What can you do as a free member?

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and unlock all our premium features and tools to enhance your gaming experience.

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and save articles to your watchlist and get notified when they're updated with new information.

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and save your favorite games for quick access later, synced across all your devices.

Member benefits illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you'll receive instant notifications when someone replies to your posts.

Comment rating feature illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you can make use of convenient features in the comments section, such as rating and sorting comments.

Premium archive feature illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you can access Premium articles that are exclusively available to members.

Site Interface

Guest
Free Member
Article Watchlist
Game Bookmarks
Cross-device Sync
Light/Dark Theme Toggle
User Profiles
Direct Feedback
Comment Rating

Game Tools

Guest
Free Member
Interactive Map Access
Interactive Map Pins
Interactive Map Comments
Interactive Map Pins Cross-Device
Check List
Event Choice Checker
Deck Builder Cross-Device
Message Board Notification
Message Board Cross-Device
Build Planner
Stat Calculator
Diagnostic Tool
Weapon/Armor Wishlist

Want more information?Learn more

Last of Us 2

New Game Plus Guide: Difficulty and What Carries Over

6
Add to Watchlist

Welcome to Game8's Last of Us Part 2 guide. Feel free to get started by checking out one of our popular guides from the list below!

See our guides for getting 100% of the trophies!

The Jury is out! Read our full spoiler-free review here!

Last of Us 2 - Town.png

New Game Plus is back in The Last of Us Part II, available upon completing the game. Read on to find out what is different about this mode, New Game Plus Difficulty, and what carries over into New Game+!

List of Contents

Is There a New Game Plus?

New Game Plus is a mode originally introduced in the first Last of Us. New Game Plus was unlocked once you completed the main game for the first time. New Game Plus would allow you to replay the game, except you will be able to retain all upgrades you had gained in your first playthorugh, allowing you to focus on other upgrades in the second playthrough. Using NG+ was crucial for certain trophies which require you to obtain all upgrades.

New Game Plus makes a return in the Last of Us 2, allowing you to replay the game without losing any progress with your upgrades.

What Carries Over Into New Game Plus?

Equipment

During the Jackson chapter, only your pistol and rifle are available. However, all weapons will become available when Ellie reaches Seattle.

Weapons List | Where to Find All Weapons

Weapon Upgrades

The weapon upgrades you obtain throughout the game will be retained in NG+, so you won't lose all that hard work you put into your artillery. An important thing to note though is that you will not start off will all of your weapons, so rather, they will have upgrades ready once they are all picked up after arriving in Seattle.

How to Customize Weapons

Player Upgrades

HP, Listen Mode Distance, Heal Speed, etc. are a few of the “stats” that Last of Us has. These can be upgraded via supplements. If you are looking to boost all of these to max, it will be very hard to do in a single playthrough, but much easier in NG+, since you will retain all of these upgrades as well.

In addition, the training manuals that give you each skill branch do not need to be picked up again.

List of Skill Branches | All Player Upgrades

Collectibles

Collectibles are carried over, so you do not need to pick up ones from the first run again if you are going for 100% completion. Collectibles can be picked up a second time in NG+, although they are already added into your total, so it is not necessary if you have already gotten them once. There is also a setting in Options that will show an icon over previously collected collectibles.

All Collectibles and Locations

New Game Plus Difficulty

The difficulty for the New Game Plus has been changed. Before, you could only play on certain difficulty levels when you finished the main game.

Now, all the difficulties are available to choose from. They also added a Custom difficulty setting where you can customize difficulty for different aspects of the game, such as Players, Enemies, Allies, Stealth, and Resources.

Difficulty Settings and Best Difficulty

Is New Game Plus Worth It?

While Many games will allow you to accomplish everything within one play through, The Last of Us 2 will not have enough resources to upgrade everything in one go, making your upgrade choices in your first play through very important. This will also increase the replayability of the game, as New Game Plus is great for completionists who cannot put the controller down until they've maxed out every upgrade and cleared the hardest difficulty.

Game Length | How Long is The Last of Us Part II?

Our veridict: NG+ is worth if you are a completionist and want to get all upgrades and trophies, or if you want to find a way to clear higher difficulty levels by balancing them with better upgrades.

Trophy Guide | List of Trophies

The Last of Us 2 Tips and Tricks

Tips & Tricks

Game Mechanics and Features
Combat Guide and Tips List of Skill Upgrades
How to Use Listen Mode How to Stealth Kill | Stealth Tips
How to Upgrade Weapons -
Controls and Techniques
Game Controls & Settings
How to Ride the Horse How to Heal
How to Use Quick Turn How to Run (Sprint)
How to Turn on Aim Assist How to Ride the Boat
Resources and Tools
What are Scavenged Parts? What are Ingredients?
Recipe List List of Training Manuals and Locations
List of All Workbench Locations How to Get Infinite Ammo
Exploration and Secrets
Safe Combinations and Locations How to Find the Downtown Seattle Map
Trophy Guide | List of Trophies How to Open the Bank Vault
Soda Can Code How to Earn the High Score in the Archery Game
How to Win the Marksmanship Competition How to Put a Hat on your Companion
How to Find the Engraved Ring How to Find the Strange Artifact
How to Unlock the Hidden Trophies Easter Eggs
Miscellaneous Guides
Which Skills Should You Upgrade First? Which Weapon Upgrades Should You Get First?
How to Play Guitar What Carries Over Into New Game Plus?
How to Use Photo Mode Difficulty Settings and Best Difficulty
How to Use Generators Scent Trails Explained

Comment

1 Shikaar Shikaar over 5 years

You're wrong in the Collectibles and Weapons part. Even though it shows that you only have X amount in the NG+ run, it adds the previously missed to the list of the already collected. Also all weapons become available once you're in Seattle, you just don't have them for the Jackson Part

See more comments (6 Comments)

Author

Last of Us 2 Walkthrough Team
This article was created by Game8's elite team of writers and gamers.
    Leave feedback(Login required)
    Please participate in our site
    improvement survey
    12/2025
    Would you assist in
    improving Game8's site?
    ×
    This survey will take about 1 minute.
    Your answers will help us to improve our website.
    We are listening to our users' valuable opinions and discussing how to act on them.
    The information collected through this survey will be used for the purpose of improving our services. In addition, the information will only be disclosed a part of a statistic in a format that will not allow identification of personal information.
    Begin Survey
    Not Now
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Advertisements.
    Amount of Ads
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Placement of Ads
    Timing of Ad Display
    Ad Loading Speed
    Safeness of Ads
    Content of Ads
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Quality of Articles.
    Amount of information
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Frequency of updates
    Speed of new information
    Accuracy of articles
    Understandibility of articles
    Readability of sentences
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Usability of the Site.
    Ease of finding information
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Loading Speed
    Use of Color
    Font Size
    Visibility of Images
    Easy to Understand Layout
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Message Boards, Comments.
    Ease of Writing
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Readability
    Ease in Finding Information
    Comment Quality
    Comment Quantity
    Admin Response
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Site's new design.
    Please rate our site's new design
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Do you think that the website's design change makes the site easier to use?
    Has the new design made it easier for you to find information on the site?
    Has the new design improved the overall visual appeal of the site?
    How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the new design of the site?
    ×
    How likely are you to recommend Game8 to someone you know?
    Very Unlikely
    0
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    Very Likely
    If you have other opinions regarding potential improvement to the website, please share them with us. We would appreciate your honest opinion.
    Note: This is a free response section, so you can proceed without entering anything.
    Note: Please be sure not to enter any kind of personal information into your response.
    ×
    Thank You
    ×
    Thank you for participating in our survey! Your answers will help us to improve the quality of our website and services.
    We hope you continue to make use of Game8.
    Close
    For other opinions or comments, go here.

    Rankings

    Popular Articles
    Message Board
    • We could not find the message board you were looking for.

    Gaming News

    Best PS5 RPGs (December 2025)

    Best PS5 RPGs (December 2025)

    Popular Games

    Recommended Games

    All rights reserved

    © 2020 Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. Created and developed by Naughty Dog LLC

    The copyrights of videos of games used in our content and other intellectual property rights belong to the provider of the game.
    The contents we provide on this site were created personally by members of the Game8 editorial department.
    We refuse the right to reuse or repost content taken without our permission such as data or images to other sites.

    Last of Us 2 Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

    Quick Access
    Guide Index

    Story Walkthrough

    Chapter 1: Jackson

    Chapter 2: Seattle Day 1

    Chapter 3: Seattle Day 2

    Chapter 4: Seattle Day 3

    Chapter 5: The Park

    Chapter 6: Seattle Day 1

    Chapter 7: Seattle Day 2

    Chapter 8: Seattle Day 3

    Chapter 9: The Farm

    Chapter 10: Santa Barbara

    Chapter 11: The Farm

    Collectibles

    By Type

    By Chapter

    Tips & Tricks

    Game Mechanics and Features

    Controls and Techniques

    Resources and Tools

    Exploration and Secrets

    Miscellaneous Guides

    Enemy Guides

    Infected Enemies

    Non-Infected Enemies

    Weapons

    Handguns

    Long Guns

    Throwables

    Melee/Other

    Recovery

    News

    Characters

    Jackson Community

    WLF / Firefly

    Seraphite

    Message Boards