No Return

No Return is a roguelike survival mode that appears exclusively in The Last of Us Part II Remastered.^[1]

Gameplay[]

No Return pits players against a series of challenges set in various locations from The Last of Us Part II. There are four challenge types: Assault, where the player must survive multiple waves of combat; Capture, where the player must loot supplies from a guarded safe; Holdout, in which the player and an AI companion face a swarm of infected; and Hunted, where the player must survive against endless enemies until a timer runs out. Each run culminates in a boss fight against one of six unlockable bosses.^[2]

Runs[]

Standard run[]

Standard runs are available from the start and consists of a series of randomized combat encounters, culminating in a boss fight. Death is permanent; acquired weapons, items and upgrades are reset, and a new randomized map is generated for every new run.

As the player complete Challenges, more mechanics will be introduced to the Standard run; including Gambits, Dead Drops and additional encounter types. The boss at the end of a run, starting with the Arcade Bloater, will remain the same until it is defeated, in which the newly-unlocked boss will take its place. After the Rat King is defeated, the boss will permanently change to be randomized.

Custom run[]

Custom runs are unlocked once a single run has been played and allows the player to make adjustments to game modes, enemies, mods and more. Certain adjustments, such as being able to play with a maximum of 6 mods in a single encounter, are only available in Custom runs.

Daily run[]

Daily runs are unlocked once a total of nine runs have been played. The player can only make one attempt at the Daily run per day, and the run will be abandoned if not completed within 24 hours. Every player shares the same randomly generated run and their final score will be uploaded to the Daily run Leaderboard. A PlayStation Plus subscription is not required to appear on the leaderboards.

Unlike in Standard or Custom runs, the player can only choose one character and this character will cycle between each Daily run. The determined character can be chosen even if the player has not unlocked said character.

Playable characters[]

There are a total of ten playable characters in No Return:

• Abby Anderson
• Dina
• Ellie Williams
• Jesse
• Joel Miller
• Lev
• Manny Alvarez
• Mel
• Tommy Miller
• Yara

Game modes[]

Assault[]

In Assault, groups of enemies from a randomly selected faction will spawn in several waves. Their initial knowledge of the player's position varies per encounter. It is recommended to use the downtime between waves to heal and resupply. A supply cache will appear after completing each wave, which can be located by using listen mode.

Hunted[]

In Hunted, the player must survive against continuous enemy reinforcements until the timer runs out. Enemies will always be aware of the player's location. Supplies can be found around the map from the start of the encounter.

Capture[]

Unlock the safe being guarded by a group of enemies from a randomly selected faction before the timer runs out. If the safe is not opened by the end of the timer, it will lock, restricting additional rewards such as parts, supplements, ammo, and crafting materials. In this case, the player must kill all enemies in the level in order to progress.

Holdout[]

In Holdout, the player must protect their AI-controlled ally against a swarm of infected for the entire duration of the encounter. It is recommended to set up defenses, such as trap mines, by using supplies in the area. The encounter, and subsequently the run, will fail if the ally is killed. Once a specific number of enemies have been killed, a bloater may spawn as the final enemy.

Challenges[]

Hideout[]

Planning board[]

The planning board is used to pick and continue to the next encounter. On Encounters 2 and 4, the player will have the option to choose between two branching paths, with the unchosen one becoming unavailable afterward. The choices also determine which skill branch the player may receive after completing the encounter. Using the board to view each encounter available, the player will also be shown the rewards, mods, and game mode of each one.

Trading post[]

Main article: Trading post

The trading post is used as an in-game for the player while they are in the hideout. It is possible to buy multiple different items and equipment from the trading post using credits gained during the levels.

Gambits[]

• Kill the highlighted Brute using only melee attacks
• Kill an enemy wave without taking any damage
• Kill an enemy while holding another as a hostage
• Get 3 kills from prone
• Feed a grabbed enemy to clicker

Mods[]

During a run, some encounters have mods that add special rules and mechanics that can drastically alter the gameplay. Mods for an encounter can be viewed on the planning board or from the backpack menu. New mods can be unlocked by completing challenges.

Mods can be customized or disabled during a custom run, including changing the maximum mod count and adjusting which Photo Mode filters are used.

List of levels[]

There are twenty levels in No Return:

• Brewery
• Forest
• Gas Station
• Gondola Station
• Hardware Store
• Hospital
• Houses
• Jackson
• Logging Camp
• Motel Lobby
• Office 1F
• Office 2F
• Overpass
• Resort
• Restaurant
• Shipping Yard
• State Street
• Subway Station
• Supermarket
• TV Station

Bosses[]

There are six boss levels in No Return:

• Arcade (Bloater)
• Theater (Theater Infestation)
• Resort Farm (Rattler Captain)
• Garage (Bloater)
• Stripmall (Seraphite Elite)
• Hospital Basement (Rat King)

Scoring[]

Performance[]

• Encounter Completion - 100 points awarded for completing an encounter (200 points for boss encounters).
• Time Complete - Points awarded for completing an encounter quickly. Completing an encounter in under 3 minutes gives a perfect 100, and decreases by 1 point for every 5 seconds beyond that.
• Enemies Killed - 10 points per enemy killed (only in Hunted game mode).
• Ally Damage Taken - Points awarded for protecting your ally. Your ally taking no damage grants a perfect score of 100. For every point of damage they take, a point is subtracted from your score.
• Damage Taken - Points awarded for avoiding damage. Taking no damage grants a perfect score of 100. For every 2 points of damage taken, 1 point is subtracted from the player's score.
• Accuracy - Points are deducted for each bullet fired and missed, starting from 100.

Bonus[]

• No Ally - 20 bonus points for completing an encounter without an ally.
• Start in Combat - 20 bonus points awarded for Assault encounters where waves start in combat.
• Gambit Complete - 10 bonus points awarded for completing a gambit.
• Multiple Kills - 10 points awarded for killing multiple enemies with a single crafted item or gunshot.
• Stun - 5 bonus points awarded per enemy stunned. No points are awarded for stunning the same enemy more than once.
• Stealth Kills - 5 bonus points awarded per stealth takedown or kill with a silenced weapon.
• Melee Kills - 5 points awarded per kill with melee.
• Headshots - 5 points awarded per headshot.
• Kills with Hostage - 5 points awarded per kill while grabbing and holding an enemy hostage.
• For Emergencies Only - 50 bonus points for completing an encounter without ever firing a weapon.
• Make Every Shot Count - 30 bonus points when All kills are head shots.
• Safe Captured - 50 bonus points for capturing the safe within time (Capture mode).
• Wolves Never Look Up - 50 bonus points for finishing a WLF encounter unseen.
• Unseen Apostate - 50 bonus points for finishing a Seraphites encounter unseen.
• Unratteled - 50 bonus points for finishing a Rattlers encounter unseen.
• At Least They're Predictable - 50 bonus points for finishing an Infected encounter unseen.

Multipliers[]

• Difficulty - The base score multiplier is determined by the difficulty settings.
  • Very Light: 1.00x
  • Light: 1.20x
  • Moderate: 1.50x
  • Hard: 1.80x
  • Survivor: 2.00x
  • Grounded: 2.50x
• Mods Active - Mods that give the enemies an advantage will increase your score multiplier. Mods that give the player an advantage will slightly decrease their score multiplier.
  • Distractions Attract Enemies, Photo Mode Filters: +0.30x
  • Mirror Mode, Thich Fog: +0.50x
  • Increased Enemy Health: +1.0x
  • Long Shot Damage Bonus: -0.05x
• Map Mode - More difficult game modes provide a higher score multiplier.
  • Hunted: +0.2x
  • Holdout: +0.2x
  • Boss: +0.5x

Rank[]

Rank is determined by the player's total score for that encounter, excluding the multipliers.

• S Rank: 450 points
• A Rank: 400 points
• B Rank: 280 points
• C Rank: 200 points

Gallery[]

Videos[]

The Last of Us Part II Remastered - No Return Mode Trailer - PS5 Games

No Return Mode Trailer.

The Last of Us Part II Remastered - No Return Mode Gameplay Explained.

Screenshots[]

Ellie in the Lakehill Seattle Hospital basement in No Return mode.

Ellie fighting a rat king.

Lev fighting off infected in the No Return mode.

Lev hunted by a clicker in No Return mode.

Abby fighting infected in Jackson.

References[]