In many ways Lost Legacy fixed or improved issues I had with UC 4 on the gameplay side. The big open area actually rewards exploration with small puzzles; The level design feels more conductive to the choice of stealth vs action by introducing silenced pistols as well as more points to swing across in battle; There are supply caches which act both as a reward for exploring and changing up your strategy. Hard to praise them too much though as these are common features in most games and it's not done particularly well here either.

The main reason for my lesser enjoyment is however something Uncharted has excelled in all previous entries, enjoyable banter between lovable characters. Now it's not bad by any means, and Chloe is still probably my favourite character in the franchise. The problem is Nadine, she just doesn't have the charisma to pull the weight of conversation. Credit where credit's due, they tried to improve her as a character by introducing slightly more backstory. But what's here would have improved her antagonist role in UC4 if it was there, not enough to carry the protagonist role of Lost Legacy. I assume they tried to add a buddy cop dynamic here with the 2 having opposite traits and the friendship evolving through the course of the story. But in stories like that the differences accentuate the comedy, while here Nadine's dead pan no nonsense attitude dampens whatever charisma Chloe brings. Naughty Dog has had above average writing quality compared to the rest of the industry so it's still an enjoyable romp, I just wished it was better.