The All Collectibles Guide for The Last of Us Part II Remastered: A Complete Walkthrough

I have spent countless hours exploring every corner of The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and I can tell you that tracking down every collectible is a serious undertaking. The game world is dense, layered, and often punishing. On my first playthrough I missed half the trading cards and nearly all the workbench upgrades. It was only when I committed to a dedicated run, playing on Grounded difficulty with no damage taken, that I truly understood how the collectibles tie into the story. That experience shaped what I want to share here: a practical all collectibles guide that covers locations, strategies, and the narrative payoff for each item.

Why Collectibles Matter in This Remastered Edition

The Last of Us Part II Remastered is more than a visual upgrade. The 4K HDR presentation makes every artifact and coin pop with detail you never noticed on standard hardware. But the real reason to hunt collectibles is the story they tell. Each trading card, each artifact, each note from a fallen WLF soldier or a Seraphite preacher adds a layer to the world. The Jackson family history, the rise and fall of The Fireflies, the scars left by the infected and the rat king - it is all there in the margins. An all collectibles guide helps you see the full picture, not just the main narrative.

The remaster also adds playable flashbacks that unlock only after you find certain sets of items. These flashbacks give you control of Ellie and Abby in quiet moments before everything fell apart. They are some of the most emotionally resonant scenes in the game, and you will miss them without a thorough search. That alone is reason enough to follow a guide.

How to Approach a Collectibles Run

Before you start, decide what kind of run you want. A no damage run on Grounded difficulty is the purest test of skill, but it also makes collecting harder because every enemy encounter can end you in one hit. I recommend a separate playthrough for collectibles if you are not already comfortable with the combat. The game saves your progress per chapter, so you can go back and sweep areas you missed. But if you want the satisfaction of a single clean run, you need to memorise the collectible locations and plan your route around them.

I keep a checklist sorted by chapter. That sounds obvious, but the game does not give you an easy way to see which items you missed in a given area. You have to rely on your own notes or a good all collectibles guide. I have seen players waste hours backtracking through Seattle because they forgot one coin in a dark corner of a hotel lobby. Do not be that person.

The Major Collectible Categories

There are several types of collectibles in The Last of Us Part II Remastered. Each one rewards a different kind of exploration.

• Trading cards: Scattered across every major location, from Seattle to Santa Barbara. They tell the story of a fictional comic book universe and often reference events from the first game.
• Coins: Small, easy to miss, but they unlock a safe combination later in the game. Keep an eye on countertops, desks, and the ground near vending machines.
• Artifacts: These range from children's drawings to religious icons. They flesh out the world of the WLF and the Seraphites, showing how ordinary people coped with the outbreak.
• Workbench upgrades: Found in workbenches scattered through the world. They give you weapon modifications like recoil reduction or faster reload. Vital for Grounded difficulty runs.

Each category has a completion reward. For trading cards you get concept art. For coins you get a special weapon skin. For artifacts you unlock the playable flashbacks. And for workbench upgrades you simply get better guns, which is its own reward when the infected swarm you in a tight corridor.

Seattle: The Biggest Hunting Ground

Seattle is where most of the collectibles live. You spend roughly half the game here as Ellie, then return as Abby for a different perspective. The city is huge, with multiple districts: downtown, the waterfront, the hospital, the stadium. Each area has its own set of items, and some are only accessible during specific story moments. For example, the WLF training manual in the stadium can only be grabbed before Abby leaves that area. If you miss it, you have to replay the entire chapter.

I found the downtown section the hardest for collectibles because the streets are wide open and the infected are everywhere. The rat king makes a brief appearance there, and you do not want to be distracted by a coin on the ground when that thing charges. Use your listening mode frequently. It highlights collectibles as white outlines through walls. That is your best friend in a no damage run.

The Seraphites have a strong presence in Seattle too. Their artifacts are often in safe houses or churches. One particular artifact - a photograph of a Seraphite family - is tucked behind a bookshelf in a hideout you only visit once. Without a guide you would never find it.

Santa Barbara and the Final Stretch

Santa Barbara is smaller but still holds a handful of collectibles. The atmosphere shifts here: more open, more sunlight, but the infected are faster and more aggressive. The trading cards in this area are rare, and one of them is inside a building that collapses shortly after you enter. You have to grab it immediately or lose it forever. That kind of time pressure is common in this game, and it is why an all collectibles guide is so valuable. You need to know exactly when to sprint and when to search.

Abby's section in Santa Barbara also has a few artifacts tied to her backstory. They connect to the Jackson family indirectly, which adds weight to the final confrontation. I will not spoil it, but the emotional payoff is worth the hunt.

Practical Tips for a No Damage Grounded Run

If you are attempting a no damage run on Grounded difficulty while collecting everything, you need a strategy that balances risk and reward. Here are the things that worked for me.

1. Always scout with the listening mode before entering a room. It reveals collectibles and enemy positions. Do not skip this step even in cleared areas because infected can respawn or wander in from adjacent zones.
2. Bottles and bricks are your best weapons. They stun enemies and let you run past them to grab an artifact without fighting. Save your ammo for forced encounters.
3. Plan your route around workbench upgrades first. Better weapons make the rest of the run safer. Prioritise the recoil reduction mod for the hunting pistol and the faster reload for the shotgun.
4. Accept that you will die. A lot. The game autosaves frequently, but you should also manual save before entering any area with a high concentration of collectibles. That way you can reload without losing progress if a single infected clips you.
5. Do not rush the playable flashbacks. They are short but emotionally dense. Treat them as a reward, not a chore.

The Narrative Payoff

When you finally collect every trading card, every coin, every artifact, you unlock a gallery that shows concept art and developer commentary. That is the obvious reward. But the real payoff is the way the collectibles change how you see Ellie and Abby. The Jackson family artifacts make you understand Ellie's grief more deeply. The WLF memorabilia humanises the soldiers you kill by the dozen. The Seraphite relics show a faith twisted by survival. And the playable flashbacks give you moments of peace that contrast sharply with the violence of the main story.

I have done this run three times now. Each time I find something I missed before - a note tucked into a drawer, a coin behind a plant pot, a trading card hidden in a crawlspace. The game rewards persistence. If you use a thorough all collectibles guide, you will see everything the developers intended. And on Grounded difficulty with no damage, every item you grab feels like a victory against the odds.

Final Thoughts

Collectibles in The Last of Us Part II Remastered are not just checkmarks on a list. They are pieces of a larger story that the main campaign only hints at. The 4K HDR presentation makes them more vivid than ever, and the addition of playable flashbacks gives you a reason to find every last one. Whether you are a completionist, a lore enthusiast, or just someone who wants to see every corner of this brutal world, a dedicated collectibles run is worth your time. Approach it with patience, use your tools wisely, and let the game's world speak to you through its smallest details.