Adventure of a Lifetime: A 30-Day Trek through the “Uncharted” Series
In roughly a month, I travelled nearly a decade.
From 2007’s Drake’s Fortune all the way to 2016’s A Thief’s End, the entire saga of Nathan Drake consists of nearly 100 chapters and more than 40 hours of gameplay. The collection of four games (well over a decade of hard work from the sages of storytelling at Naughty Dog) accumulated hundreds of accolades all during their respective releases. Each entry, released two years apart with the exception of Drake’s final adventure, readily pushed the standards of what was thought possible through cinematic, virtual storytelling.
Each night, as I powered on a newly-purchased PS4 that finally gave me the opportunity to catch up on what I’d been missing the last two console generations, I would do my best to “take in” what the series offered me; to not rush through firefights, puzzles, or the many crumbling hand holds that would *almost* drop Nathan to his doom. After all, this may or may not be the last we ever see of the Indiana Jones-inspired treasure hunter or his partners to treasures unknown.
As I admittedly mimic virtually every think piece and review of these games before me, I’ll repeat the self-evident sentiment that these games are quite good. Graphically, they set an unrealistic standard for most other games to compete against across either the PS3 or PS4 generation. Mechanically, games 2 & 4 stand out as by far the most polished across the platforming and action sections. Thematically, it wasn’t until A Thief’s End that characteristic consequences really started to feel of real weight.
Fittingly enough, Naughty Dog’s 2013 masterpiece The Last of Us (developed and released between Uncharted 3 and 4) was a game I played and completed before starting the Uncharted collection on my PS4 catalog “catch up” list. Therefore, the end result of Naughty Dog’s strides in storytelling was experienced before seeing the studio’s first steps in conveying more mature emotions and themes through their games. Seeing the studio learn what this medium is capable of and push the boundary as they transitioned blockbuster gaming titles is nothing if not awe-inspiring.
Admittedly, a copy of The Lost Legacy (the 2017 spin-off) remains in its box in my living room, ready to be played once games like the 2018 God of War reprisal and The Last of Us Part II are complete. However, there’s a reason I made a priority to embark on the Drake family’s quests to El Dorado, Shambhala, Iram of the Pillars, and Libertalia early. All four games are undoubtedly essential to modern gaming, a series I’d encourage any other playstation procrastinator to pick up (despite the fact that I myself may have been a few years behind the hype).
As the now-retired explorer Nathan Drake would say, it’s better late than never.
