The Last of Us doesn’t take it easy when difficulty is the matter, whether we are talking about gameplay or hitting emotions. From the beginning to the end, everyThe Last of Usgame throws the player into intense situations, where you need to deal with aggressive enemies, low ammunition, stealth sequences, and that “you are screwed” feeling all the time.
you’re able to’t turn Rambo mode on, where you just go shooting, running, or hitting without thinking first — every bullet is counted, and a single mistake could be the end of Joel and Ellie.
10 Games That Make You Feel Like John Wick
Become who you send to kill the boogeyman.
It is the kind of game that makes your hands sweat when you hear a clicking noise, and you think twice (or even thrice) before opening any door. Surviving is a matter of pure strategy, patience, and knowing which fight to pick in this franchise.
Oh, and the player is certainly unaware that he will need a therapist after playing the games due to the outcome of some narrative events that can damage anyone’s mind. That said, how about we recall 10 of the hardest sections inThe Last of Us Part IandThe Last of Us Part IIfor the fun of it?
A quick reminder: we are including gameplay moments, especially in Survival and Grounded difficulty, and story events as well.
10Hillcrest
More Like Hellcrest
The Hillcrest section in The Last of Us Part II, where Ellie is completely alone and faces a bunch of WLF groups, is absolutely brutal — but a lot of fun as well, if you are up to a challenge.
The intensity level is so high at this point because the player needs to defeat multiple enemies in a sequence of open scenarios, which gives you the freedom to decide the strategy to progress. This is the first (and probably the best) moment that proves how frenetic and varied the combat can be.
When I replayed Hillcrest at Survival, I felt that it was never-ending. Anddon’t get me started on the dogs. Sneaking past them is a pain in the ass and not worth it most of the time, making this section even harder.
If this wasn’t bad enough, killing them only makes you feel horrible about what you are doing. It is a lose-lose situation.
9St. Mary’s Hospital
Snipers and Tears On the Side, Please
The final gameplay sequence in The Last of Us Part I is hard by itself, right? It’s Joel against what felt like endless waves of Fireflies in a limited level design, where enemies can easily hide and sneak up on you.
But what really made this moment one of the hardest in the game for me is that we basically played it in a weird autopilot mode because, just like Joel, everyone’s mind (who got attached to the father-daughter relationship of the protagonists) is on Ellie.
Top 5 Best Level Designs in The Last of Us Part 2
The Last of Us 2 has been praised for its incredible narrative and character development but lets take a look at some of the best level designs found throughout its world.
I remember I was terrified that maybe I was too late to save her. Still, at the same time, it felt wrong to kill a bunch of people who believed in a cure. No wonder this is the main moral dilemma of the story — and The Last of Us in general. It is hard to debate, talk, and think about it to this day.
8Sewers With Sam
Out of Control
One of my favorite sections in The Last of Us Part I is finding notes, collectibles, and details on scenarios that narrate Ish’s story in the sewers, when Henry and Sam join Joel and Ellie to escape Pittsburgh.
Through these items, we learn that Ish was a survivor who lived out at sea on a boat in the early years of the apocalypse, then he returned to land and made his home in a sewer. He eventually found other survivors and created a community — whose fates weren’t so pleasant.
We get to discover what happened to them in the worst way possible: finding all of them already infected. With the help of Sam, Joel needs to cross an area full of Runners, Stalkers, and Clickers, who were once Ish and his friends.
The hardest part for me, however, is not having to deal with enemies or manage bullets, but facing the fact that the infected are people who lived happily in the sewers for a while, which adds an immense weight when it comes to killing them.
7Stupid Generator
Pittsburgh Sucks
I am not joking when I say that the generator section still gets to me today. In the first The Last of Us, Joel and Ellie get separated in an abandoned hotel, and soon the player finds himself all alone in a dark and flooded basement.
This place is crawling with Runners, Stalkers, and a Bloater. To escape, we must run to the exit door, but it’s closed, and we need power to open it, which leads us to the unwanted, cursed, and terrible… generator. Your objective is to activate it, but the noise is going to make every infected aware of your position.
Then, you have two options. One: kill them with whatever you have in your hands, letting go of every knife, bullet, and med kit. Or my preferred choice: run for your life!
Hearing the Bloater’s footsteps as Joel takes a few seconds to unlock the door is probably the most desperate moment in The Last of Us Part I.
6Rattler Resort
Far From a Real Resort
One of the hardest sections in The Last of Us Part II is the very last encounter at the Rattler Resort in Santa Barbara, which has a similar feel to Hillcrest — but it’s still harder.
I need to emphasize that when we get to this moment in the game, we have been playing it for 30–40 hours. We survived Seattle (twice), fought the Seraphites, killed dogs, and saw beloved characters die. In other words, our mental health has already gone to shit.
So, when Rattler Resort offers us an open combat sequence with the largest number of enemies in the entire game (!!), where a lot of them wear heavy armor, and its level design forego any good covers forstealth approaches, we are one game over away from throwing the controller at the TV.
At least, there are some fun moments where you can use the infected to your advantage and make them kill some of the bad guys.
5The Forest
Waves of Infected
I have to say that the beginning of the forest section in The Last of Us Part II, while playing as Abby, can be frustrating. Sure, Grounded mode is pretty hard, but still manageable and fun for those who enjoy challenges. But its difficulty spikes out of nowhere in this chapter.
After escaping from the Seraphites, Abby, Yara, and Lev need to deal with a bunch of crazy infected who were attracted by the noise, while finding a way out of the woods. If you are out of bullets, sorry to be the one to say this, but you are going to have a horrible time here.
The rest of the chapter is no walk in the park, either. I remember that it was hell to face a Shambler while Yara and Lev were trying to open a gate for you. I was left with no ammo or gear, only the hope of seeing another day. Never felt so stressed!
4David Boss Fight
Tiny Little Pieces
When the first The Last of Us lets us play as Ellie, it’s hard not to feel like you are at a (huge) disadvantage against your enemies. After all, she isjust a kid, so naturally smaller and weaker.
This feeling of helplessness is intensified when our protagonist comes face to face with David, the leader of a cannibal group. With knives only, your objective is to hide from him and find a way to sneak up behind his back to attack.
10 Best Games With No Bad Boss Fights
Don’t worry, I limited it to just one FromSoftware game.
Staying quiet is key, so you need to pay attention to every step and never lose sight of David, while he grumbles horrible things to make the player even more anxious.
This is the perfect setting for the most tense atmosphere in the whole game. I literally had to take a break and stop playing because my hands wouldn’t stop sweating in Grounded mode.
3The Rat King
Infected Megazord
Materializing our worst nightmare with infected types, the Rat King can be described as an “infected Megazord” since it is a fusion between multiple Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters, which needed more than 25 years to fully “transform”.
We encounter him once in a hospital basement in The Last of Us Part II, as Abby, and it is one of the hardestboss fightsin the game. It’s challenging not only because the Rat King in insanely strong and resilient, but the level design of the area is limited and small, making you stand close to the creature for longer than you would like.
Plus, his horrible appearance alone is responsible for over 70% of the tense atmosphere of the moment, and also for the high place on the list.
2Ending Scene
No Finger, No Hope
At this point, we are mentally defeated. We are more tired than Ellie and Abby together — no joking. So, finishing The Last of Us Part II’s story felt like one of the hardest sections of the whole franchise for me.
This is the moment when we finally understand that Ellie and Abby are both heroesand villains, depending on your point of view. This is also where we watch the final interaction between Joel and Ellie, discovering that their father-daughter relationship was going to get a restart, making the whole thing more heart-wrenching.
On top of that, Ellie can’t play the guitar anymore because she lost a freaking finger. She can no longer do the one thing that united her with Joel again. I mean, this section is pure emotion and pain, plain and simple. Excuse me, let me grab some tissues.
1Ellie vs Abby
Unexpected Boss Fighter
The idea of having to fight Ellie is horrible in itself, but it also makes you quickly realize that she’s incredibly strong and ready for revenge, because the encounter is incredibly challenging.
It’s an unforgiving and quite weird boss fight, since any close-combat attack drives Ellie to kill Abby immediately. So the player needs to sneak up on Ellie, grab her, and then attack, which is no easy task in any difficulty.
That makes us basically feel what every NPC that encountered Ellie in Seattle felt. And it’s terrifying! What was once a little kid withsarcastic jokesas her most dangerous weapon has turned into a killing machine.
That said, this section tops all the others in terms of gameplay as well as emotion. I have to confess that I tried to replay The Last of Us Part II, but I stopped after reaching this fight and had to uninstall the game. My mental health prevented me from continuing.
