This review contains spoilers
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a “character finale” and treasure hunter simulator developed by Naughty Dog as a Playstation 4 Exclusive, as well as the final adventure for Nathan Drake’s cinematic saga. How did this game come about? The development started for this title right after Uncharted 3, with Amy Hennig leading development between the split teams (the other working on The Last of Us). However, Amy Hennig later left Naughty Dog for different pastures and that left the game a bit FUCKED UP in the development cycle. Neil Druckmann (who directed and wrote Last of Us) had come aboard with a guy named Bruce Straley and a lot of things had changed. Elements of the plot (Sam Drake being a villain) and certain aspects of the gameplay (like less focus on gunplay for the first half) were reworked, scripts were being re-written and crunch was enforced hard to get this game shipped out. Hell, the crunch development during this game would go on to have such a huge turnover that The Last of Us Part II would get screwed with crunch but that’s a different game altogether. The game was announced in E3 2014 with a trailer that’s honestly downright haunting (link below) and set up a mood that gave me the chills even though I didn’t watch it until writing up this review. Uncharted 4 however would having a haunting history of its own, having been delayed multiple times (due to the aforementioned development problems) but finally got released in 2016 to critical and financial success, though the effects it would have on Naughty Dog were drastic (with co-director Bruce Straley straight up leaving after going on sabbatical). Honestly, I’m surprised that the crunch this game had wasn't talked about as much as Last of Us Part II though that game had a whole crunch culture on its own.
So what’s my experience personally with the game? Where did I originally encounter it from? Truth be told, I have no clue. Probably along with Lost Legacy, I had probably done an extensive laundry list of research into exclusives on the Playstation and just picked it up one day from somewhere (most likely Gamestop as I see old stickers dating back to 2019). I had decided to do a playthrough of Uncharted games 1-3 on Crushing for the playthrough before picking up this title around September of 2021. I remember around that time I was super depressed, again dealing with a lot of girl problems and beating this game was both kind of a chore and a sort of comfort game for me. I had beaten this and then had gone into Lost Legacy around a month or two later; having Platinumed Uncharted 1 through 3 as well as Golden Abyss last year, I decided that this year’s Playstation 4 games of the year would be wrapping up the platinum trophies for 4/Lost Legacy. I wrapped up most of my trophies streaming it for a friend before going out of my way to finish off a speed run and a campaign accuracy trophy by myself. The paragraphs that follow are my feelings on Nathan Drake’s final adventure.
The plot for Uncharted 4 starts off in media res: Nathan Drake is sailing towards an island with another person as waves crash all around them and gunfire exchanges between them and a separate party which ends in a giant crash. It then flashes back to the early years of Nathan, while he was just an orphan (which was revealed in Uncharted 3). Here he is visited by this same other person and it’s revealed who he is: Samuel Drake. He wasn’t discussed in the previous games but here he is now, and he helps him sneak out of the orphanage and shows off his sweet rad bike (I think). It’s revealed here that Sam was kicked out for doing shady shit, and lets his brother know that he’s going to be away for a bit on a new job. However, he later reveals that he knows where their mother’s effects were sold to (no mention of the father here though). ANOTHER flash forward to many years later and the two are stuck in a Panamanian Jail (referenced in Uncharted 1 funny enough) where they sneak in with another partner of theirs: Rafe Adler. They’re on the hunt for pirate Henry Avery’s treasure, and the trail leads here to where his first mate was hanged. After being led there by a corrupt warden who cajoles them into giving him a cut, Nathan finds a crucifix before meeting up with Sam and Rafe. They figure out that the guy on the cross was Saint Dismas (with the trail leading to Scotland) before being ambushed by a bunch of angry thugs. This leads to a bunch of guards breaking up the brawl and the corrupt warden brings them into his office to confront them about the cut again: this irks the ire of Rafe who proceeds to go sicko mode and just stabs the fuckin’ guy. One prison breakout later and Sam is presumed to have died in the process, with Nathan giving up on the treasure and leaving Rafe to his quest.
A couple of years after Uncharted 3, Nathan has settled into married life once again with Elena (playing a game of Crash Bandicoot) while working at a salvage company in New Orleans. However, one day Sam visits him and surprises him and they enjoy a happy reunion while discussing the many years passed. Sam has a bit of a problem though: after the prison break he was saved by doctors and left to rot for the past fifteen years, only saved by one man: Hector Alcazar. Hector is a ruthless drug lord who took a liking to Sam and the tales of Henry Avery’s treasure and broke him out. However, Sam lied and now Hector gives him three months or his ass is mucho muerto so to speak. Nathan of course helps his brother out, and lies to his wife that he’s going on a job to Malaysia with his boss instead of just talking with her and coming clean about his past and what’s going on like I felt he should’ve done.
They learn of a crucifix similar to the one in Panama being sold at an auction at an estate in Italy, and the two team up with Victor Sullivan to sneak in and steal it for their hunt. They make a plan to steal it while the lights are out and Sam finds a waiter’s costume as they sneak around and prepare the deed. However, they run into Nadine Ross: the head of a South African mercenary company named Shoreline who works for Rafe (who I believe you see around the auction) and just wipes the floor with Nathan in a fight. Before I continue, I know a lot of people tend to go on rants about the “SJW agenda” but I’ll be honest, I don’t have a problem with Nadine in the slightest. So what, a woman is kicking Nathan’s ass, big shit? I’d pay to have my ass kicked by a hot chick to be honest, sounds cool to me. People are weird as fuck and the agenda argument is old and tired. Regardless, they all escape the scene in a giant shootout to learn that this cross has a note, also pointing to Scotland. Here’s the kicker, the one in Panama pointed towards a general area in Scotland: the Saint Dismas Cathedral. This one has the location as the Saint Dismas Cathedral Burial Ground, so of course Rafe has spent the last 15 years looking in the wrong place. I’d honestly be fucking furious if I knew 15 years of my life were wasted like that to be real.
Arriving in Scotland, Nathan and Sam are able to find a series of passageways underneath a tomb in the Burial Ground which leads them to a secret room. There’s a series of tests here that tests one's motives, one of which includes choosing between a cross and some coins: Nathan chooses the coins and a light map is shown that points the way towards Madagascar, specifically a place called King’s Bay with the idea that Avery was on a recruitment drive with other pirates for something, though what is unknown. Of course, Nadine and her mercenaries along with Rafe are also able to find this tomb and Sam decides to take the cross as well, collapsing the entire tomb around them as they barely escape with their life and head out to King’s Bay.
A clue involving the coin leads the trio to a volcano, and while avoiding and killing their way through Nadine’s mercenary army they learn that the pirates brought their treasure together into one massive fortune which knowing pirates is a TERRIBLE idea considering their concept of robbing each other. They learn that in one of twelve towers lies another trail, this time to the location of the treasure. Sam goes to one while Nathan and Sully go to another when Rafe calls Nathan to let him know something painfully obvious: they’re being tracked by GPS by their cell phones and that’s how Shoreline got there first. If you’re going to go on a modern day treasure hunt against a millionaire with infinite resources, get some burners. The trio escape after an explosive car chase and millions of dollars in damage later and make their way back to their motel where the final goal is revealed: Henry Avery got together with eleven other pirates with their pooled money and sought to create the ultimate pirate’s paradise: Libertalia. However, Nathan’s wife appears and is fucking pissed both at the reveal of ANOTHER treasure hunt and the fact that he had a brother in the first place, but mostly just because Nathan lied to her. He explains the entire schtick of drug lord Alcazar’s threats to Sam and after Nathan refuses to budge on whether or not the Malaysia job was real, storms off in a fury and honestly rightfully so. Nathan doesn’t want to back out on helping his brother, so Sullivan chases after her instead as the brothers go off to find the treasure.
They set out to some islands nearby where Libertalia is supposedly located and follow clues that point to where this island is before the “in media res” part kicks in and their boat is destroyed. Separated from Sam, Nathan is barely able to climb his way onto the island against Shoreline before encountering his brother again. They make their way through the jungle before finally finding their main goal: Libertalia. Sam is ecstatic while Nathan is just relieved at this point and the two find remnants of a society at odds with each other. The founding pirates had kept all of the treasure for themselves as pirates do, with the colonists doing the dirty work getting pissed and a war started as a staunch anti-capitalist tale. They learn that the pirates moved their treasure to an estate named New Devon on the other side of the island before Rafe finally arrives and reveals a truth: Alcazar’s been dead for a long time, Sam lied to Nathan. Rafe actually released Sam from jail to help him out and Sam backstabbed him so he can get the treasure for himself with his brother as their ultimate legacy. Rafe attempts to shoot Nathan but hits Sam while Nathan is knocked off a cliff before being found by his still betrayed wife (with help from Sully). He finally comes clean about his past and reveals what happened in his childhood when the brothers found the location of where their mother’s stuff was sold.
The two brothers in the past raided an old woman’s mansion to steal their mother’s stuff when they’re caught by the owner: a woman named Evelyn who calls the cops. It’s revealed that this old woman was their mother’s employer, and their mother specialized in Francis Drake who explicitly worked for this woman. The two worked on several different projects together, including Avery’s lost treasure and heirs of Francis Drake, and their mother’s death is alluded to being a suicide. Evelyn proceeds to give them the journal and tells them to continue their mother’s legacy before dying, however the police still arrive and not wanting to be perceived as murderers, the brothers don’t stick around. Sam proposes to Nathan that they change their last names from Morgan to Drake to honor their mother’s legacy and stick together until the Panamanian Jail.
They discuss the past and Elena forgives Nathan and believes that the past was too painful to forgive before she agrees to help save his brother. They proceed to repair their relationship and work together as they find their way to New Devon while avoiding traps and learning that the pirates eventually turned on one another, symbolically showing again that greed is BAD. The two crawl through a cave before they eventually find Sam and save him from Shoreline and mow down even more mercenary bad guys. Nathan tries to convince Sam to give up, but this doesn’t work and they’re separated again. Nathan goes alone to save his brother and ends up finding the fortune’s location: inside of Avery’s ship. Rafe wants to finish his goal of gaining a reputation but Nadine thinks he’s fucking insane with all of the booby traps and wants to leave but is forced to continue through. A trap triggers and an explosion occurs, setting the place on fire and Nathan goes to save Sam. Nadine betrays Rafe after Rafe tells her to disarm Nathan (after pointing to Avery and his right hand man Tew’s corpse, who killed each other over greed), who again thinks Rafe is crazy and has had enough before leaving. Rafe then decides to kill off the brothers once and for all and a cinematic sword fight ensues which leads to Rafe getting crushed and the treasure gone forever as the ship sinks below.
Everyone manages to make their way back to the plane and return back home to their old life, however something changes. Sam actually stole a bunch of gold pieces and gives them to Elena, and the married couple proceeds to revive Elena’s old show and goes on an adventure to Malaysia with Nathan while Sully and Sam team up for the future. It flashes forward to years later as the two have created a daughter named Cassie (after Nathan’s mother) who tries to find out where her parents are after playing a game of Crash Bandicoot (ayyy nice reference). She walks around with her dog Vicky (named after Sully) when she raids her parent’s cabinets and sees pictures of all of their old adventures. The two then proceed to tell her the story of the Drake family and the plot is fin.
My thoughts on this game’s plot: perfect way to end Nathan’s saga to be honest. The obvious symbolism of A Thief’s End (Nathan’s final adventure) mixed in with a tale about greed, how it’ll be the downfall of everyone involved is a nice bit of symbolism that was meant on purpose by Naughty Dog and honestly it fits. I like the action set pieces, the more mature level of storytelling (though tired of the Nathan and Elena conflicts to be honest), and the addition of pirates. I also love some of the lore references (like a sticky note referencing Marisa from Golden Abyss was nice) and while I understand that people were mixed on Sam’s addition, I liked that they waved it away as part of Nathan’s past that was way too painful for him to open up about, along with Nathan’s character development over the course of the years to finally give up the chase and focus on what’s important: his family. The way you see him develop from his stubbornness is nice to see, along with healing the relationship between him and Elena. It feels like the ultimate metamorphosis so to speak from Nathan as a character, one who despite being a total mass murderer of bad guys finally has a happy ending with the people he loves the most. The main antagonists were probably the most memorable besides the meme worthy Lazaravic from Uncharted 2 as people with actual motivations and character arcs. It also sets up a potential future for the series: a Sully and Sam teamup. I don’t know how many of those I would want to see, at least from Sully because it feels like he should wrap up at some point too but I don’t hate the idea of a potential future from Sam. That being said, with the release of Lost Legacy (starring Chloe and Nadine) is something I would consider to be the future I would personally want from the series so that’s fine.
However, the development of the game and the changes mid shift had some differences in the plot that I’d like to explore, a lot of it just being information from TVTropes but interesting nonetheless. Bits and pieces were revealed over the years which included the return of Charlie Cutter from Uncharted 3, with the first half of the original Uncharted 4 focusing on climbing, melee and stealth to address the ever growing Nathan bodycount under Amy Hennig’s ruling. One of the bigger changes to me was with Nathan’s brother Sam: apparently he was one of the main antagonists to begin with. He had openly allied with Rafe and was going to be revealed in a twist to hate Nathan after being abandoned in the prison and was to be revealed apparently in a way similar to Arkham Knight? However, the two would team up to take out Rafe of course and most scenes from the beginning had Nathan and Elena team up together, especially during the auction heist which featured multiple different perspectives and a Dance, Dance Revolution styled segment. Apparently an open ended ending along with some characters being changed from male to female (including the Drake’s offspring) were included under the new Druckmann regime. Honestly, cut content in video games is a fascinating thing for me and so reading up on all of this has me curious as to how I would feel about Uncharted 4 if it was directed by Hennig. Honestly, while I don’t like the fact that employees had to suffer under crunch for this game, I legit think the version we got is perfectly fine on its own. While I meme about the Drake bodycount, the truth is I don’t care because it’s a game, not that it’s an excuse for narrative dissonance if it’s bad but I never minded Drake’s body count aside from some questions. Sam being revealed as an antagonist would’ve been interesting to see and probably would’ve gone over better as the reveal possibly. The heisting from a different perspective would’ve been nice too to be honest to add a bit more variation into the gameplay. I don’t care about the gender swapping and to be honest I agree 100 percent with Druckmann’s take that Nathan’s adventures have kind of run its course. Some stories could go on forever, but most shouldn’t: it’s okay to have finality in something and Nathan’s arc felt like he got all the character development he needed. I just hope they don’t decide to have Cassie be a mass murder adventurer like Nathan too because I feel like they as characters probably wouldn’t want that? I just hope if there’s a future in the series that it’s with Chloe and Nadine from Lost Legacy because honestly that makes the most sense to me.
The gameplay is as basic as the other games are for the most part: you travel around locations via climbing, you shoot bad guys, solve some puzzles and collect puzzle treasures (which includes a Last of Us Firefly Pendant, a Crash Bandicoot fruit AND a Jak and Daxter Orb this time as secrets). I would say that there’s a couple of new things here and there however, for example off the top of my mind is the grapple hook which of course allows you to traverse and swing between locations. I don’t remember when you got this tool but of course it’s pretty useful AND fun as always because it’s a grapple hook. You can also kill motherfuckers by holding the L1 button until it snaps and then run up and melee a guy for a good kill! Speaking of controls, I find it really strange heading from the first three Uncharted games to 4 that the reload button goes from one of the R buttons to triangle, which led to me throwing a lot of grenades by mistake in this one. Other things include getting a stake to climb up certain walls during/after Chapter 15 and at least once or twice you get to drive vehicles with actual decent driving controls that feel good which is amazing considering most driving games I know feel like total ass. One of the biggest improvements to the game is how bombastic the set pieces can be, and they’re pretty good ranging from motorcycle battles in Madagascar to climbing up cage elevators while getting shot at by mercenaries on top of a waterfall. As with the previous games though, if you’re trying to go for the platinum then going through this game on Crushing speaks for itself, and I remember this set piece was one of the most frustrating I think I’ve ever dealt with in the series.
The actual combat feels pretty good still from shooting the usual pistols and shotguns to allowing Nathan to hold big ass turret guns like in Golden Abyss so can’t go wrong with the gunplay; though I’ll always question how Nathan Drake can carry hundreds of dead bodies under his belt and not feel the repercussions mentally but of course as always the games never really put notice on his body count. Regardless, what I consider to be the biggest improvement combat wise is honestly the melee, which feels a lot more immersive and once you know the buttons just revolves around pressing the Triangle button and Square. You can also sneak around in bushes to do stealth kills and maps are way bigger, and sometimes you can have multiple choice dialogue but to be real with you it’s nothing really crazy in terms of improvements or sequel differences between the games. Uncharted 4 is one of those games that continued to build upon the previous entries to create improved gameplay; it’s literally just better Uncharted and if you like the other games then you’ll like what this game does as well, plus possibly more. I guess to finish off the gameplay, another thing I really enjoyed was the unlockable cheat menu which has almost every gun in the game, the ability to switch to infinite ammo, changing the audio to different hertz for strange effects, flipping the world backwards along with skins for almost every character. There’s more than just that of course that I can describe and you can unlock all of these things at the end of a playthrough though only for the difficulty that you played the game and below, that means you can’t cheat during a crushing playthrough until you beat it sadly. Also if you’re looking to pass the speedrun and accuracy trophies there are glitches you can do so you don’t have to worry about doing it legitimately if you can’t be assed.
Graphically speaking the games just keep looking better and better as time rolls on and the new consoles are created. Honestly, I feel that the game’s graphical fidelity is probably one of the best looking games on the entire Playstation 4 between the level of detail with one character model to the environmental design around it, from the crashing waves of ocean (and the fish AI beneath, shoutout to Call of Duty: Ghosts lol) to the bustling of jungle plants as you brush past them. Even on the base PS4 the game looks incredible, enough so that the idea of an Uncharted 4 remaster (just like Horizon: Forbidden West) seems like a strange idea. Maybe I’m just daft but another truth to point out is that oftentimes I can’t really tell what’s being run at 30 Frames or 60 Frames, and truth is unless it slows down to an actual chug I legitimately couldn’t tell that this game apparently runs on 30? With all of the extra details from facial movements and skin stuff to the size of some of the more open sections of the game, it’s a pretty solid foundation to stand on
That being said, the game’s graphical fidelity is only one piece of the actual atmospheric direction that the game is going for, and it’s the simplest one to explain. So, how do I feel about the art direction or the atmosphere of the game? The atmosphere and art direction are very simplistic: each specific location they bring is interesting in its own way of course, with pit stops in Scotland as well as Sicily with their own color palettes and architecture. However, this game is very much a game that feels grassy, it’s a lot of green from the Panama sections in the beginning to Madagascar and finding the actual island where New Devon resides on, filled with abandoned ruins that take a distinct flavor from The Last of Us but recontextualizes it with it’s own unique look. Reading up on Wikipedia’s (yeah, I know) source pages, it’s interesting to read about how they intentionally used contrasting colors to signify some sort of emotional dissonance. My response to this was I didn’t really notice much and the truth is that I don’t really know if that’s because it works efficiently or if it’s because it doesn’t work at all. Don’t get me wrong, Uncharted 4 is a beautiful game but I never really felt much in the way of emotions within its atmosphere or in its art design. The game struck me as Uncharted 1 but darker and prettier, while story wise yeah there’s some character moments, and more mature themes compared to the first one. However, out of all of the Uncharted games I would say that atmospherically this one is the one that kind of does it the least for me, despite the mature themes. It’s not handled poorly or anything and I don’t need Nathan to endure trauma but you can tell that the game is still staying in the lane it wants to stay in: accessible but with more nuance and maturity. That’s fine with narrative dissonance and body count jokes aside. I don’t know, all I can really say from this section is that to sum it up, it’s graphically amazing but didn’t really strike me art direction wise aside from the scale and the beauty of the environments it holds.
The sound design however gets more of a reaction out of me than it did before. Of course the returning cast of Nolan North (Nathan Drake), Emily Rose (Elena Drake) and Richard McGonagle (Victor Sullivan) do an amazing job as always getting back into their roles. Nolan especially does a good job with keeping that old youthful charm while showing an older and more mature Nathan. The other two main actors/actresses that pop into my mind are both Troy Baker, who plays Samuel Drake (originally voiced by Todd Stashwick before the director changeover) and sounds…like Troy Baker. It’s not a bad performance by any means, but I was never particularly immersed in persay with Sam as Sam and was moreso like “oh, that’s Sam as Troy. Again it’s not bad, it’s just super noticeable whereas Nolan has a bit of a different inflection with this role compared to others; however this was apparently due to Troy Baker’s (at the time) friendship with Nolan, which made a lot of the dialogue really easy and smooth to get into. Laura Bailey on the other hand, Jesus H Christ where do I start. She pulls off Nadine Ross really fucking well and I never would have known it was her due to the straight up accent. Of course, there’s the known problematic idea of a white woman playing a black character that can be a little bit much (enough so that Laura had stated that she wished she pushed back more on this and had also auditioned and got the role BEFORE the character design was released) but honestly race stuff aside she does a fantastic job at making me believe that she IS Nadine Ross.
So how does the soundtrack and sound design itself fare within the game? Well, the soundtrack itself of course is more instrumental and orchestral; there isn’t really much else I can say other than a guy named Henry Jackman did the composing and that it’s pretty solid (though it was a change from the previous composer, Greg Edmonson). Not much else I can say about the score other than it fades into the background and helps give off adventurous moods so that’s cool. The actual environmental sound stuff is what I appreciate the most out of this game to be honest. The weapons sound fucking fantastic from the base weapons and on and make each weapon feel powerful and easy to use even if the damage is actually different and honestly, the sound and the feel is what makes weapons feel effective in games. The environment itself is pretty good between flora and fauna as well with one of the best chapters for showing this off would be when you’re shipwrecked and you have to climb through the island while the waves crash and rocks fall around you as you attempt to climb up nearby walls. Overall pretty solid shit, nothing to complain about.
Before I finish off the main review, how is the multiplayer? Considering that you need to dabble in it a bit so you can unlock trophies for the platinum, I ended up giving it a shot. Number one I’m surprised that the servers are still filled with people but the game is a lot of fun. It runs on 60 frames per second, and the character you play as feels a lot more lightweight as you run around the map and either shoot members of the enemy team (as either the Heroes or the Villains Faction featuring returning characters like Charlie Cutter or that big bald bastard Lazaravic from Uncharted 2). You have your cosmetics of course, emotes that really date the game to 2016 (like a Hotline Bling emote LOL) and I believe some form of potential microtransaction but I don’t really care about that shit enough to be honest. Every now and then I come back to it just to see how it’s faring and honestly as a pick up and put down casual experience it’s pretty fun. It basically translates most of the elements from the base game (including grapple hooks) to the multiplayer while making it feel fun. After getting an amount of kills you’ll also be able to unlock special weapons in-match, get one of many artifact abilities (with returning cameos like the Tree of Life Sap from Uncharted 2) or potentially hire someone to follow you to heal teammates or kill enemies. I wouldn’t sink hours upon hours into the multiplayer side, but it’s a fun little side romp for those that want to sink an hour or two into shooting people online.
Having wrapped up Nathan’s final adventure, I’ll be honest and say that while Nathan’s final story could’ve technically wrapped up in Uncharted 3, that the game provided a MORE conclusive and satisfying finale to the mainline series (I hope). Everything feels like it’s at its natural end with Nathan and Elena having settled into doing their own family things. The gameplay feels smoother and as casually fun as the Uncharted series usually is, and I like the switch up from supernatural stuff to real world conflicts. Graphically I could mistake this game for a PlayStation 5 game and audio wise it’s perfectly solid. I’m not sure what else to put here as everything feels pretty much either satisfying or better but in a generic way. Like this is what I would consider one of PlayStation’s most easily accessible franchises to play, something easy to pick up for everyone who wanted to play something and not think too hard and instead wanted to play for the spectacle; again what makes this a 4.5 instead of a 4 is just how it improves on everything and how in depth the story and environments are.
So how did everything go after Uncharted 4? Well, for the series in general it would create one more expansion pack in the way of Uncharted: Lost Legacy which I feel is enjoyable and could potentially be the start of a new legacy for the franchise while playing as Chloe Frazier. THIS is how I feel like the series should go on, if it decides to go on. Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy would later be ported to Playstation 5 as well as for Steam as Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection with help apparently from Iron Galaxy. So how did this go? Surprisingly considering Iron Galaxy’s track record with terrible ports it went decently okay, however The Last of Us 1’s remake would KILL this with a dogshit ass port that’s still struggling to this day. Another thing I want to rant about, I appreciate the port for the latter two titles but what about Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection or Golden Abyss? The older game deserves love too! They also recently released an Uncharted movie with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg which took A LOT of influence from this game but that movie is a whole bag of worms on its own.
As for the future of Naughty Dog? They would go on to hyper focus on The Last of Us content from The Last of Us Part II, to a remake of the Part 1 with both a game and an HBO series adaptation before re-releasing The Last of Us Part II Remastered only on Playstation 5. Naughty Dog has had a strange reputation nowadays, seemingly relying solely on The Last of Us content and remasters/re-releases on that. I’m cool with re-releases but I’m hoping that they would put them all on Steam and perhaps focus on other stuff that varied. I almost forgot, they canceled a Last of Us styled multiplayer Factions title which was shuttered after Bungie said it would struggle to succeed and there are rumors of an Uncharted 1 remake? I’m not opposed to remakes if it’s released on PC but I’m also kind of tired in general. What about Jak and Daxter or a new IP? I don’t know, I guess Naughty Dog’s history is kind of an indicator of how the future of gaming is going: feels stale and with technology getting too advanced with inflated budgets, is it really worth the rate it’s going? I don’t know, ignore the rant if you’re not into my bitching but that’s just kind of how I feel.
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncharted_4:_A_Thief%27s_End
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd
https://uncharted.fandom.com/wiki/Uncharted_4:_A_Thief%27s_End
https://www.gamesradar.com/uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end-preview/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOVesKJWt4k&ab_channel=Eurogamer
https://alexneonakis.tumblr.com/post/145273824333/spoilers-ahead-for-uncharted-4-uncharted-4
https://twitter.com/LauraBaileyVO/status/1268311922169933826
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Rx-Bbht5E&ab_channel=PlayStation
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd
So what’s my experience personally with the game? Where did I originally encounter it from? Truth be told, I have no clue. Probably along with Lost Legacy, I had probably done an extensive laundry list of research into exclusives on the Playstation and just picked it up one day from somewhere (most likely Gamestop as I see old stickers dating back to 2019). I had decided to do a playthrough of Uncharted games 1-3 on Crushing for the playthrough before picking up this title around September of 2021. I remember around that time I was super depressed, again dealing with a lot of girl problems and beating this game was both kind of a chore and a sort of comfort game for me. I had beaten this and then had gone into Lost Legacy around a month or two later; having Platinumed Uncharted 1 through 3 as well as Golden Abyss last year, I decided that this year’s Playstation 4 games of the year would be wrapping up the platinum trophies for 4/Lost Legacy. I wrapped up most of my trophies streaming it for a friend before going out of my way to finish off a speed run and a campaign accuracy trophy by myself. The paragraphs that follow are my feelings on Nathan Drake’s final adventure.
The plot for Uncharted 4 starts off in media res: Nathan Drake is sailing towards an island with another person as waves crash all around them and gunfire exchanges between them and a separate party which ends in a giant crash. It then flashes back to the early years of Nathan, while he was just an orphan (which was revealed in Uncharted 3). Here he is visited by this same other person and it’s revealed who he is: Samuel Drake. He wasn’t discussed in the previous games but here he is now, and he helps him sneak out of the orphanage and shows off his sweet rad bike (I think). It’s revealed here that Sam was kicked out for doing shady shit, and lets his brother know that he’s going to be away for a bit on a new job. However, he later reveals that he knows where their mother’s effects were sold to (no mention of the father here though). ANOTHER flash forward to many years later and the two are stuck in a Panamanian Jail (referenced in Uncharted 1 funny enough) where they sneak in with another partner of theirs: Rafe Adler. They’re on the hunt for pirate Henry Avery’s treasure, and the trail leads here to where his first mate was hanged. After being led there by a corrupt warden who cajoles them into giving him a cut, Nathan finds a crucifix before meeting up with Sam and Rafe. They figure out that the guy on the cross was Saint Dismas (with the trail leading to Scotland) before being ambushed by a bunch of angry thugs. This leads to a bunch of guards breaking up the brawl and the corrupt warden brings them into his office to confront them about the cut again: this irks the ire of Rafe who proceeds to go sicko mode and just stabs the fuckin’ guy. One prison breakout later and Sam is presumed to have died in the process, with Nathan giving up on the treasure and leaving Rafe to his quest.
A couple of years after Uncharted 3, Nathan has settled into married life once again with Elena (playing a game of Crash Bandicoot) while working at a salvage company in New Orleans. However, one day Sam visits him and surprises him and they enjoy a happy reunion while discussing the many years passed. Sam has a bit of a problem though: after the prison break he was saved by doctors and left to rot for the past fifteen years, only saved by one man: Hector Alcazar. Hector is a ruthless drug lord who took a liking to Sam and the tales of Henry Avery’s treasure and broke him out. However, Sam lied and now Hector gives him three months or his ass is mucho muerto so to speak. Nathan of course helps his brother out, and lies to his wife that he’s going on a job to Malaysia with his boss instead of just talking with her and coming clean about his past and what’s going on like I felt he should’ve done.
They learn of a crucifix similar to the one in Panama being sold at an auction at an estate in Italy, and the two team up with Victor Sullivan to sneak in and steal it for their hunt. They make a plan to steal it while the lights are out and Sam finds a waiter’s costume as they sneak around and prepare the deed. However, they run into Nadine Ross: the head of a South African mercenary company named Shoreline who works for Rafe (who I believe you see around the auction) and just wipes the floor with Nathan in a fight. Before I continue, I know a lot of people tend to go on rants about the “SJW agenda” but I’ll be honest, I don’t have a problem with Nadine in the slightest. So what, a woman is kicking Nathan’s ass, big shit? I’d pay to have my ass kicked by a hot chick to be honest, sounds cool to me. People are weird as fuck and the agenda argument is old and tired. Regardless, they all escape the scene in a giant shootout to learn that this cross has a note, also pointing to Scotland. Here’s the kicker, the one in Panama pointed towards a general area in Scotland: the Saint Dismas Cathedral. This one has the location as the Saint Dismas Cathedral Burial Ground, so of course Rafe has spent the last 15 years looking in the wrong place. I’d honestly be fucking furious if I knew 15 years of my life were wasted like that to be real.
Arriving in Scotland, Nathan and Sam are able to find a series of passageways underneath a tomb in the Burial Ground which leads them to a secret room. There’s a series of tests here that tests one's motives, one of which includes choosing between a cross and some coins: Nathan chooses the coins and a light map is shown that points the way towards Madagascar, specifically a place called King’s Bay with the idea that Avery was on a recruitment drive with other pirates for something, though what is unknown. Of course, Nadine and her mercenaries along with Rafe are also able to find this tomb and Sam decides to take the cross as well, collapsing the entire tomb around them as they barely escape with their life and head out to King’s Bay.
A clue involving the coin leads the trio to a volcano, and while avoiding and killing their way through Nadine’s mercenary army they learn that the pirates brought their treasure together into one massive fortune which knowing pirates is a TERRIBLE idea considering their concept of robbing each other. They learn that in one of twelve towers lies another trail, this time to the location of the treasure. Sam goes to one while Nathan and Sully go to another when Rafe calls Nathan to let him know something painfully obvious: they’re being tracked by GPS by their cell phones and that’s how Shoreline got there first. If you’re going to go on a modern day treasure hunt against a millionaire with infinite resources, get some burners. The trio escape after an explosive car chase and millions of dollars in damage later and make their way back to their motel where the final goal is revealed: Henry Avery got together with eleven other pirates with their pooled money and sought to create the ultimate pirate’s paradise: Libertalia. However, Nathan’s wife appears and is fucking pissed both at the reveal of ANOTHER treasure hunt and the fact that he had a brother in the first place, but mostly just because Nathan lied to her. He explains the entire schtick of drug lord Alcazar’s threats to Sam and after Nathan refuses to budge on whether or not the Malaysia job was real, storms off in a fury and honestly rightfully so. Nathan doesn’t want to back out on helping his brother, so Sullivan chases after her instead as the brothers go off to find the treasure.
They set out to some islands nearby where Libertalia is supposedly located and follow clues that point to where this island is before the “in media res” part kicks in and their boat is destroyed. Separated from Sam, Nathan is barely able to climb his way onto the island against Shoreline before encountering his brother again. They make their way through the jungle before finally finding their main goal: Libertalia. Sam is ecstatic while Nathan is just relieved at this point and the two find remnants of a society at odds with each other. The founding pirates had kept all of the treasure for themselves as pirates do, with the colonists doing the dirty work getting pissed and a war started as a staunch anti-capitalist tale. They learn that the pirates moved their treasure to an estate named New Devon on the other side of the island before Rafe finally arrives and reveals a truth: Alcazar’s been dead for a long time, Sam lied to Nathan. Rafe actually released Sam from jail to help him out and Sam backstabbed him so he can get the treasure for himself with his brother as their ultimate legacy. Rafe attempts to shoot Nathan but hits Sam while Nathan is knocked off a cliff before being found by his still betrayed wife (with help from Sully). He finally comes clean about his past and reveals what happened in his childhood when the brothers found the location of where their mother’s stuff was sold.
The two brothers in the past raided an old woman’s mansion to steal their mother’s stuff when they’re caught by the owner: a woman named Evelyn who calls the cops. It’s revealed that this old woman was their mother’s employer, and their mother specialized in Francis Drake who explicitly worked for this woman. The two worked on several different projects together, including Avery’s lost treasure and heirs of Francis Drake, and their mother’s death is alluded to being a suicide. Evelyn proceeds to give them the journal and tells them to continue their mother’s legacy before dying, however the police still arrive and not wanting to be perceived as murderers, the brothers don’t stick around. Sam proposes to Nathan that they change their last names from Morgan to Drake to honor their mother’s legacy and stick together until the Panamanian Jail.
They discuss the past and Elena forgives Nathan and believes that the past was too painful to forgive before she agrees to help save his brother. They proceed to repair their relationship and work together as they find their way to New Devon while avoiding traps and learning that the pirates eventually turned on one another, symbolically showing again that greed is BAD. The two crawl through a cave before they eventually find Sam and save him from Shoreline and mow down even more mercenary bad guys. Nathan tries to convince Sam to give up, but this doesn’t work and they’re separated again. Nathan goes alone to save his brother and ends up finding the fortune’s location: inside of Avery’s ship. Rafe wants to finish his goal of gaining a reputation but Nadine thinks he’s fucking insane with all of the booby traps and wants to leave but is forced to continue through. A trap triggers and an explosion occurs, setting the place on fire and Nathan goes to save Sam. Nadine betrays Rafe after Rafe tells her to disarm Nathan (after pointing to Avery and his right hand man Tew’s corpse, who killed each other over greed), who again thinks Rafe is crazy and has had enough before leaving. Rafe then decides to kill off the brothers once and for all and a cinematic sword fight ensues which leads to Rafe getting crushed and the treasure gone forever as the ship sinks below.
Everyone manages to make their way back to the plane and return back home to their old life, however something changes. Sam actually stole a bunch of gold pieces and gives them to Elena, and the married couple proceeds to revive Elena’s old show and goes on an adventure to Malaysia with Nathan while Sully and Sam team up for the future. It flashes forward to years later as the two have created a daughter named Cassie (after Nathan’s mother) who tries to find out where her parents are after playing a game of Crash Bandicoot (ayyy nice reference). She walks around with her dog Vicky (named after Sully) when she raids her parent’s cabinets and sees pictures of all of their old adventures. The two then proceed to tell her the story of the Drake family and the plot is fin.
My thoughts on this game’s plot: perfect way to end Nathan’s saga to be honest. The obvious symbolism of A Thief’s End (Nathan’s final adventure) mixed in with a tale about greed, how it’ll be the downfall of everyone involved is a nice bit of symbolism that was meant on purpose by Naughty Dog and honestly it fits. I like the action set pieces, the more mature level of storytelling (though tired of the Nathan and Elena conflicts to be honest), and the addition of pirates. I also love some of the lore references (like a sticky note referencing Marisa from Golden Abyss was nice) and while I understand that people were mixed on Sam’s addition, I liked that they waved it away as part of Nathan’s past that was way too painful for him to open up about, along with Nathan’s character development over the course of the years to finally give up the chase and focus on what’s important: his family. The way you see him develop from his stubbornness is nice to see, along with healing the relationship between him and Elena. It feels like the ultimate metamorphosis so to speak from Nathan as a character, one who despite being a total mass murderer of bad guys finally has a happy ending with the people he loves the most. The main antagonists were probably the most memorable besides the meme worthy Lazaravic from Uncharted 2 as people with actual motivations and character arcs. It also sets up a potential future for the series: a Sully and Sam teamup. I don’t know how many of those I would want to see, at least from Sully because it feels like he should wrap up at some point too but I don’t hate the idea of a potential future from Sam. That being said, with the release of Lost Legacy (starring Chloe and Nadine) is something I would consider to be the future I would personally want from the series so that’s fine.
However, the development of the game and the changes mid shift had some differences in the plot that I’d like to explore, a lot of it just being information from TVTropes but interesting nonetheless. Bits and pieces were revealed over the years which included the return of Charlie Cutter from Uncharted 3, with the first half of the original Uncharted 4 focusing on climbing, melee and stealth to address the ever growing Nathan bodycount under Amy Hennig’s ruling. One of the bigger changes to me was with Nathan’s brother Sam: apparently he was one of the main antagonists to begin with. He had openly allied with Rafe and was going to be revealed in a twist to hate Nathan after being abandoned in the prison and was to be revealed apparently in a way similar to Arkham Knight? However, the two would team up to take out Rafe of course and most scenes from the beginning had Nathan and Elena team up together, especially during the auction heist which featured multiple different perspectives and a Dance, Dance Revolution styled segment. Apparently an open ended ending along with some characters being changed from male to female (including the Drake’s offspring) were included under the new Druckmann regime. Honestly, cut content in video games is a fascinating thing for me and so reading up on all of this has me curious as to how I would feel about Uncharted 4 if it was directed by Hennig. Honestly, while I don’t like the fact that employees had to suffer under crunch for this game, I legit think the version we got is perfectly fine on its own. While I meme about the Drake bodycount, the truth is I don’t care because it’s a game, not that it’s an excuse for narrative dissonance if it’s bad but I never minded Drake’s body count aside from some questions. Sam being revealed as an antagonist would’ve been interesting to see and probably would’ve gone over better as the reveal possibly. The heisting from a different perspective would’ve been nice too to be honest to add a bit more variation into the gameplay. I don’t care about the gender swapping and to be honest I agree 100 percent with Druckmann’s take that Nathan’s adventures have kind of run its course. Some stories could go on forever, but most shouldn’t: it’s okay to have finality in something and Nathan’s arc felt like he got all the character development he needed. I just hope they don’t decide to have Cassie be a mass murder adventurer like Nathan too because I feel like they as characters probably wouldn’t want that? I just hope if there’s a future in the series that it’s with Chloe and Nadine from Lost Legacy because honestly that makes the most sense to me.
The gameplay is as basic as the other games are for the most part: you travel around locations via climbing, you shoot bad guys, solve some puzzles and collect puzzle treasures (which includes a Last of Us Firefly Pendant, a Crash Bandicoot fruit AND a Jak and Daxter Orb this time as secrets). I would say that there’s a couple of new things here and there however, for example off the top of my mind is the grapple hook which of course allows you to traverse and swing between locations. I don’t remember when you got this tool but of course it’s pretty useful AND fun as always because it’s a grapple hook. You can also kill motherfuckers by holding the L1 button until it snaps and then run up and melee a guy for a good kill! Speaking of controls, I find it really strange heading from the first three Uncharted games to 4 that the reload button goes from one of the R buttons to triangle, which led to me throwing a lot of grenades by mistake in this one. Other things include getting a stake to climb up certain walls during/after Chapter 15 and at least once or twice you get to drive vehicles with actual decent driving controls that feel good which is amazing considering most driving games I know feel like total ass. One of the biggest improvements to the game is how bombastic the set pieces can be, and they’re pretty good ranging from motorcycle battles in Madagascar to climbing up cage elevators while getting shot at by mercenaries on top of a waterfall. As with the previous games though, if you’re trying to go for the platinum then going through this game on Crushing speaks for itself, and I remember this set piece was one of the most frustrating I think I’ve ever dealt with in the series.
The actual combat feels pretty good still from shooting the usual pistols and shotguns to allowing Nathan to hold big ass turret guns like in Golden Abyss so can’t go wrong with the gunplay; though I’ll always question how Nathan Drake can carry hundreds of dead bodies under his belt and not feel the repercussions mentally but of course as always the games never really put notice on his body count. Regardless, what I consider to be the biggest improvement combat wise is honestly the melee, which feels a lot more immersive and once you know the buttons just revolves around pressing the Triangle button and Square. You can also sneak around in bushes to do stealth kills and maps are way bigger, and sometimes you can have multiple choice dialogue but to be real with you it’s nothing really crazy in terms of improvements or sequel differences between the games. Uncharted 4 is one of those games that continued to build upon the previous entries to create improved gameplay; it’s literally just better Uncharted and if you like the other games then you’ll like what this game does as well, plus possibly more. I guess to finish off the gameplay, another thing I really enjoyed was the unlockable cheat menu which has almost every gun in the game, the ability to switch to infinite ammo, changing the audio to different hertz for strange effects, flipping the world backwards along with skins for almost every character. There’s more than just that of course that I can describe and you can unlock all of these things at the end of a playthrough though only for the difficulty that you played the game and below, that means you can’t cheat during a crushing playthrough until you beat it sadly. Also if you’re looking to pass the speedrun and accuracy trophies there are glitches you can do so you don’t have to worry about doing it legitimately if you can’t be assed.
Graphically speaking the games just keep looking better and better as time rolls on and the new consoles are created. Honestly, I feel that the game’s graphical fidelity is probably one of the best looking games on the entire Playstation 4 between the level of detail with one character model to the environmental design around it, from the crashing waves of ocean (and the fish AI beneath, shoutout to Call of Duty: Ghosts lol) to the bustling of jungle plants as you brush past them. Even on the base PS4 the game looks incredible, enough so that the idea of an Uncharted 4 remaster (just like Horizon: Forbidden West) seems like a strange idea. Maybe I’m just daft but another truth to point out is that oftentimes I can’t really tell what’s being run at 30 Frames or 60 Frames, and truth is unless it slows down to an actual chug I legitimately couldn’t tell that this game apparently runs on 30? With all of the extra details from facial movements and skin stuff to the size of some of the more open sections of the game, it’s a pretty solid foundation to stand on
That being said, the game’s graphical fidelity is only one piece of the actual atmospheric direction that the game is going for, and it’s the simplest one to explain. So, how do I feel about the art direction or the atmosphere of the game? The atmosphere and art direction are very simplistic: each specific location they bring is interesting in its own way of course, with pit stops in Scotland as well as Sicily with their own color palettes and architecture. However, this game is very much a game that feels grassy, it’s a lot of green from the Panama sections in the beginning to Madagascar and finding the actual island where New Devon resides on, filled with abandoned ruins that take a distinct flavor from The Last of Us but recontextualizes it with it’s own unique look. Reading up on Wikipedia’s (yeah, I know) source pages, it’s interesting to read about how they intentionally used contrasting colors to signify some sort of emotional dissonance. My response to this was I didn’t really notice much and the truth is that I don’t really know if that’s because it works efficiently or if it’s because it doesn’t work at all. Don’t get me wrong, Uncharted 4 is a beautiful game but I never really felt much in the way of emotions within its atmosphere or in its art design. The game struck me as Uncharted 1 but darker and prettier, while story wise yeah there’s some character moments, and more mature themes compared to the first one. However, out of all of the Uncharted games I would say that atmospherically this one is the one that kind of does it the least for me, despite the mature themes. It’s not handled poorly or anything and I don’t need Nathan to endure trauma but you can tell that the game is still staying in the lane it wants to stay in: accessible but with more nuance and maturity. That’s fine with narrative dissonance and body count jokes aside. I don’t know, all I can really say from this section is that to sum it up, it’s graphically amazing but didn’t really strike me art direction wise aside from the scale and the beauty of the environments it holds.
The sound design however gets more of a reaction out of me than it did before. Of course the returning cast of Nolan North (Nathan Drake), Emily Rose (Elena Drake) and Richard McGonagle (Victor Sullivan) do an amazing job as always getting back into their roles. Nolan especially does a good job with keeping that old youthful charm while showing an older and more mature Nathan. The other two main actors/actresses that pop into my mind are both Troy Baker, who plays Samuel Drake (originally voiced by Todd Stashwick before the director changeover) and sounds…like Troy Baker. It’s not a bad performance by any means, but I was never particularly immersed in persay with Sam as Sam and was moreso like “oh, that’s Sam as Troy. Again it’s not bad, it’s just super noticeable whereas Nolan has a bit of a different inflection with this role compared to others; however this was apparently due to Troy Baker’s (at the time) friendship with Nolan, which made a lot of the dialogue really easy and smooth to get into. Laura Bailey on the other hand, Jesus H Christ where do I start. She pulls off Nadine Ross really fucking well and I never would have known it was her due to the straight up accent. Of course, there’s the known problematic idea of a white woman playing a black character that can be a little bit much (enough so that Laura had stated that she wished she pushed back more on this and had also auditioned and got the role BEFORE the character design was released) but honestly race stuff aside she does a fantastic job at making me believe that she IS Nadine Ross.
So how does the soundtrack and sound design itself fare within the game? Well, the soundtrack itself of course is more instrumental and orchestral; there isn’t really much else I can say other than a guy named Henry Jackman did the composing and that it’s pretty solid (though it was a change from the previous composer, Greg Edmonson). Not much else I can say about the score other than it fades into the background and helps give off adventurous moods so that’s cool. The actual environmental sound stuff is what I appreciate the most out of this game to be honest. The weapons sound fucking fantastic from the base weapons and on and make each weapon feel powerful and easy to use even if the damage is actually different and honestly, the sound and the feel is what makes weapons feel effective in games. The environment itself is pretty good between flora and fauna as well with one of the best chapters for showing this off would be when you’re shipwrecked and you have to climb through the island while the waves crash and rocks fall around you as you attempt to climb up nearby walls. Overall pretty solid shit, nothing to complain about.
Before I finish off the main review, how is the multiplayer? Considering that you need to dabble in it a bit so you can unlock trophies for the platinum, I ended up giving it a shot. Number one I’m surprised that the servers are still filled with people but the game is a lot of fun. It runs on 60 frames per second, and the character you play as feels a lot more lightweight as you run around the map and either shoot members of the enemy team (as either the Heroes or the Villains Faction featuring returning characters like Charlie Cutter or that big bald bastard Lazaravic from Uncharted 2). You have your cosmetics of course, emotes that really date the game to 2016 (like a Hotline Bling emote LOL) and I believe some form of potential microtransaction but I don’t really care about that shit enough to be honest. Every now and then I come back to it just to see how it’s faring and honestly as a pick up and put down casual experience it’s pretty fun. It basically translates most of the elements from the base game (including grapple hooks) to the multiplayer while making it feel fun. After getting an amount of kills you’ll also be able to unlock special weapons in-match, get one of many artifact abilities (with returning cameos like the Tree of Life Sap from Uncharted 2) or potentially hire someone to follow you to heal teammates or kill enemies. I wouldn’t sink hours upon hours into the multiplayer side, but it’s a fun little side romp for those that want to sink an hour or two into shooting people online.
Having wrapped up Nathan’s final adventure, I’ll be honest and say that while Nathan’s final story could’ve technically wrapped up in Uncharted 3, that the game provided a MORE conclusive and satisfying finale to the mainline series (I hope). Everything feels like it’s at its natural end with Nathan and Elena having settled into doing their own family things. The gameplay feels smoother and as casually fun as the Uncharted series usually is, and I like the switch up from supernatural stuff to real world conflicts. Graphically I could mistake this game for a PlayStation 5 game and audio wise it’s perfectly solid. I’m not sure what else to put here as everything feels pretty much either satisfying or better but in a generic way. Like this is what I would consider one of PlayStation’s most easily accessible franchises to play, something easy to pick up for everyone who wanted to play something and not think too hard and instead wanted to play for the spectacle; again what makes this a 4.5 instead of a 4 is just how it improves on everything and how in depth the story and environments are.
So how did everything go after Uncharted 4? Well, for the series in general it would create one more expansion pack in the way of Uncharted: Lost Legacy which I feel is enjoyable and could potentially be the start of a new legacy for the franchise while playing as Chloe Frazier. THIS is how I feel like the series should go on, if it decides to go on. Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy would later be ported to Playstation 5 as well as for Steam as Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection with help apparently from Iron Galaxy. So how did this go? Surprisingly considering Iron Galaxy’s track record with terrible ports it went decently okay, however The Last of Us 1’s remake would KILL this with a dogshit ass port that’s still struggling to this day. Another thing I want to rant about, I appreciate the port for the latter two titles but what about Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection or Golden Abyss? The older game deserves love too! They also recently released an Uncharted movie with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg which took A LOT of influence from this game but that movie is a whole bag of worms on its own.
As for the future of Naughty Dog? They would go on to hyper focus on The Last of Us content from The Last of Us Part II, to a remake of the Part 1 with both a game and an HBO series adaptation before re-releasing The Last of Us Part II Remastered only on Playstation 5. Naughty Dog has had a strange reputation nowadays, seemingly relying solely on The Last of Us content and remasters/re-releases on that. I’m cool with re-releases but I’m hoping that they would put them all on Steam and perhaps focus on other stuff that varied. I almost forgot, they canceled a Last of Us styled multiplayer Factions title which was shuttered after Bungie said it would struggle to succeed and there are rumors of an Uncharted 1 remake? I’m not opposed to remakes if it’s released on PC but I’m also kind of tired in general. What about Jak and Daxter or a new IP? I don’t know, I guess Naughty Dog’s history is kind of an indicator of how the future of gaming is going: feels stale and with technology getting too advanced with inflated budgets, is it really worth the rate it’s going? I don’t know, ignore the rant if you’re not into my bitching but that’s just kind of how I feel.
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncharted_4:_A_Thief%27s_End
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd
https://uncharted.fandom.com/wiki/Uncharted_4:_A_Thief%27s_End
https://www.gamesradar.com/uncharted-4-a-thiefs-end-preview/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOVesKJWt4k&ab_channel=Eurogamer
https://alexneonakis.tumblr.com/post/145273824333/spoilers-ahead-for-uncharted-4-uncharted-4
https://twitter.com/LauraBaileyVO/status/1268311922169933826
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Rx-Bbht5E&ab_channel=PlayStation
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd