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Even years after its initial release, The Last of Us Part 2 is not without its fair share of glitches, with one specific bug plaguing members of the game’s community during Permadeath runs. It wasn’t the Seraphites or the Infected that snuffed out one particular player’s hopes for a perfect Permadeath run, but instead, one of the safest areas of The Last of Us 2: Jackson.

Introduced as part of the game’s Grounded Mode, Permadeath is a custom mode that doesn’t save game files or respawn checkpoints. If Abby or Ellie dies during the game, it restarts from the beginning. However, players have the option to set Permadeath checkpoints on a per-chapter or per-act basis, making the experience a little less stressful while maintaining the difficulty of a Permadeath run without the devastating consequences. However, not even the most talented speedrunners can prepare themselves for The Last of Us Part 2‘s unpredictable glitches.

Reddit user boi_flippy shared a 40-second video clip of The Last of Us Part 2‘s opening sequence in Jackson. During this segment, Ellie follows Jesse to the Tipsy Bison, Jackson’s local bar. When she walks inside, Ellie is meant to have an audience with Maria, who wishes to talk to her about the previous night’s events. In this Permadeath run, however, Ellie walks inside to find a completely empty room with Maria’s ominous character model frozen in place. As Ellie walks closer, she glitches through the floor and dies, thus restarting the whole opening chapter again. This glitch isn’t as terrifying as Dina becoming a human backpack, but replaying The Last of Us Part 2‘s snowball fight is certainly tedious.

The Last of Us Part 2 Glitch Ruins Permadeath Run


Glitching through the floor and dying mid-cutscene are just a few examples of The Last of Us Part 2‘s many flaws, especially during a Permadeath run. A recent Reddit thread details all known bugs in The Last of Us Part 2, from PlayStation trophies disappearing, Ellie flying through the maps, and enemy dialogue being absent from certain scenes. It’s unclear whether Naughty Dog has addressed many of these bugs or if they will in the future, but with new projects in the pipeline, The Last of Us franchise might not be the top priority for developers at the moment

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Restarting the chapter may be inconvenient, but it doesn’t ruin the story of The Last of Us Part 2, unlike the well-documented bug that wipes Ellie’s journal entries. Many fans believe that The Last of Us PC port best highlights the franchise’s shortcomings, but the many glitches that persist in the games prove that even the most critically acclaimed games have their flaws.