How to unlock Bill and Marlene in The Last of Us Part 2 No Return

Bill and Marlene are the newest playable characters in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered: No Return. Both were featured in the original game, but Naughty Dog heard fans' pleas and brought them over for the sequel. While they are part of the new game update, you must unlock them by completing a series of challenges.

This article covers everything you must know about Bill and Marlene, including how to get them.

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Unlocking Bill and Marlene in The Last of Us Part 2 No Return

How to unlock Marlene

You can unlock these characters after a few runs (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment || Sportskeeda Gaming)

To unlock Marlene in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, you must complete five gambits in No Return as any character.

Gambits are added challenges that must be completed to get better rewards, such as coins to spend at trading posts, more ammo, and other benefits. If you are short on time, we recommend you play a custom run and play at any difficulty you prefer.

Gambits are randomly generated, and most are easy to do, such as taking down every enemy in complete stealth or simply dropping the required items at the dead drops. However, some can be challenging, like completing a run without taking damage.

You don't have to finish the objective in a single run, and even if you quit or fail, your progress will be honored.

Unlocking Marlene requires more work than Bill in No Return (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment || Sportskeeda Gaming)

After you complete five gambits, Marlene will be unlocked. As the leader of the Fireflies, she is armed with a customized assault rifle last seen in The Last of Us Part I. It is a powerful weapon with an equally impressive recoil.

Marlene is a risk-taker armed with a powerful assault rifle (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment || Sportskeeda Gaming)

Here are all of Marlene's character traits:

• Custom Assault Rifle
• One-Time Path Reroute
• All or Nothing Gambits
• Calculated Upgrade Branch

Marlene is aggressive and cunning, but her character traits could lead to her downfall if you're not careful. While gambits are optional, wasting the extra benefits with her all-or-nothing character trait would be a shame.

Now that the leader of the Fireflies is part of your roster, you can then focus on unlocking the lonely smuggler.

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How to unlock Bill

Bill is an interesting character in The Last of Us (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment || Sportskeeda Gaming)

Bill was last seen in the original game walking back to his town at Lincoln. While we only hear Ellie briefly mention her time in this town, we never see this character return in The Last of Us Part 2 in person. As a fan favorite, Naughty Dog must have figured adding him to No Return would please some fans.

To unlock Bill, you must drop three requested items at the drop zones known as dead drops.

Dead drops are blue mailboxes hidden in most areas, and you can find them with your listening mode by holding down your R1 button on your DualSense controller. Like Marlene's objective, you don't need to accomplish this in a single run.

Bill's unhinged personality made him an interesting survivor (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment || Sportskeeda Gaming)

Dead drops can only be found during Assault and Hunted challenge types. If you are low on supplies, you should sweep the area and have enough ingredients to craft whatever is necessary.

It is worth noting that you can't unlock both characters in a single run, and while it would have been beneficial to save time, the challenges aren't that hard, especially on a lower difficulty.

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Other challenges in No Return

After unlocking both characters, you can unlock extra skins by doing the same challenges in a single run.

Marlene can sport her look from Salt Lake City by completing five gambits in a single run. On the other hand, Bill's unlockable skin is an original Western and can be unlocked after three dead drops while playing as him in a single run.

Completing all Part I challenges will grant you the trophy called "This Makes You All Nostalgic?" This is a callback to the original game where Ellie and Joel chat after leaving Bill's Town.

Other extra trophies require you to use Bill and a pump shotgun to take down a bloater or Marlene's customized assault rifle to mow down 15 enemies in one encounter.

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The Last of Us Part 2 is now available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. For more related articles, check these out:

• The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered PC Review: The definitive experience with a few bumps
• The Last of Us 2 Remastered PC optimization guide: Best settings for optimal performance
• How old is Ellie?
• Why did Abby kill Joel?
• Is The Last of Us Part 2 Steam Deck verified?
• What happened to Abby and Lev?
• Is The Last of Us Part 2 worth playing in 2025?