Genre: Third Person Action-Adventure
Modes: Single Player
Developed by: Naughty Dog, Iron Galaxy
Published by: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release date: PC release October 19 2022
Platforms: PS5 and PC
Platform I played on: PC
Reviewer Notes;
Despite the fact these games are a few years old now, I still like to write my reviews as spoiler free as I can when possible
Photos with 'captured on PC' on the bottom right corner are images provided by Sony, everything else was taken by me via the game's photo mode
Uncharted Legacy of Thieves includes the last two games of the Uncharted series; Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and spin off Uncharted: Lost Legacy, which released on PlayStation 4 in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Legacy of Thieves has been remastered and enhanced for not only Sony's latest next gen console, PlayStation 5, but following the more popular trend and making its way to PC as well. Making it more accessible for players new and old alike.
The Uncharted series is one of my favourite video game series of all time - and A Thief's End is my favourite Uncharted game (Yes Among Thieves is still good and I highly rate it but I just enjoyed 4 that tiny bit more). Both games provide an excellent story, extraordinary environments to explore, and compelling characters reaching their goals. Even on the PlayStation 4, the games already looked gorgeous, but with enhancements for next gen console and PC - wow, it's just absolutely outstanding, and an experience worth playing through again, or perhaps for the first time.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Story
Set a few years after the events of Uncharted: Drake's Deception, players resume the role of a retired from treasure hunting Nate, who now works at a marine salvage business in New Orleans. Oh, and also he's been officially married to Elena for a while now! The two are adjusting to a seemingly 'normal life', but it's evident that Nate is still drawn to the treasure hunting life. Eventually, he does get pulled back into this life by someone from his past, Sam. Not only to seek the greatest treasure of all time (Yarr, it be the treasure of legendary pirate Henry Avery) but to save Sam's life. Early on in the game though, you'll be able to figure out who Sam is pretty quickly- but I don't want to get into further detail as it's worth experiencing for yourself if this is your first time playing this game.
Joining in on this adventure as well is of course long time friend, Sully and Elena, eventually. Throughout your adventure, you'll also encounter a man called Rafe (who is also someone else from Nate's past!) and Nadine, a mercenary and leader of an army called Shoreline. This pirate treasure adventure takes them to a few different locations, including Europe and Africa with a few twists and turns along the way. In saying that though, I didn't find anything extremely shocking personally, as early on in the game you can sometimes predict each plot point, but still it's enjoyable. Each emotional beat was pretty on point - and that was on par with the acting/Mocap (which was fantastic from each performer!)
There's also a range of easter eggs from my personal favourite of actually getting to play Crash Bandicoot twice in this game, Nate mentioning the country from Paper's Please, and even a trophy/achievement you can collect thanks to an E3 Stage Demo Fail back in 2015! There's also a reference to other Naughty Dog games including The Last of Us (also one of my favourite games) and Jak and Daxter.
Naughty Dog once again achieves a compelling, rich narrative that delves in more depth into Nate's past. There's a clear conflict within him throughout the story, and the game does a great job of giving you time to explore, without having to fight an enemy every minute. To me, it's a good balance of combat, exploration, puzzle solving, storytelling, and immersion. No chapter feels like a chore, and the story is well paced and structured - at least to me. For some players, it may be a bit of a slow burner at first, but it's well worth sticking around for and unfolding the secret behind a pirate utopia, and wrapping up Nate's story.
Gameplay
From using your grapple hook, scaling walls and using a variation of weapons, the gameplay is extremely satisfying especially when you're on the brink of death while swinging and shootin' the bad guys down. Rolling your way behind cover when there's a bunch of people shooting at you, and running from death traps - it's all part of the Uncharted gameplay charm.
For me personally, I prefer to use controllers when playing on PC/Laptop. If using a controller, you use L1 to hook your grapple to specific areas, and as usual you'll press X to jump, Square to melee, Triangle to reload, R1 to throw a grenade and R2 to shoot. To view Nate's journal, you press down on the touchpad to view it, and pressing down on the D pad will help you locate your vehicle. (It's easy to get a vehicle lost in the middle of nowhere!). Aside from climbing, you can also swim in some sections of the game.
While I find the end boss fight still pretty cool, I've always felt there was something slightly off about it. Again, without spoiling anything major - the end boss fight brings in new mechanics. On paper it's actually a really cool idea - it ties in perfectly with the fate of Henry Avery, alongside wrapping up Nate's story with one last fight to end it. It's an easy enough concept, and it should have been that simple, but it wasn't. It's not a difficult mechanic per say, but it may confuse players at first, considering it's not how usual gameplay mechanics had been in the game. However, in saying that though it definitely keeps you on your toes and tense.
Both games also have a photo mode, so have fun! (I sure did)
Graphics | Design
While playing through both titles, I was also in the process of reviewing Allied Gaming's Tomcat-A gaming laptop, so I thought this was the perfect time to see how far I could push the limits with both the laptop and game. The Tomcat-A runs with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor with Radeon Graphics, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080.
I ran most of the game with little to no issues on the laptop's Gaming/High performance setting with the games Medium-High graphics settings which ran smoothly. I also did test out the Ultra graphics mode, and it seemed that while the Tomcat-A was still able to handle it, it was definitely pushing the limits and I noticed some slight performance issues. I even tried the game's medium settings on the laptop's office mode (actually I did that by accident) and the game still ran. Not fantastically of course because on that particular laptop setting it doesn't utilise the CPU or GPU - but somehow I was still able to run the game. For reference, you can view all the settings here via PlayStation blog
The graphic settings include;
Textures
Model Quality
Anisotropic filter
Shadows
Reflections
Ambient occlusion
And in the main menu before booting up the game you can also find settings for;
FSR or DLSS
Motion blur intensity
V-Sync
Performance counters
Lock frames to 30
The overall design of the game is Naughty Dog's signature style with their attention to detail with their beautifully crafted environments and characters, engaging puzzles, environmental storytelling. If you've never played an Uncharted or Naughty Dog game for that matter - you're in for a real treat. From fight sequences that feel right out of an over the top, explosive action movie to jumping from vehicle to vehicle - oh yeah, you're in for a nice treat.
Soundtrack
Henry Jackman has crafted not one, but two excellent soundtracks to go alongside A Thief's End and Lost Legacy. Each soundtrack reflects the atmosphere and tone of the game perfectly. While I thoroughly still enjoyed Greg Edmonson's soundtracks who was the composer for the first 3 Uncharted games, Jackman's soundtrack is just as good, and does a great job of keeping Nate's original theme alive, while weaving in the new adventure's atmosphere. With the use of whistles, drums and violins, A Thief's End soundtrack evokes an adrenaline pumping action movie sequence, but also provides a sentimental sound too. Jackman is also the composer for both Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Next Level, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and Captain America: The Winter Soldier just to name a few.
Glitches | Bugs | Issues
Most games to some degree usually have a glitch or two, and Legacy of Thieves was no exception. The glitches I encountered included;
A glitch in the Scotland chapter. During a puzzle, Sam wasn't in the spot he was supposed to be in so I couldn't progress the story. While still a bit annoying to do, all I had to do was fall to my death and respawn. Thankfully after that it worked flawlessly and I didn't encounter any other glitch like that.
In a more funnier glitch during the Madagascar chapter Nate and Sully blobbed together after I accidently walked into Sully. Thankfully this also wasn't ground breaking or anything, it was just funny and the game continued as normal.
Replay ability
There's a tonne of replay ability here, especially if you're someone who enjoys collecting every single thing the game has to offer. There's a variety for difficulty modes, as well as accessibility which is always a welcome feature. The story alone has made me replay this game quite a few times now, with one run for mopping up the rest of the trophies on PS4. At some point I would like to replay it again on PC and get a few more achievements, but for right now I've got so many games on my backlog it probably wouldn't be anytime soon.
If you haven't played A Thief's End or Lost Legacy for that matter, do yourself a favour and put this on your game list. If you don't have access to the first three games, don't stress. There are some YouTube channels that give a great recap on the first 3 games before jumping into the 4th game.
I recommend this game regardless if you've played it before or not, and If you're looking for a gripping adventure action story that'll have you'll hooked for the next 15-16 hours, this is it. It has the perfect blend of story, exploration, combat and figuring out puzzles without any of it seeming like a chore. At least to me, it's also well structured and paced adequately without jumping to too many flashbacks to throw you off.
Uncharted: Lost Legacy
Story Lost Legacy takes place 6-12 months after the events of A Thief's End, and stars Chloe Frazer (In case you don't know: Chloe is a previous associate, ally and former love interest of Nate from the 2nd & 3rd game) and Nadine Ross as they search for the Tusk of Ganesh - an Indian artifact Chloe's father became obsessed with. Of course though, it wouldn't be a treasure hunting adventure if there wasn't someone else after it! Aside from a civil war brewing in the background in the meantime, both are trying to keep the Tusk from the hands of ruthless war profiteer, Asav.
Throughout their adventure deep into the mountains of India, you'll also come across a familiar face (yeah no spoilers here!) alongside areas to explore. Like A Thief's End, it has the perfect balance of story, combat, puzzle solving and exploration. It's a much shorter experience that takes around 6-7 hours to complete, and originally it was supposed to be a DLC. However, it grew into something much larger that it became its own stand alone game instead, giving us Uncharted fans just that little bit more time in the world.
The story, much like A Thief's End, provides an excellent, compelling adventure that is worth experiencing. The pacing does feel a little dragged out when you first drive around in the larger open space, but once you get further into the game it becomes more linear, and starts to pace much better. At least to me anyway, and don't get it wrong though, I still enjoyed exploring the open space and it's not a bad thing, it just takes a while for the story to get in the flow again. Once it does though, you're in for a real treat with more set pieces again straight from an over the top, explosive action blockbuster movie, alongside excellent character growth towards the end of the game.
I also enjoyed the conversations between Chloe and Nadine, and both characters slowly opening up to each other. There is a bit of tension at some point throughout the game between these complex characters, but the two eventually become friends (and I'm here for it!). I would love know what adventures Chloe and Nadine get up to after Lost Legacy, but I'm just glad we still got time with them in this shorter experience. Thank you Naughty Dog for fleshing this game out to a standalone title!
Again, the acting and mocap was excellent from each performer, and it was so satisfying to hear Claudia Black's voice once again.
Gameplay
The gameplay is almost the exact same as A Thief's End, (X to jump, Square to punch etc.) With the only big difference being is having a phone rather than a journal. When you press the touchpad, you'll bring up Chloe's phone and you can see all the photos you've taken on it so far. Also scattered throughout the game are specific spots you can take photos from to eventually gain a trophy/achievement. All the more reason to explore in this game!
There isn't much else to add here as mentioned the gameplay is pretty much the same as A Thief's End, but of course expect awesome blockbuster action sequences that'll have you jumping, climbing, punching and swinging.
Graphics | Design
While I didn't come across any glitches like I found in A Thief's End, I still found Lost Legacy didn't run quite as well, it just had a bit more loading time. For example, while I was driving around in the larger open space, the game stopped for a moment or two to load - which I didn't have at all in A Thief's End. Again, it was only a minor thing that happened twice if my memory serves me correct. Other than that though, I didn't have any major issues. I played this on the same settings as I did with A Thief's End.
Soundtrack
As mentioned previously, Lost Legacy soundtrack shares the same composer as A Thief's End. Henry Jackman crafted a distinguished soundtrack between both games that reflects each adventures atmosphere. Some tracks share a similar sound in some instances - but you'll usually be able to tell if you're listening to the soundtrack on spotify for example (like I'm doing right now) and you can pick which game it's from.
Glitches | Bugs | Issues
Nothing which was surprising to me considering I had a couple in A Thief's End. This isn't to say there aren't any, of course you may still experience some glitches on your playthrough(s). The only thing, as mentioned, was the game took a few moments to load the game before I could resume playing.
Replay ability
Yes! Like A Thief's End, there's so much to explore! There's also once again difficulty modes to test yourself, mop up all those trophies/achievements and of course there's accessibility options - which again is an awesome feature for more people to play the game!
The Lost Legacy is still worthy of your time, and you can knock out the main story in one sitting. If you're still hungry for more Uncharted - look no further, Chloe and Nadine have got one last incredible adventure for you. While it is a shorter experience, I still found the story on par with the rest of the series - though I do kinda still wish there was a bit more time with Chloe and Nadine.
Overall conclusion
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is simply worth your time. Again, whether you've played the series since the PS3 era or if this will be your first time picking up one of the games; you'll have an absolute treat playing one of the best action/adventure video game series ever - in the most definitive way to play! Not only with iconic characters and unique stories - but the fact is Uncharted is still it's own thing, while simultaneously feeling like you're in a giant blockbuster action film. With a wide range spectacle of action sequences that has certainty set the bar across the entire genre, I can only recommend this.
Depending of course on your PC/laptop, you can check the setting recommendations via the PlayStation blog to make sure you're getting the best experience from whatever you're playing on.
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