Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Review

Content Summary

We will examine Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, the game that came out 5 years after Uncharted’s third game and completed the Nathan Drake series.

Describing the life of a treasure hunter; The Uncharted series, which features a mix of Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider and James Bond, started in 2007. The series, which made the developer Naughty Dog a big hit with its first game Uncharted Drake’s Fortune, also took the storytelling in video games to a completely different point.

In addition, it was the first game to try features such as vibration brought to the Playstation arms, and it also contained technical innovations.

Uncharted: 4 A Thief’s End Teaser Image

After the success of the first game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was released 2 years later, telling a brand new story by perfecting the gameplay mechanics of the first game. Two years after this game, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, which is perhaps the most popular Uncharted game according to the conditions of the period, was released.

Drake’s Deception set the artistic and technical bar so high with its storytelling and scenes in the desert that it was inevitable that it would reach huge sales figures. So it was. All of Uncharted’s games released up to that day had scores of 85 and above on Metacritic.

Based on this success of the series, Naughty Dog started working to develop the fourth game in 2011, the year the third game was released, but these works were interrupted when the game’s creative director Amy Henning and director Justin Richmond left Naughty Dog in 2014. They were replaced by Neil Druckman and Bruce Straley.

A photograph of Neil Druckman (right) and Bruce Straley.

Those who play the Last of Us series are familiar with this duo. They are like Barcelona’s midfield with Iniesta and Xavi. It’s an amazing partnership. So Neil Druckman and Bruce Straley put their heads together and set their sights on again for the fourth game. In 2016, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, the last game of the series about Nathan Drake, comes.

Story of The Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

The love story in the Uncharted series is one of the most tiring, most enjoyable to watch, and one of the most delicious love stories to play. You know, at the end of the third game, we decided to marry our dear Elena, who accompanied us on our adventures as Nathan Drake.

In this game, we are now married to Elena and we live a beautiful life in a two-story house, although they miss the years spent with adventures, even if it is not suitable for them. However, there are new unknowns regarding Nathan. Although we go to Nathan Drake’s past in the third game of the series, there are parts that have not yet been revealed and remain in the dark.

Here is the fourth game, which answers all these unknowns and we understand where Nathan’s surname comes from. We learn that Nathan Drake actually has an older brother whom he thought died years ago and is in trouble. Here is Nathan’s older brother: Sam Drake!

Nathan Drake’s Brother Sam Drake

In order to get the money to get Sam out of trouble, we set out to seize a pirate treasure that we and our brother dreamed about when we were kids. This time our mysterious city is Libertalia, a utopia founded by pirates!

A scene from the pirate utopia Libertalia

Sam is a little more experienced with pirates than Nathan. Sometimes we even talk to him about things. Our wife Elena and our spiritual brother Sally also accompany our story. The sequel is sixteen hours of gameplay with a rare twist and insatiable.

Uncharted 4 General Evaluation

Uncharted 4 is the first Uncharted game developed entirely for the Playstation 4. This is a technically very successful game that catches up with the era even when played in 2022, as it technically relieves the developers’ hand.

There are also open world elements in this game of the series and it is placed in full taste. For example, we now have a 4×4 that we can use for a long time and that serves the progress of the game with details such as tractor. Especially the volcano sections provide a wide open world and a pleasant driving experience.

The open world and driving experience in the terrain with volcanoes is very successful.

Another innovation brought to the game is the hook. Nathan has a rope hanging from his waist and we can use it as a hook and hang from trees, beams and swing. These details also accelerated the action of the game.

It is possible to hang with a hook and jump from place to place or slide along the rope.

Some of the dialogs are selectable. However, this does not affect the overall story of the game much. I like the plan of the story from beginning to end, without any errors. Therefore, I am glad that these choices did not affect the flow of the game in such a game. In other games, of course, I like that the dialogues affect the game, but I don’t want such a thing for Uncharted.

My favorite part about the game is that silent progress shows its existence as a very real and serious option. There were similar features in the previous parts of the series, but silent progress is a serious option in this game and it is a real pleasure to make progress silently. In addition, it was very, very nice that they did not include the surreal nonsense they used in the first three games in this game.

One of the artworks for Uncharted 4

In summary, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a very enjoyable masterpiece to play. It’s a masterpiece that you play for an hour, so that it doesn’t end too soon. It’s a worthy finale to the Nathan Drake series with its long gameplay and beautiful script.

One of the gameplay footage

There’s nothing left in the story and it’s satisfying to see the ending of Elena and Nathan.

This is my favorite aspect of Naughty Dog. It is the same in The Last of Us and Uncharted. They construct their series in the form of a story that spans the years with a human experience that will last for almost two generations, and this enables them to obtain a narrative worthy of human reality.

The narrative, which lasts for years, together with the release dates of the games, makes one feel that human life is full of adventures and that they should examine the events maturely.

Uncharted is an adventurous game. While playing the game, I always thought: We have one and only life given to us. We waste it doing the same things every day. We have to see new places and get new experiences. Yes, economic conditions prevent this, but these days, when I am about to turn 30, watching videos of places on Youtube that I thought I would never find the opportunity to go makes me sad.

I want to go, I want to see. Of course, it is not my intention to do this greedily. I have interests, professions, jobs that I think will benefit the public. But I want to enrich this by traveling and seeing and lead a meaningful life.

Take care until we see you at the next review.

References

https://uncharted.fandom.com/wiki/

https://www.metacritic.com/search/