The Last of Us Part II Remastered Update Adds Chronological Mode - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 July 2025 / 3,049 Views
Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Naughty Dog have released a free update for The Last of Us Part II Remastered that adds a new chronological mode.
Read details on the update below:
Available for players as part of a downloadable update today, we’ve introduced a new way to play the story of The Last of Us Part II like never before – chronologically.
Those who have already played will know its story is told non-linearly, as Ellie and Abby’s motivations, realizations, and emotional stakes unfold across myriad flashbacks and present-day storylines. While this structure is very intentional and core to how our studio wanted Part II’s themes and narrative beats to impact players, we always wondered what it would be like to experience this story chronologically. And now finally, we can answer that question.
Through the new Chronological mode, we believe players will gain even deeper insight into Part II’s narrative. Players will be able to see how Ellie being gifted a guitar flows so neatly into her learning to play, for example, while the journey through Seattle will showcase the fascinating parallels between Ellie and Abby’s crisscrossing journeys. You’ll see just how close they come into running into each other, how their actions impact each other, and more.
It was no small feat to bring The Last of Us Part II’s story chronologically together, given that Part II’s story is so meticulously put together. We’re grateful to the developers both at Naughty Dog and our partners at Nixxes to make the Chronological mode as smooth as possible. And while we of course recommend players still new to the game to play through Part II’s story as was originally developed, the team’s hard work has paid off with a fascinating new way to enjoy this chapter.
And we also wanted to reward players for jumping into this new, transformative approach to our story. In addition to new trophies tied to completing the narrative experience in chronological order, doing so will also unlock two new, perhaps surprisingly familiar skins…
Yes, that’s right, play as Joel dressed as Nathan Drake and Tommy as Sam Drake in No Return. Particularly as we celebrate Naughty Dog’s 40th anniversary this year, we love getting the chance to spotlight and share in the history of our studio that we love as much as we know you do. These skins will be unlocked for completing the narrative in Chronological, and will be usable in No Return, Part II Remastered’s thrilling roguelike survival mode.
A new update for The Last of Us Part II Remastered is available today on both PS5 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, bringing with it the Chronological mode, as well as a host of additional bug fixes and performance improvements.
We here at Naughty Dog are so grateful for all the love and support we’ve seen from The Last of Us fans these last few months. From the launch of The Last of Us Part II Remastered on PC, to The Last of Us Complete on PlayStation 5, to seeing your weekly reactions to season 2 of the television series, it’s been such a pleasure to celebrate this moment with you.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered is available for the PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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I was planning to play this masterpiece again after my original playthrough in 2020. This update makes me intrigued and excited to see how the story unfolds in a chronological sense!
I only booted up the remaster so far for a few autopop trophies and some of the bonus content. I actually want to use this option when I do what will be my second playthrough of the game. It's a nice option to add.
That probably demanded a lot of work, I'm glad it took so long for them to introduce it as the game should definitely be played as it was before for a way better experience, but regardless, this is kinda cool.
I'm not really a big fan of the games story. But I have to say this is a very interesting update.
In general I prefer stories to be told chronologically, but I understand why they didn't. I think the story could have been better that way.
Not a big fan of this mode. The fact to make us hate a character to, later, develop them and explain their actions was interesting, but this chronological mode totally ruins that idea. An idea that the tv show didn't bother to think about, of course...
And I suppose that remaster will look less good than the original, as always, so forget about it...
The original order was an interesting experiment to test how people get attached to characters and if they can muster empathy and understanding even in a challenging situation despite their biases. However, the chronological order would be interesting in its own way, to kind of see if that would have changed anything in the thought process of the player.
Terrible update tbh, the way I see it they think the average consumer is too dumb to understand the story the way it was designed to work, so there is a streamlined version for dummies
Nah, if they thought that they would have made the game chronological originally. This is just a fresh way of looking at it.
I don't think anyone is too dumb to understand the original story... its really not that complicated at all lol
This just give the same story from a new perspective
And how is a new option that you don't have to use a "terrible update" ?
I mean, it's how they phrased it: "Through the new Chronological mode, we believe players will gain even deeper insight into Part II’s narrative"
Me thinks developers think people failed to understand the idea of non Chronological narrative because they fail to grasp the small connections between both POVs and are adding a mode so people can figure them out more easily
I think this is a terrible update because it goes against the game original narrative philosophy. Not implying it's mandatory or anything, but it's certainly detrimental to the original experience. If you want to play chronologically more power to you I guess
