The Last of Us is a beautiful game, but it can also be a challenging one. As its setting suggests, scouring for resources can be hard for the non-diligent among us, and deciding what resources to use and what items to craft can make for a stressful gameplay experience.
But it's also much harder than that; runners can seemingly spot players from a mile away, clickers one-shot Joel, and the human enemies are smart, efficient, and incredibly dangerous with the right weapon. Add in a large, expansive environment, and all of this combines to form some really tough moments in The Last of Us.
Updated on March 30, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: The Last of Us Part 1 is an amazing action-adventure title that PC players can finally check out. This game was exclusive to PlayStation consoles for the longest time, so fans were glad to see a release that would allow them to unlock the full graphical potential of this remake. After all, the title's visuals are a sight to behold and augment its captivating gameplay and amazing story that is pretty much an emotional rollercoaster from start to end.
The game's combat can be pretty challenging, with stealth being downright mandatory in certain sections where full-blown firefights that lead to a player dying in record time. While some encounters in the game are still pretty forgiving in this regard, the same can't be said for the following fights in The Last of Us, where the player will be pushed into a corner and forced to improvise and adapt in order to survive. We've updated this list to include some more of The Last of Us' hardest parts.
13 The Tunnel In Salt Lake City
This tunnel is the final encounter players have with the Infected before reaching the Firefly hospital, and the game certainly hammers in just how climactic of an encounter this is. The tunnel is loaded with multiple Infected, including numerous Clickers and Bloaters, who will tear through the player's health if they make the slightest mistake.
Unless players have enough ammo or a death wish, taking all these enemies head-on is a one-way ticket to a game over. Instead, players should bait these enemies in stealth and slowly take them out without uncovering their position, which makes for a pretty tense and harrowing encounter.
12 The Last Fight In The Left Behind DLC
People who played through the final encounter of Left Behind on Grounded difficulty absolutely hate the final encounter in this game, and it's easy to see why this is the case. While trying to escape the mall, Ellie will be completely surrounded by a multitude of enemies who are gunning for her.
These enemies come in waves and can easily take out a player who gets spotted and doesn't have enough equipment to sustain a full-on firefight. After two waves of Hunters, Ellie will finally have to deal with a wave of Infected before this battle is finally done and over with.
11 The Fight At Tommy's Dam
Tommy's Dam is a great place for players to interact with one of Joel's family members and learn a bit about his past. It also helps Ellie and Joel's relationship develop, with the latter initially keen on dumping Ellie here and going back to his old life before changing his mind as the events in this chapter progress.
During this chapter, a group of hunters will try to attack the dam, prompting Joel to jump into the fray and pull his weight to thwart this invasion. This encounter is pretty long and challenging, and players should ideally have a few upgraded weapons if they wish to take these hunters out without too many issues.
10 Sneaking Up On David
The Last of Us eschews the traditional boss fight by having players sneak around David rather than engaging him directly. This section may prove challenging for some newcomers, especially those who didn't tend to utilize stealth.
Not only does the game force stealth, but it places random bits of broken plates on the ground to reveal their location. The fight gets even harder once David starts hiding as well, and players are forced to both flank him and use their hearing to pinpoint his location. It's easy once players know what to do, but it may take some trial and error to figure it all out.
9 Hanging Joel
Blasted Bill and all his stupid contraptions! Well, stupid for us. Not for him. One of the most challenging parts of the early game is when Joel is trapped in one of Bill's Home Alone-esque contraptions and forced to defend Ellie from invading zombies. Not only are players upside down the entire time, but players are forced to contend with many fast zombies who come from multiple directions, all while carefully managing their ammo and making each shot count.
This is particularly challenging on Grounded when ammo is at its absolute scarcity. It's tough but certainly passable.
8 Dark Clicker Room
We don't know what else to call this, aside from Dark Clicker Room, so that's what we're going with! This part comes even earlier in the game when Ellie, Marlene, and Joel are traversing the dark lobby of the toppled skyscraper. This is the first time players are forced to deal with numerous clickers in one area, and they can either evade them entirely or take them out one at a time.
To make it even more difficult, players are forced to do so in the pitch black, and either of the clickers can instantly one-shot Joel should he make a mistake. The game wants players to learn how to deal with clickers, and it's not about holding their hand.
7 The First Bloater Fight
The entire Bill section is when true The Last of Us players are born. If all the running, random attacks, and sneaking through the school wasn't hard enough, the game forces players to confront a Bloater in one of the game's most action-centric sections.
The Bloater is tough as nails, and if Joel's aim isn't good or if he's painfully low on ammo and/or supplies, this fight can be incredibly challenging. Add in some random runners and clickers that constantly interrupt the proceedings and get in the player's way, and this formula translates to a really challenging fight.
6 The Pittsburgh Financial District
Immediately upon leaving the snazzy Pittsburgh hotel, players are met with one of the game's hardest sections: that darned financial district. While the area is quite large and filled with many hiding locations, the place is absolutely littered with enemies, many of whom are extremely deadly and efficient with their weapons.
Yeah, Ellie sort of helps from her vantage point, but also not really. Joel is forced to defeat more than a dozen enemies, many of whom are located in prime positions to see players taking out their buddies. Whether one sneaks or goes in guns-blazing, the financial district is pretty tough.
5 Winter Fight With David
It's always annoying when allies in video games end up being completely useless. Such is the case with the winter fight with David when players are forced into a small area and quite literally surrounded by attacking enemies.
In this section, players must fend off invading runners, battle numerous one-shot clickers (many of whom will drop in behind them for an unsuspecting kill), and even a Bloater, which is especially tough if players have used all of their ammo and resources on the preceding battle. To make matters worse, David is useless, so players are getting no help there. What a way to introduce the winter section!
4 Sewers With Sam
As if the entire Pittsburgh section wasn't hard enough, players are quickly treated to one of the game's hardest areas once they reach the sewers. After being separated from Henry and Ellie and forced to defend Sam, the game takes a complete 180 in pacing and turns absolutely bonkers.
Joel must defeat dozens of enemies AND defend the useless Sam, and when that's all done, Joel and Henry are forced to fend off an attacking horde as Ellie and Sam get the doors open. One wrong move here, and players are toast. It's a brutal section, and the game acknowledges as much once they finally escape the oppressive sewers.
3 Suburb Sniper Nest
Luckily, the game gives players a breather immediately following the intense sewer fight, as they're free to explore the vast suburbs at their own pace and resupply their expended resources. However, like a sadistic roller coaster, the game punches players in the gut immediately after with the sniper nest.
This sniper nest is the bane of many a player's existence, as the sniper has pinpoint accuracy and can deplete a large majority of Joel's health with a single shot. If players don't know the correct route, or if they stumble for even a second, then they're done for. For that matter, sniper nest sections always suck, no matter the game.
2 The Hotel Basement
The hotel basement is perhaps the perfect representation of what The Last of Us can offer in terms of gameplay and scares. The basement is pitch black and filled with spores, and players are forced to quietly navigate the maze-like basement for a keycard.
After finding the keycard, players have to turn on a generator, which, of course, draws the attention of the enemies that are littered throughout the area. If players are not good at stealth, or if they are low on ammo and/or resources, then they may as well just delete that save file and start the whole game over; Joel's done for at that point.
1 Firefly Hospital
It makes sense to leave the toughest area for last. That's just video games 101 right there. But, even if we were expecting it, we weren't prepared for just how difficult the final battle in the Firefly hospital can be. Here, the player's skills are put to the test as they evade soldiers decked out in armor and carrying extremely deadly machine guns that can pump Joel full of holes in one quick burst.
Players can try evading them, but they seem to have the vision of a hawk and can seemingly pinpoint the lice crawling on Joel's filthy clothes. We love this section for its thematic relevance, but jeez is it frustrating!
The Last of Us Part 1 is available on PlayStation 5 and PC.