragile she can be, which is vital for creating a challenging and intense experience since you will need to stay on your toes and be careful.
With the Enemies setting, you have to pick Survivor+ to get them as difficult as they can get. By design, the enemies won't be intelligent to make the game feel fun, so it will have you thinking about the decisions you make before you alert or kill an enemy.
Regarding the Stealth setting, picking the Survivor+ is what's best for the intense challenge you want. This is for the same reason as to why Enemies is set to Survivor+. The enemies would be unrealistically blind and deaf otherwise.
When it comes to the Resources setting, Survivor+ will give you the most challenge. Many years during the aftermath of a post-apocalypse, most places would be looted by the time Ellie gets there.
On the other hand, the Allies settings should be set to Moderate+. It is unrealistic for your allies to not do anything when you're getting beaten up by the enemies. This is why you should have your allies at least somewhat competent enough to fight the enemies too.
HUD Settings
The HUD is the user interface that displays your health, ammo, awareness indicators, and much more. You don't see these things in reality though, so this will need to be tweaked significantly.
The significant tweaks you will be doing is turning every option except the Weapon Cross off and Pick-up Prompts. It would be infuriating not being able to see what you can pick up or not, so this is vital for most players.
Miscellaneous Information
If you want the most intense challenge in the game, you should refrain from using Listen Mode. It would dilute the experience if you could see the enemies through walls, so try not to hold down R1 for Listen Mode while playing.
If you want to see how difficult Survivor+ difficulty is, watch the video below:
