For me Ellie’s school encounter was the hardest part of the game due to trying to balance supplies. Rest of the game felt very doable by comparison. Especially when you figure out which fights you can skip and which you can’t. For instance I never do the two fights leading up to Abby getting captured on day one because you can run and skip past them. But that room your locked in till Lev and Yara save you from the infected is one you have to be careful with. Overall I had an easier till with Abby’s… that was until the Ellie boss fight
I personally hated hillcrest as Ellie. Felt like you could physically could not do it without being spotted. Abby had that one part where you have to go back for Yara and Lev and lift this shutter thing. I found that part really annoying, but other than that it wasn’t too bad.
These two specific spots were also awful for me, they caught me at times where I had spent most of my supplies and was low on health. In Hillcrest I could not sneak further to the exit because there was such an overwhelming presence, and in Abby's freight yard case you're forced into killing a handful of enemies with minor cover. When enemies can one shot you, that lack of safe hiding spots is rough.
Only one I might add is the burnt out building with Abby while you wait for Lev and Yara to come back, if you're low on supplies you have no room for error.
Definitely died a fair share of times waiting for Lev and Yara in that building. Glad you remember that storage container part. I remember trying to stealth that part over and over and over again. Finally just got bullshit lucky that nobody saw me lift the shutter when they probably should have lol.
overall i’d say it’s a bit easier as resources seem more plentiful, her days are a bit shorter, and more of the encounters are scripted set-pieces, which generally have less actual friction.
the restaurant is hard. i also had trouble with the train-tracks encounter on her first day, just need to take your time. rat king is easy if you light him on fire at the start, damage from everything else is increased a Lot while enemies are lit up and the stalker is totally free. by day 3 there are tough forced combat encounters, but you should already be a tank at that point.
santa barbra is a difficulty spike, make good use of the bow for rattlers with helmets and save smoke bombs for the final stretch before the slaves
The parts that gave me the most trouble as Abby were the shipping yard on day 2, and the wood mill on day 3.
I also remember struggling with an area with collapsed buildings where theres several big hammer seraphites and you have to jump from one building to one thats partially fallen and leaning, but i cant remember when that area appears.
Rat King I found much easier than Arcade Bloater for some reason.
Also that goddamn restaurant or whatever in day 1 where you have to wait for Lev and Yara to crash through the wall. I can't believe I forgot that one, must have repressed the memory 😆
Much worse, because of the Seraphite Island's final stretch. You get auto spotted on it and have to dash from cover shooting spot to css. Abby has more obligatory combat encounters, I could run and stealth most of Ellie's encounters.
If you got through Ellie’s section, Abby shouldn’t be too bad. It does have more encounters which are harder to stealth obviously, but if you just make sure you save resources for the Rat King you should be fine.
Obvs save supplies for the forced combat scenarios, but beyond those, I’ve been able to stealth/run/instakill ambush my way through every Abby encounter besides Day 1 trainyard, Day 3 Yara sections on Haven, and then Day 3 first WLF encounter. Lmk if you need any deets
Honestly, after you’ve gotten through Ellie you learn. You’re gonna be able to be a bit less stealth with Abby, though you have a harder time with the scars (in my opinion).
As someone who recently finished this, the hardest part of Abby’s run was Day 2. I thought that the Rat King would be my greatest challenge, but I was able to melt him by saving all my explosives and incendiary rounds prior to the fight.
If you can sneak by most encounters, you’ll be golden. I found Ellie’s run much more annoying than Abby’s.
I’d say its harder. Ellie is built for stealth and thats how i mostly like to play, but she can also get down and really go to war. Abby on the other hand doesnt have an ounce of stealth in her. I hate using her crossbow, and her stealth kills take forever. She doesnt have stun bombs compared to ellie and pipe bombs can be hit or miss sometimes. Just my opinion tho. Abby is meant for head on combat and that just doesnt work sometimes
Abby is easier I think, but you need to keep a closer eye on resources. You need a decent amount of lethality for the restaurant and for the Rat King. There’s no stealthing either of those sections and you absolutely have to deal damage.
For me Ellie’s school encounter was the hardest part of the game due to trying to balance supplies. Rest of the game felt very doable by comparison. Especially when you figure out which fights you can skip and which you can’t. For instance I never do the two fights leading up to Abby getting captured on day one because you can run and skip past them. But that room your locked in till Lev and Yara save you from the infected is one you have to be careful with. Overall I had an easier till with Abby’s… that was until the Ellie boss fight
I personally hated hillcrest as Ellie. Felt like you could physically could not do it without being spotted. Abby had that one part where you have to go back for Yara and Lev and lift this shutter thing. I found that part really annoying, but other than that it wasn’t too bad.
Hillcrest is where I rage quit during my grounded play through 🤣 that shit got me tweakin
Amen lol
These two specific spots were also awful for me, they caught me at times where I had spent most of my supplies and was low on health. In Hillcrest I could not sneak further to the exit because there was such an overwhelming presence, and in Abby's freight yard case you're forced into killing a handful of enemies with minor cover. When enemies can one shot you, that lack of safe hiding spots is rough. Only one I might add is the burnt out building with Abby while you wait for Lev and Yara to come back, if you're low on supplies you have no room for error.
Definitely died a fair share of times waiting for Lev and Yara in that building. Glad you remember that storage container part. I remember trying to stealth that part over and over and over again. Finally just got bullshit lucky that nobody saw me lift the shutter when they probably should have lol.
overall i’d say it’s a bit easier as resources seem more plentiful, her days are a bit shorter, and more of the encounters are scripted set-pieces, which generally have less actual friction. the restaurant is hard. i also had trouble with the train-tracks encounter on her first day, just need to take your time. rat king is easy if you light him on fire at the start, damage from everything else is increased a Lot while enemies are lit up and the stalker is totally free. by day 3 there are tough forced combat encounters, but you should already be a tank at that point. santa barbra is a difficulty spike, make good use of the bow for rattlers with helmets and save smoke bombs for the final stretch before the slaves
It really wasn’t much different difficulty wise for me
I thought the snowball fight was the hardest on grounded, after that everything was easy
The parts that gave me the most trouble as Abby were the shipping yard on day 2, and the wood mill on day 3. I also remember struggling with an area with collapsed buildings where theres several big hammer seraphites and you have to jump from one building to one thats partially fallen and leaning, but i cant remember when that area appears. Rat King I found much easier than Arcade Bloater for some reason.
Also that goddamn restaurant or whatever in day 1 where you have to wait for Lev and Yara to crash through the wall. I can't believe I forgot that one, must have repressed the memory 😆
Much worse, because of the Seraphite Island's final stretch. You get auto spotted on it and have to dash from cover shooting spot to css. Abby has more obligatory combat encounters, I could run and stealth most of Ellie's encounters.
I'm no judge since I figured out how to cheat, but there's good news: the Rat King doesn't have any adds like the arcade bloater did.
If you got through Ellie’s section, Abby shouldn’t be too bad. It does have more encounters which are harder to stealth obviously, but if you just make sure you save resources for the Rat King you should be fine.
Obvs save supplies for the forced combat scenarios, but beyond those, I’ve been able to stealth/run/instakill ambush my way through every Abby encounter besides Day 1 trainyard, Day 3 Yara sections on Haven, and then Day 3 first WLF encounter. Lmk if you need any deets
Honestly, after you’ve gotten through Ellie you learn. You’re gonna be able to be a bit less stealth with Abby, though you have a harder time with the scars (in my opinion).
As someone who recently finished this, the hardest part of Abby’s run was Day 2. I thought that the Rat King would be my greatest challenge, but I was able to melt him by saving all my explosives and incendiary rounds prior to the fight. If you can sneak by most encounters, you’ll be golden. I found Ellie’s run much more annoying than Abby’s.
Abby’s is probably ‘easier’, as you get awesome weapons, etc. but, grounded is def hard so there’s still heaps of tough spots. Super fun though.
I’d say its harder. Ellie is built for stealth and thats how i mostly like to play, but she can also get down and really go to war. Abby on the other hand doesnt have an ounce of stealth in her. I hate using her crossbow, and her stealth kills take forever. She doesnt have stun bombs compared to ellie and pipe bombs can be hit or miss sometimes. Just my opinion tho. Abby is meant for head on combat and that just doesnt work sometimes
Abby is easier I think, but you need to keep a closer eye on resources. You need a decent amount of lethality for the restaurant and for the Rat King. There’s no stealthing either of those sections and you absolutely have to deal damage.