When The Last of Us Part 2 first launched in 2020, it stunned the gaming world with its visceral storytelling, breathtaking visuals, and gut-wrenching emotional depth. Fast forward to 2025, and Naughty Dog’s masterpiece—now in its remastered form on PS5 and newly released on PC—continues to captivate players. However, a recent update, patch 2.0.0, rolled out on April 3, 2025, to coincide with the PC debut, has turned celebration into frustration. Intended to enhance the experience with fresh content, this update has instead unleashed a wave of chaos, breaking core gameplay elements and leaving fans reeling. From disappearing upgrades to unplayable campaigns, the fallout has sparked outrage, confusion, and a mad scramble for solutions. What went wrong, and can Naughty Dog fix it? Let’s unpack the mess that’s got everyone talking.
The Promise of Patch 2.0.0
The update was meant to be a triumph. Timed with The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered’s PC launch, patch 2.0.0 promised a bounty of goodies for both PS5 and PC players. The highlight? New content for the roguelike No Return mode, including playable characters Bill and Marlene—fan-favorite figures from the first game—alongside four new maps: School, Nest, Streets, and Overlook. Naughty Dog also tossed in new trophies, cosmetic skins like Ellie’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet jacket, and a slew of bug fixes. For PC players, it marked the arrival of a long-awaited port, optimized with ultrawide support, DLSS 3, and adjustable graphics settings. On paper, it was a love letter to the community—a chance to revisit Ellie and Abby’s brutal journey with fresh eyes.
The rollout began smoothly. Steam reviews for the PC version glowed with a “Very Positive” rating, and PS5 players eagerly booted up No Return to test Bill’s smuggler playstyle or Marlene’s risk-taker flair. But within hours, the cracks appeared. Social media lit up with reports of missing gun holsters, wiped skill trees, and progression resets—issues severe enough to render the game “practically unplayable” for some. What started as a victory lap for Naughty Dog turned into a PR nightmare, exposing a rare misstep from a studio known for polish.
The Breaking Point: What’s Going Wrong?
The glitches are as varied as they are devastating. Players mid-campaign—whether on a first playthrough, New Game Plus, or permadeath run—report that Ellie and Abby’s upgrades have vanished. Skill trees, painstakingly built with supplements, are reset to zero. Long and short gun holsters, critical for swapping weapons in the heat of combat, are gone, leaving characters defenseless in a world crawling with Clickers and hostile survivors. Some even note missing weapon skins and character cosmetics, undoing hours of customization. On X, one user lamented, “The latest patch has broken our game on PS5—it’s taken away all our gun holsters, upgrades, and skins. Thanks for not testing this, Naughty Dog.”
The impact is brutal. In a game where survival hinges on preparation, losing these tools mid-story—say, before facing the Rat King on Grounded difficulty—turns tense encounters into impossible slogs. Players can’t repurchase lost upgrades easily, either; supplements and parts, already spent, don’t magically reappear. For those deep into New Game Plus, where maxed-out skills define the experience, it’s a gut punch. One Reddit post summed it up: “I was about to fight the Rat King, and now I’ve got no holsters or upgrades. This sucks.” Crashes and progression loss compound the chaos, with some reporting corrupted saves after overwriting older files.
Naughty Dog acknowledged the issue in an update to the patch notes: “We are aware of and investigating a known issue regarding additional weapon holsters and purchased skills disappearing after updating to Patch 2.0.0. At this time, we suggest players refrain from overwriting any of their existing manual saves.” But for many, the damage was done—auto-saves had already kicked in, and manual backups were overwritten in the excitement of new content.
A Community in Turmoil
The backlash was swift. On X, posts range from measured frustration—“Why did you guys remove the holster and upgrades? Not good, Naughty Dog”—to outright despair: “Thanks for not testing this ‘patch’. Now all my skills and upgrades are gone, and I don’t have enough parts to get close to where I was.” The Last of Us subreddit became a war zone of anguish, with threads titled “Patch 2.0 Broke My Game” and “Lost Everything After Update” racking up hundreds of comments. One player vented, “I get why Sachin C is annoyed—I would be too. This bug makes the game unplayable.”
Yet amid the fury, there’s a split. Some defend Naughty Dog, arguing the glitches are unintentional and fixable. “I don’t think holsters were removed deliberately—it’s an unforeseen bug,” one X user speculated. Others revel in the chaos, with Twitch streamers showcasing the absurdity of fighting infected with bare fists and no backup weapons. The PC port, meanwhile, fares better—Digital Foundry called it a “better” release than The Last of Us Part 1’s rocky PC debut, despite stuttering in dense areas—but PS5 players feel left in the lurch, especially as the update’s No Return additions remain overshadowed by campaign woes.
Why It Hurts So Much
This isn’t just about mechanics—it’s personal. The Last of Us Part 2 is a game that demands emotional investment. Players spend dozens of hours with Ellie and Abby, navigating their pain, rage, and redemption. Upgrades aren’t just stats; they’re a lifeline, a reward for scavenging every corner of Seattle or Jackson. Losing them mid-journey feels like a betrayal of that bond. For permadeath runners or trophy hunters chasing platinum, it’s a reset of grueling progress. One X post captured the sentiment: “Got stood up by a date and can’t even play The Last of Us Part 2 because the patch wiped my upgrades midway through New Game Plus. Can’t catch a break.”
The update’s timing adds salt to the wound. April 2025 was poised to be a banner month for the franchise. The PC release broadened its reach, while HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 looms on April 13, promising to adapt Part 2’s divisive story. Fans expected patch 2.0.0 to be a victory lap, not a stumble. Instead, it’s a stark reminder that even titans like Naughty Dog can falter under the weight of their own ambition.
The Technical Tangle
What caused this? Theories abound. Some point to the update’s scope—adding No Return content, trophies, and PS5 Pro fixes while syncing with a PC launch might’ve strained QA resources. Others suggest a save file mismatch, where new data structures clashed with old saves, stripping out upgrades and holsters. Naughty Dog’s workaround—don’t overwrite saves—hints at a deeper issue tied to save corruption, though they’ve yet to pinpoint the root cause. Compared to The Last of Us Part 1’s PC launch in 2022, which drowned in optimization woes but eventually recovered, Part 2’s update feels less catastrophic but more insidious, hitting players where it hurts: their progress.
Naughty Dog’s Response—and the Road Ahead
The studio’s initial silence fueled the fire, but their patch note addendum shows they’re on the case. History suggests they’ll act fast—Part 1’s PC fixes rolled out steadily, lifting its Steam rating from “Mixed” to “Mostly Positive.” A hotfix, perhaps patch 2.0.1, could restore lost upgrades and holsters, ideally refunding spent resources to appease the faithful. For now, players with pre-update saves can roll back (disc users can reinstall offline), but those caught in autosave hell are stuck waiting.
The broader question lingers: how did this slip through? Naughty Dog’s reputation for polish—honed on Uncharted and the original Last of Us—makes this lapse jarring. Some speculate crunch or a rushed PC timeline played a role, though no evidence supports this. Others see it as a rare human error from a studio stretched thin by remasters, TV tie-ins, and whispers of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Whatever the cause, trust has taken a hit—though not irreparably.
Why It’s Still Worth Caring About
Despite the chaos, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered remains a titan. Its No Return mode shines when it works, offering tense, replayable zombie-slaying that rivals Call of Duty Zombies. The PC port’s graphical bells and whistles—4K vistas, ultrawide immersion—hint at its potential once patched. And the core game? Still a narrative juggernaut, its 300+ Game of the Year awards a testament to its staying power. This update’s woes are a bump, not a burial.
For now, the community waits—some fuming, some tinkering with workarounds, others diving into No Return despite the risks. It’s a messy chapter for a beloved franchise, but one that underscores its passionate fanbase. Naughty Dog has a chance to turn this around—and if they do, it’ll be another tale of resilience for Ellie, Abby, and the studio that brought them to life. Until then, the Wild West of patch 2.0.0 rages on.
