Use the original Story order for this route, not Chronological. The later Chronological mode rearranges Ellie and Abby’s chapters, so its handoffs will not match the checkpoints below. This walkthrough follows the campaign from Jackson through both Seattle routes, the farm, Santa Barbara, and the epilogue while folding safes, training manuals, optional weapons, and practical cleanup into the same trip.
Spoiler boundary: chapter names, playable-character changes, major enemy types, and late locations are named. Story scenes and the ending decision are not retold.
Fix the campaign order before chasing percentages
The useful route is Jackson → Ellie Seattle Day 1 → Day 2 → Day 3 → The Park → Abby Seattle Day 1 → Day 2 → Day 3 → The Farm → Santa Barbara → Epilogue. Flashbacks sit inside that sequence. Do not back out because a chapter suddenly changes year, location, or playable character; the next named chapter is the progress detector.
Before leaving a large area, make a manual save and check three things: did you find the chapter’s training manual, did you use every workbench you passed, and did you open its safe? Artifacts, cards, coins, and journal entries can be cleaned through Chapter Select, but manuals and workbenches also improve the current run. Missing one early makes the next combat stretch harder even when it does not block the story.
The Remastered campaign has extensive difficulty and accessibility controls. Adjusting combat pressure, navigation assistance, puzzle help, or game speed is safer than following a route built around a difficulty exploit. No Return, Lost Levels, Guitar Free Play, and Speedrun Mode are separate features; none is required to reach the campaign ending described here.
Jackson ends at a workbench, then becomes a chase
Prologue, Waking Up, and The Overlook are controlled story sections. In Patrol, the first meaningful loop starts at Greenplace Market. Clear sighted Runners before blind Clickers, then search the office beyond the wall crack. The employee-of-the-month clue and Good Boy Combo note resolve the safe as 07-20-13. It contains parts and supplements, so it is worth opening on a first run.
At the market shutter, the cable is not a power connection. Throw it over the vent and climb it. The blizzard then pushes Ellie and Dina into the library. Break the Copy Center window, search the children’s area and bedroom, turn on the generator, and use the mandatory workbench. When progress appears to stop, move the bookshelf where light shows through the floor; the hidden stairs lead to the chapter-ending interaction.
The Horde is a movement test, not a place to loot. Sprint toward visible exits, follow the companion callouts, and treat failed melee stands as a signal that you stopped on the route. The Chalet and Packing Up are story handoffs. Once the game places Ellie and Dina outside Seattle, the next real navigation problem is The Gate.
Downtown is the one open map: clear it before Serevena
At The Gate, climb the FEDRA structures to the far side, break into the mobile unit, and take the checkpoint-code document. Power the small gate first. Detach the cable, throw it over the mobile unit to create a climb, collect the rooftop supplies, then route the cable to the second control panel. The terminal that admits Dina uses 0512. If the computer remains dark, the cable is connected to the wrong panel.
Downtown Seattle is the only campaign space that behaves like a compact open-world map. The exit generator needs fuel, but leaving as soon as it starts means abandoning several upgrades. A low-backtracking sweep is:
- Broken highway: rappel from the firetruck and swing into the overturned truck for Ellie’s Crafting training manual.
- Westlake Bank: clear the lobby, read the heist plan, open the vault with 60-23-06, and take the pump shotgun.
- Synagogue: push the cart under the upper route, check the fuel tank, then swing across the balcony before leaving. The captured Story route finds the tank empty here.
- FEDRA tent north of the synagogue: use the workbench.
- Ruston Coffee and Barko’s: take the pet-store key from the coffee-shop restroom, then open Barko’s alley door for the long-gun holster.
- Courthouse: enter from above, break into the Bailiff’s Office for the 86-07-22 safe, descend the elevator shaft, survive the garage waves, and take the gasoline.
Two short detours are easy to lose: the Gate East 2 safe uses 04-51, and the downtown map completes only after its marked locations have been visited. When ready, return to the marked FEDRA gate, fuel the generator, and enter 5345. Reaching the Serevena Hotel closes free exploration; that is the point of no return for this visit.
Ellie’s three Seattle days spend tools in a deliberate order
Day 1: learn what can be bypassed and what must be triggered
Eastbrook Elementary begins with an escape. Break line of sight, take the roof route, and do not search classrooms while exposed to converging WLF patrols. Capitol Hill is more profitable. Use the garage workbench at Coast Petroleum, take the Stealth manual from the bookstore cafe, and let sight lines open before crossing the patrol block.
Tripwires announce the second half of Capitol Hill. Bottles and bricks can trigger a wire from safety; an enemy walking into it is also a valid clearance tool. The Wellwisher’s Donation Center safe is 55-01-33, and another workbench sits in the Martial Arts Center corridor. Once the route enters Channel 13, it becomes linear until The Tunnels.
In The Tunnels, do not automatically kill the first enemy you see. WLF soldiers and infected can be drawn into each other. Shamblers punish close melee and leave a dangerous acid cloud after death, so create distance before committing explosives. The burned-body room leads to a ladder and the chapter’s workbench. Red-lit subway sections, then the theater doors, are the progression signals.
The Theater and The Birthday Gift are narrative resets. Explore the museum in the only available order and allow the scene to return to the theater. Hillcrest is the next chapter where route choices matter.
Day 2: collect the build pieces before the hospital
At the start of Hillcrest, enter Rosemont and use the basement workbench. After the first WLF block, the alley dumpster gives access to a second garage workbench. Search the liquor-store basement and climb into the daycare for the Precision manual. Dale’s safe, reached from the alley behind Velvet Tattoo, uses 30-82-65. The chapter eventually gives Ellie the bow; from that point, recoverable arrows are the quiet answer to dogs and paired patrols, while grass is a place to break sight rather than permanent safety.
The Seraphites concentrates several important pickups before its hospital commitment. Enter the apartment building beyond Quickmart from the basement. One apartment has a workbench that triggers an ambush; survive it, then search the bedroom for the Explosives manual. Reach the neighboring locked apartment from the exterior awning and use the wedding date code 10-08-83.
Later, Stalkers occupy the conference-center offices. Hold a cleared doorway and draw them into known space instead of chasing Listen Mode silhouettes through cubicles. In the park, an arrow hit is scripted: remove the arrow, go prone, and use tree trunks to break Seraphite sight lines. Before entering Lakehill Seattle Hospital, turn back from the flooded street to Weston’s Pharmacy. Its safe is 38-55-23, and the back room contains another workbench. St. Mary’s Hospital is a short story chapter, not a hidden exploration wing.
Day 3: treat the boat as a movable checkpoint
Road to the Aquarium has two workbenches: one after crawling into the WPL shipping office with Jesse, and one on the upper floor reached after swimming under the bus near Norkirk. The Flooded City then trades walking for a motorboat. Disembark whenever the route presents stairs, a warehouse entrance, or a gate mechanism; the boat will wait.
At the first large shutter, go upstairs before pulling the chain. Move the cart to the vent, crawl into the cage, and open the stash safe with 70-12-64. A blue-barrel manufacturing building holds the next workbench. During the brewery encounter, the suspended train is a sniper route: enter it, use the rope to cross the broken car, and shoot down into the building instead of forcing the water-level approach.
The W&B Arcade is the final resource gate. Use its upstairs workbench before moving the large cart. Fire damage creates the safest damage windows against the Bloater; wait for one burn to run before spending the next Molotov. After the fight, clear debris from the upper chain, reopen the boat route, and drive toward the Ferris wheel. Infiltration closes Ellie’s three-day run.
Abby’s Seattle route rebuilds the inventory from zero
The Park and Tracking Lessons establish the character handoff. The Stadium is mostly traversal. Do not interpret the inventory change as lost save data: Abby has separate weapons, manuals, supplements, and workbenches, and her Seattle Day 1 builds them again.
Day 1: secure the Hunter Pistol, manuals, and crossbow
In On Foot, craft the tutorial Pipe Bomb before the warehouse fight. At PNW Boat Repair, use the workbench, boost Mel through the locked area, place the ladder across to the boat, and take the Covert Ops manual. The trailer outside contains a gun-cache note; squeeze into the soft-drink distribution center and open the safe with 17-38-07 for the Hunter Pistol.
The Forward Base workbench is in a tent after the checkpoint. The Aquarium and Winter Visit are story sections. In Hostile Territory, take the Close Quarters manual from the broken-window building opposite Tang Fabrics. Cross from the Ruby Dragon to the antique shop for the double-barrel shotgun and the note that opens Jasmine Bakery’s safe with 68-96-89. A later Seraphite camp contains the chapter workbench.
After the Forest’s melee fight, La Rosa’s Auto Shop holds both the Firearms manual and a workbench. On the Coast, use the WPL warehouse workbench before boarding the ferry. The crossbow is acquired through the ship’s mandatory door. Clear the decks from low to high; the upper control-room safe uses 90-77-01 and contains the Ordnance manual. Reaching the aquarium ends the day’s exploration.
Day 2: do not descend past equipment you still need
The Shortcut is a climb disguised as a street route. The apartment reached from the highway balcony has the neighbor-exchange safe, 30-23-04. Use one workbench after crossing the rapids into Interbay and the other beside the Seraphite shrine. After the elevator, the skybridges are linear even when the skyline suggests multiple paths; follow Lev and use the marked balance route.
The Descent begins after the pool. Read the juice-bar note, use the gym’s Wi-Fi date to open the janitor-closet safe with 12-18-79, then enter the stairwell. Room 1904 contains Lev’s gas mask. After returning it, rappel on the fire hose. Before dropping through the later collapsed bathroom, cross the beam into the side bathroom and take the flamethrower. Leaving it behind makes the Bloater floor and Ground Zero substantially more expensive.
In the deepest hotel encounter, quietly remove wall Stalkers and Clickers before waking the Bloater. Use the already-cleared rooms as a firing lane. The elevator doors are the escape detector; if they are unreachable, at least one infected is still controlling the path.
Ground Zero first asks for power. Crawl into the generator room, use the workbench, start the generator, and return through Surgery after the infected break free. The blood trail leads to an ambulance and the Rat King chase. You cannot outrun the scripted grab; fight through it until the floor collapses.
In the arena, open with Pipe Bombs, run through the small Surgery doorway, and make the boss force its way through. Fire while it is obstructed, then leave through the window and loop around the fungus mound and medical bed. Never stop in a dead-end to craft. When the smaller Stalker separates, keep the main target in view rather than chasing the new enemy. After the large body falls, the separated Stalker becomes a second, smaller fight in the morgue.
Day 3: let the sniper and the island factions reveal the route
The Marina sniper sequence is cover-to-cover movement. Follow Manny from vehicle to vehicle, crawl or swim where the road exposes Abby, and push the wheeled tank cart toward the garage. On the current PC patch boundary, the rifle lens flare issue in this chapter has been addressed; if the line of fire is still unclear, use impact direction and cover rather than standing up to search.
On The Island, search the Seraphite barracks before the farmlands; the left-side building contains the workbench. Corn breaks visual contact but does not mute Abby, so move after patrol whistles separate rather than choking an enemy beside a partner. Reaching Yara’s home is the point that commits the route to The Escape.
In The Escape, use the brewery firefight to remove enemies from both sides, then take the workbench after Lev raises the ladder. Once Haven burns, ride rather than stopping to loot the road. The barn collapses on a fixed route. The following brute fight is about dodge timing: wait for the full string, counter only after the last swing, and expect the string to lengthen as the fight advances. The Confrontation is a directed encounter and ends the Seattle block.
Santa Barbara is where saved resources stop having future value
2425 Constance is a short search chapter. Pushing Inland returns control to Ellie. At the second mansion, enter over the damaged wall, clear the roof, and prepare two doorway Trap Mines before dropping into the room with Shamblers and Stalkers. The kitchen-side workbench is worth using because only the Resort remains.
At the Resort train-yard compound, crawl under the train and use the chained Runner to disrupt the first Rattler patrol. The upper container supplies the silenced submachine gun, and the central compound has the last workbench. Inside the resort, quietly remove balcony and courtyard guards before freeing the Runner and two Clickers; the infected can divide the defenders, but they remain hostile to Ellie afterward.
Room 225 and the adjacent upper floor hold the late artifact cleanup. The banquet area beyond them is the final armed encounter. Spend ammunition, explosives, and healing instead of preserving a perfect inventory. After the exit door, the beach path and final melee are linear. Dodge before countering; neither character has weapons to recover. The story-completion trigger follows the fight and epilogue sequence.
Keep the fourteen safe codes on one card
| Chapter | Safe or vault | Code | Route landmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patrol | Greenplace Market | 07-20-13 | Office beyond the spore-area wall crack |
| Downtown | Westlake Bank vault | 60-23-06 | Collapsed tunnel in the southwest map area |
| Downtown | Gate East 2 cache | 04-51 | Behind the partially open checkpoint gate |
| Downtown | Courthouse | 86-07-22 | Bailiff’s Office on the upper floor |
| Capitol Hill | Donation center | 55-01-33 | Storage room after the tripwire street |
| Hillcrest | Dale’s safe | 30-82-65 | Room behind the dumpster near Velvet Tattoo |
| The Seraphites | Apartment safe | 10-08-83 | Locked apartment reached from the exterior awning |
| The Seraphites | Weston’s Pharmacy | 38-55-23 | Back room beside the flooded hospital approach |
| The Flooded City | Stash cage | 70-12-64 | Behind the first shutter mechanism |
| On Foot | WLF gun cache | 17-38-07 | Soft-drink distribution center after Boat Repair |
| Hostile Territory | Jasmine Bakery | 68-96-89 | Return after finding the note across the street |
| The Coast | Ferry control room | 90-77-01 | Upper deck after acquiring the crossbow |
| The Shortcut | Neighbor exchange | 30-23-04 | Apartment reached from the broken highway |
| The Descent | Gym safe | 12-18-79 | Janitor closet beside the stairwell |
The codes are stable in the captured Story walkthrough set. On PC, patch 1.6 specifically fixed an input problem that could skip numbers on safe and bank-vault dials when using mouse and keyboard. If a correct code appears to jump past a digit, verify the client version before treating the combination as wrong.
Use Chapter Select for objects; use New Game Plus for investment
After the credits, keep a completed manual save untouched. Use Chapter Select to inspect chapters with missing artifacts, trading cards, coins, journal entries, safes, or workbenches. Turn on the game’s collectible-tracking HUD option before cleanup so previously registered pickups can be distinguished from missing ones. A collected object may not remain visible in the character’s current backpack, but the achievement record can still retain it; check the chapter count rather than recollecting everything blindly.
Training manuals follow a useful eight-stop spine:
- Ellie: Downtown highway, Capitol Hill bookstore, Hillcrest daycare, and The Seraphites apartment.
- Abby: On Foot boat, Hostile Territory window room, The Forest auto shop, and The Coast ferry safe.
If the remaining goal is to maximize both characters’ skill branches or weapon upgrades, start New Game Plus instead of repeatedly loading isolated chapters. The first campaign does not naturally provide enough parts and supplements to finish every investment, while NG+ carries the upgrade path forward. Chapter Select is the shorter tool for a missed object; NG+ is the coherent tool for cumulative upgrades.
Chronological mode was added later with its own completion rewards and trophies. Treat it as a separate replay after the original Story route is understood. Its reordered scenes do not create a better first-run collectible path, and mixing its chapter order into Story cleanup makes location guides harder to reconcile.
Sources & credits
The official Steam listing and AppID 2531310 appdetails response identify Naughty Dog LLC, Nixxes Software, and Iron Galaxy Studios as the PC developers, PlayStation Publishing LLC as publisher, and April 3, 2025 as the PC release date. The five 1920×1080 images used here are byte-unchanged JPG files from the listing’s official screenshot array. The official PlayStation page supports the Story-adjacent Remastered modes, accessibility controls, manual saving, and platform feature boundary.
Version-sensitive notes were checked against Naughty Dog’s official PS5 patch 2.1.1 and PC patch 1.6 pages, with Chronological mode traced to the official 2.1.0 notes. Chapter order, route detectors, safes, manuals, workbenches, optional weapons, and boss preparation were reconciled across the readable IGN, Eurogamer, Neoseeker, and Steam Community references saved for this package.
All eleven supplied Steam Community pages carried removed/incompatible warning markup, so they were used only as limited cross-checks. The supplied PowerPyx page returned a 108-byte denial response through the direct and reader paths, Game8 returned HTTP 202 with an empty body, and two short Neoseeker transition pages were too thin for broad claims. The article does not use competitor images, unverified video, volatile completion-time claims, old 44-achievement totals, or the Medium article’s unsupported route and feature descriptions.