Grounded+ permadeath run summary and experiences (with cheats)

[Micola7h]

Hey guys, just wanted to summerize and share some experiences from my Grounded permadeath run. Before starting, Grounded and permadeath always felt a little bit overwhelming for me, but if you just go for the trophies, it is a breeze.

 

General:

- Yes, you get the 2 trophies on "Grounded+" difficulty (New Game +).

- As of Novemeber 26th 2023 the cheat glitch still works. Not sure if this glitch will be fixed with the remaster/"no return" update. I wanted these trophies done, before the update drops.

- With permadeath by chapter you have a lot of pretty fairly placed checkpoints. A chapter is not "Seattle Day 1" (these are the acts),...

- You can check if you reached a new chapter by pressing start. It gives you the option to restart the checkpoint. If the last checkpoint is less than 1 min ago, you know that you entered a new chapter.

 

Accessibility/Cheats:

- All accessibility settings are available on Grounded difficulty. I used almost all of them, they are helpful. The most important one for me was "Navigation and Traversal Assistance". Is this option activated, you can press L3 and the game "auto guides" you and shows you the fastest way. With infinite ammo and crafting you do not need to search the levels. Just speedrun through.

- "Invisible While Prone" is helpful but no needed because killing everything in one hit (cheat) is way faster.

- I was able to activate the cheats after the supermarket fight with Ellie and Dina. I did this first fight without cheats, just prone all the time and kill the enemies with triangle from behind. Getting caught from the clickers at this point results in an instant death.

 

Boss fights:

 - The Bloater fight with Ellie and Joel: The Bloater dies in one hit (with activated cheat), but after the hit you need to be grabbed. This is scripted and Joel will kill the bloater.

 - Abby vs. the Rat King: The rat king is invincible before Abby gets the axe from the door. Dont fight it, just run. After getting the axe the rat king is vulnerable and dies in one hit.

 - Abby vs. The Scar: You need to evade two or three times with L1, and punch the boss three times. This leads to the next phase of the boss fight immediatly (so this boss also almost dies "in one hit")

 - Abby vs Ellie: This fight was the hardest one for me. It was not clear for me, when you are invisible to Ellie. Sometimes it did not work and you only have one hit for free, so you are almost dead immediatly if you are caught. Use the enhanced listen mode, hide and wait until you find a bottle or a brick to throw it with R2. Then run to Ellie to hit her. You need to repeat this 3 times.

 - Ellie vs Abby: Dont think there was a difference to the easy difficulty. Evade with L1 and hit her a couple of times. If you die, you have a checkpoint right before cutting Abby down.

 

I think thats it. The trophies pop when you are back in the main menu after the credits.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Micola7h

[EagleEyePL]

1 hour ago, Micola7h said:

 I was able to activate the cheats after the supermarket fight with Ellie and Dina. I did this first fight without cheats, just prone all the time and kill the enemies with triangle from behind. Getting caught from the clickers at this point results in an instant death.

I was trying to get these 2 trophies but 2 clickers in supermarket killed me about 10 times and i give it A break haha. They always turn Around when im behind them. Maybe because i was using crouch, not prone. Now I need to try again :D. 

[Micola7h]

Yes, you have to prone. Particularly in the first fight, when the clickers are introduced, after you fall through the floor.