Just a heads up, I'll be spoiling things in here, including the ending of the game, and other major plot points. I also begin this by discussing some early story stuff, so don't look beyond this dashing picture of Nathan Drake if you care about spoilers. But if you do care, take my word for it, this game is fantastic, and absolutely worth your time.

Early in Uncharted 4, there's a section that begins with Nathan Drake sitting at home, in his "office" (his attic) going over some paperwork. He's also pondering a not so legal opportunity for him, and the underwater salvage company he works for. But, he's decided that he's done with flirting the law for potentially big scores, so he puts it away, and you gain control over him in the attic. It's not just an attic, or an "office," though. It's also where keeps a bunch of mementos, and journals from his previous adventures, all of which you can interact with. And as I was slowly making my way through there, looking at that stuff, a wave of emotions flooded over me as I remembered what had happened in those previous games. All those adventures I had been on with Nathan, Elena, Sully, and whoever else went along for the rides.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was released in 2007. It's been nine years since that game. Well, maybe closer to eight and a half if you look at the actual release dates (Drake's Fortune was released in November that year), but it's been a long time either way. Nine years worth of memories all flooding back to me in while I was looking at that stuff in Nathan's attic, and listening to him quip and comment about it as well. It's easy to become attached to anything that sticks with you for nine years, but I've always loved these characters, certainly more than most video game characters. Between the consistently excellent performances, and great banter, they had all found their way into my cold, usually unfeeling heart. For a game full of incredible moments, this attic scene (and what follows between Nate and Elena downstairs) sticks out to me in particular. Not just because it's done just about as well as it could be, but because I have the sort of attachment to these characters that you can't get any way other than having spent a lot of time with them. Nine years. That's over a third of my life.

When Uncharted 4 was initially announced, I definitely shared some of the feelings that this might have been the moment when Naughty Dog went too far with the franchise. As one of the handful of people on the planet that liked Uncharted 3 more than 2 (not an argument I want to have ever again, by the way (cough, Liam (I kid))), I felt like the series had ended about as well as it possibly could have. I certainly had my theory about where the franchise would go (a theory that I think the end of this game suggests could be what Uncharted 5 is; I'll get to that later), but I admit that I was skeptical when I learned it was yet another story about Nathan Drake going after yet another ancient treasure.

How little faith I gave to Naughty Dog, the power of nostalgia, and emotional attachment to characters. In many ways, and for what I want out of Uncharted, A Thief's End is close to being a masterpiece. The main trio of Nathan, Elena, and Sully are on the top of their game in terms of performances, with some especially touching moments from Nathan and Elena, who are now married. And for the most part, the new characters are done about as well as they could be. My only complaint with them is that Nadine (the head of a South African PMC) is a woman of color, but played by Laura Bailey, a white woman. Her performance is fine, but I'm still disappointed that Naughty Dog didn't cast a person of color for the role. So much of the acting field, be it voice or otherwise, is dominated by white people that it's a shame when even characters of color are portrayed by white people. It's not the end of the world, and it's only a minor complaint, but I wish she had either been cast differently, or they had just made the character white.

Aside from her, the casting is perfect. Sam Drake, Nate's long lost brother (who was never mentioned in the previous games) is yet another spot on performance from Troy Baker, who if I didn't know any better, had actually spent years in prison pining over a lost treasure to really capture this character. And finally, there's the slimy Rafe, who is less immediately threatening than the villains in the previous games, but ends up feeling all the more human for it in the end. Which is not to say I felt bad for him, he's still a dirt bag, but he's a believable dirt bag.

The Uncharted games have always had great graphics to back up the great performances, but this one looks so good that I'm afraid I might go overboard with the adjectives in trying to describe it. Given everything else I've seen, and played on the PS4, I almost can't believe how good this game looks. I swear I must have spent a solid hour of my time (a minute or so at a time) with the game just stopped in awe as I marveled at what Naughty Dog has achieved. I kept thinking that eventually I would get used to it, but nope, even into the final stretch of the game, I was still blown away by how good this game looks. Though, one "issue" I'd say the game has is that the main characters, and the environments look so good that a few things stood out as looking not so good in comparison. There's a couple instances with large crowds, and if you stop and look at the people in them, they don't look nearly as good. And, with as detailed as Nathan and the other main characters look, sometimes animations gets a little weird looking, like when the grappling hook magically retracts back to Nate.

Which brings me to the actual game. Aside from the additions of the grappling hook, and a piton for climbing, this game is more Uncharted, through and through. But it also feels like an Uncharted made by people that genuinely wanted to address some of the issues people have had with the series in the past. In the end, there's probably about as much killing as in the previous games (the stats menu had my kill count nearing 600 when I finished the game), but there's a lot more downtime between the fights, and there's a heavier focus on stealth than before. That made the game feel less like Nate murdering his way through hundreds of mercenaries, and more like an adventure with the occasional fight to mix things up.

With that increased focus on stealth, and the extra options for traversing, I think the individual encounters are the best they've ever been. You could sneak around, snapping necks in 2 and 3, and deal with a decent number of enemies that way, but once you messed up and were seen, you had to shoot your way through. There's plenty of encounters in 4 where you are thrown straight into combat, but many of them are almost like little Metal Gear encounters. The enemies will be patrolling around an area, unaware of your presence, and if they see you, it doesn't instantly alert them, instead there's a detection meter. That can lead to some silly interactions, because it's still video game AI, but my love of stealth in games is well known, and I like this approach to Uncharted encounters. And even if you do get spotted, you can get out of their sight long enough that they lose track of you. They'll still search around, but at least they won't be actively shooting.

The grappling hook plays into the combat too. Many of the encounters are built fairly vertically, and with large gaps around (leading to basically bottomless pits), so there's traversal to be had as you dart around gunfire. Having that grappling hook gives more options for getting in and out of areas, and allows for some thrilling bits of shooting whilst swinging, or jumping off and landing on an enemy with a strong punch to the head. Also, I think a first for the series, but you can actually bypass combat completely in some areas. There's still plenty where you have to, and there's no option for nonlethal takedowns (Nate always seems to snap necks in stealth), so don't go thinking this is a "pacifist" game.

It wouldn't be Uncharted without big set pieces, and Uncharted 4 does not disappoint in this regard either. Granted, a lot of them are, to paraphrase something a friend said, barely interactive, and almost entirely spectacle, but it sure is some spectacular spectacle. I'm not going to bother trying to describe them, because you really have to experience them firsthand, but take my word for it. The same level of absurd detail put into almost everything else went into these set pieces, and they're incredible. Definitely some of the best the franchise has seen yet.

But one area where the game falters is the pacing, specifically toward the end. Throughout most of the game, I think the increased focus on climbing, exploration (you occasionally drive a jeep through some larger, fairly open environments), puzzle solving, and quieter moments makes this a better game. The problem comes in the last leg of the adventure, when the story is trying to convey a sense of urgency, but the game is making you push yet another box to climb up yet another ledge that's just too high to boost up your AI partner to. And there's one part where you spend an entire chapter in a flashback that, while filled with some good little moments, doesn't add a ton to the actual story, and certainly not enough to justify its placement in that part of game. What I really cared about then was Nate and company getting to the treasure before the bad guys, not getting a little bit more backstory.

Pacing is hard to get right, regardless of the medium, but I feel like it's especially hard to get right in video games. The right balance between action, and quiet moments is difficult to get right over the course of, in this case, fifteen or sixteen hours. But the fact that so much of the ending chunk of the game feels like filler, after the rest of the game was paced pretty well feels a little baffling to me. Even with a decent amount of the latter parts cut, this would still be longer than the previous games, and I wonder why they felt the need to stretch it out. I mean, that surely had to be the reasoning, because I doubt anyone seriously thought that making you push a large wagon over to a thing to climb up it was the right thing to follow up the last big gunfight before the final confrontation with Rafe.

And it's a shame, because were it not for that filler in the final stretch of the game, I think Uncharted 4 would be exactly what I want Uncharted to be. It still wouldn't be perfect, but I'd be calling it a masterpiece, and my only complaints would be Nadine's casting and a plot hole. Which, I guess now is as good a time to discuss as any. If you didn't heed my spoiler warnings before, then now is the time to stop reading, or skip ahead to the very end.

Late in the game, after many hours of globe trotting adventure as Nate, Sam, and Sully scour various exotic locations (like Scotland) for clues to the treasure, and just as Nate and Sam are getting close, Rafe makes a shocking reveal to Nate. Sam had lied to Nate about how he got out of prison. Instead of a thrilling escape as he and a Panamanian drug lord shot their way out, Rafe had bribed the warden to have Sam let released, so he could assist in finding the treasure.

Now, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's a decent twist, and makes sense from Rafe's point of view. He had been a part of the original scheme, fifteen years before, to try to find the pirate Henry Avery's treasure. While Nate thought Sam died, Rafe had learned otherwise, and believed buying Sam's freedom would also buy Sam's trust as they followed what clues they could to the treasure. The problem is that after that, Sam decided to leave Rafe, and go to Nate with what he knew about the treasure, only he left out everything about Rafe. What then follows is the entire rest of the game, as Nate, Sam, Sully, and even Elena kill their way through literally hundreds of mercenaries. All in the pursuit of lost pirate gold where, at the end, almost all of the gold remains lost like it was to begin with.

Sure, Rafe is an untrustworthy slime ball, but aside from greed, and wanting more of the glory for himself, I don't think the game does a good job of making Sam's decision to double cross Rafe make sense. This isn't like the previous games where the villain actually wanted something to weaponize. There's no ancient, mysterious thing of great power here. Nothing to turn people into those weird, Gollum-like zombies, nothing to grant great strength and blue skin, and no hallucinogenic in the ancient water. It's just about the treasure. Yes, the game had shown Rafe kill with little provocation, but I still feel like Sam's decision was kind of stupid.

But, I guess Sam is kind of an idiot, so it doesn't feel completely untrue to his character. I also think that the game could've benefited from that drug lord being an actual part of the story. Nadine's army would have made more sense if they were encountering a heavily armed drug cartel that was also trying to chase down Sam and Nate. It could have led to encounters where the cartel and mercs were fighting each other, and you technically could get involved, but would be better off sneaking through their gunfights. It might have added some more variety to that stuff, especially near the end of the game, where it needs it.

And that one thing sticks out to me because otherwise, I think it's a pretty good story. It has plenty of fantastic character moments, and it fleshes out so many things that the previous games would have just glossed over. This game goes into so much more detail about the treasure they're after, and the history (both real, and fictional) of it. The game benefits greatly from it. I don't think I had ever heard of Shambhala or Iram of the Pillars before Uncharted 2 and 3. If I had, it was just in passing, and those games kind of assumed that you had. Not that any of what really happened in those ancient cities mattered that much for the stories of those games anyway. Here, one of the subplots is learning about Captain Avery's treasure, and the pirate land of Libertalia that he and some other pirates founded (think Outer Heaven, but for pirates). It's not some amazing, incredible story, but it made finding the treasure, and figuring out what happened, way more interesting than it was in the previous games. There all you did was retrace the footsteps of previous explorers until you realized why they had decided to leave what they found alone.

And the main story handles things so much better than I expected them too. When I learned that this game was about Nate's long lost brother, who had never been mentioned before, I laughed, and thought that was funny. It was the sort of dumb thing that would happen in these sorts of adventure stories. But when you learn why it is that Nate never mentioned him, it makes perfect sense. Nate thought Sam, about the only person that stuck with him throughout his entire life, had died. When their mother passed, and their father abandoned them, Sam was the only person Nate had for support. Sure, he was probably kind of a bad influence in many ways, but they loved each other, and the game handles the flashback where Nate thinks Sam died perfectly. And then there's a follow up in that attic scene I mentioned earlier, where Nate finds the journal he had been using during that quest for treasure. Except this time, instead of reminiscing over a photo from the adventure like the others, he can't bring himself to look, because even fifteen years later, the memory still hurts.

The fact that the game gets stuff like that so right just makes the handful of missteps seem that much worse. Which is why I'm harping on a plot hole that, as I said, doesn't feel untrue to the characters. I just wish they had spent a little more time explaining why he felt the need to set them down this insane adventure of murder and explosions instead of just helping Rafe. But, even if that part of it didn't make sense, it was still a really fun romp. And, in the end, they all made it out alive, and lived happily ever after. Then, there's the epilogue...

Remember when I said that I had a theory about what Uncharted 4 would be, before it was revealed that Nate was the protagonist again? My theory was that, after Nate and Elena finally settled down after 3, they would have a kid, and the next game would be following that kid, now grown up, on an adventure. Nate, now old, would fill in the Sully role of the grumbling old man, and it'd be another good ole fashioned adventure. And what, pray tell, happens in the epilogue?

Well, you play as teenage Cassie Drake, daughter of Nate and Elena, as she plays Crash Bandicoot, gives her dog more treats than the dog probably should have, and finds Nate's hidden stash of journals and artifacts from his previous adventures. Which, of course, ignites the sense of adventure in her. Now, maybe this is just the game trying to be cute, and showing that the Drake family's sense of adventure would live on forever, but maybe, just maybe, it's hinting at Uncharted 5, starring a then grown up Cassie.

Maybe. Maybe I'm completely wrong! But as much as they're positioning this as the final Uncharted, unless this game tanks sales wise, I highly doubt it'll be the final Uncharted game. I know we like to think that these things exist purely because people wanted to make them, but we have to remember that Sony is still a business. Uncharted is one of the biggest franchises they have, and between this game's high quality, and the fact that there still isn't much to choose from for PS4 exclusives, I think this game is going to sell really well. It's still only a week-ish since release day, so I have no idea if they've said anything about sales numbers, but I'd be surprised if it doesn't become the best selling of the bunch. And you know what that means.

Sequel. In my mind, it's just a question of when, and if it'll be a reboot, a side story following someone else, or a proper Uncharted 5, starring Cassie. There's certainly room for something like, Uncharted: Cutter's Quest, or a game about what Sam and Sully do between the end of the adventure in 4, and the epilogue. And the game makes it pretty clear that while Nate and Elena are actually out of the thief side of things, Sam and Sully most certainly are not. That's a very viable path they could also take with another game.

But even if I'm wrong (very possible, honestly), this is still about as solid, and happy an ending as you could imagine for this series. Part of me still might have wanted to see one of the heroes actually die in the ending, but I also feel like that wouldn't be in the spirit of Uncharted. These games have plenty of serious moments, and haven't shied away from making you think people died in the past, but in the end, it's about adventure, and having fun.

And what an adventure it's been over these nine years.

Good read.

As far as another Uncharted game. I don't know where they can take the gameplay to make it feel fresh. The platforming has certainly evolved since the first game but the combat system always felt rough. It's not that the combat system is a complete trash, even though I have claimed the same in the past and some people really like it, but the general feeling is that the combat is the weakest part of that game series. I think my biggest problem with it is that compared to the other gameplay feature the combat is just not fun. I had more enjoyment out of sneaking and sheathing my way through enemies to a point where i just restarted the encounter if I messed up just so I won't have to deal with combat.

The decision to ground the story in "reality" without the supernatural plot twist from previous games was the right thing to do. There's even a part where Nate and Elena joke about that fact. Even though the main plot is a bit predictable, they managed to keep me interested enough in order to keep moving forward. To me the main story was Nate and Sam's broken relationship and the journey they had to take in order to mend it. I personally feel the ending could have been done better but the majority of people seemed to enjoy it so they obviously knew what they were doing.

The one big major disappointment. No Goonies or One-Eyed Willy reference the entire game unless I missed it.

Nice write up!

There is a stat in the Statistics menu called something like "Time Spent Standing" and mines around 2 hours.

Naughty Dog will get to do a new IP after a TLOU2 so I think another Uncharted will have to wait 'til another console I think. My theory of course.

"Digital blackface" is a gross characterization of what happened here. Blackface is a disgusting reduction of people to sub-human caricatures, for the amusement of an exploiting class of financially, socially, and legal dominant persons, set above by some arbitrary set of genetic or phenotypic qualities and justified through whatever science or religion is most currently valid. This is just a casting choice you dislike. Nadine is not prancing around with huge lips chomping watermelons, nor is she a more common and "accepted" stereotype of the sassy black woman. Its as good a representation as one could ask for, and a step above most game companies out there.

Animated works are unrestricted by the inconvenient physical traits their actors bring with them, and this should be celebrated. Unless you want to cast a black south african woman to play a black south african woman character, casting some other black woman from say England or America or wherever else is no more qualified for this role than any white woman from England or America or wherever. Their "POC"ness does not inherently transmit an understanding of the particular nuances around the role. Those nuances have to be brought about by diligent and thoughtful work on the part of 1) the writers 2)casting directors 3)knowledgeable outside sources who are willing to share their culture on its own terms 4) voice actors.

Representation is a difficult and important subject, and is not made better by denouncing mixed race/role casting as "blackface", especially when it is foundational to animated works (tv,movies,games) and the livelihood by which many actors (white and of colour) make their living.

@duluoz: Okay, I agree that my word choice was poor, but I still think they should have either cast someone else, or changed the character. I should have explained that it was less because I thought they were intentionally doing anything racist, and more because voice acting is a field dominated by white people, and it's disappointing that even roles that are people of color are voiced by white people in a good number of cases.

But yeah, I probably should have used a different term, and I think I'll cut that part out of the blog.

@mooseymcman: A very nice write up, some good points. But dat post title doo...To die for! Well done, sir.

@mooseymcman: More diversity in voice actors would be great. If they could have picked up some south african lady to do the role she probably could have brought some additional nuance to it. I just don't think colour casting is the answer.

I don't have any hard numbers for this, but I suspect that voice roles being dominated by whites is a secondary problem to voice roles being dominated by a select small group of "known talent" (most of whom are white, which compounds the problem). Even within black voice actors, how many of those roles go straight to Phil Lamarr?

I liked the rest of the blog.

@duluoz: It's a complex topic that I'm honestly not really well informed enough about to have a properly nuanced conversation about it, but it was a thing that bugged me a bit, so I mentioned. But I do appreciate the feedback!

@laxbro19@liquiddragon@mordukai Thank you all for the kind words!

@mooseymcman: They also had a black person play a white character in game as well. They simply cast who they felt was best for the roles. Nothing more, nothing less.

They also cast that character well before it was fully realized so just changing it would probably have been a real hassle for not a lot of gain.

I find that they have not done enough to improve the gameplay for me, it was frustratingly stiff and not fun to shoot. The story was a blast however and the visuals and voice cast made it an enjoyable experience for me.

I think Sam double crossing Rafe made perfect sense though. It was meant to be him and Nathan, its all he thought about for 15 years.

Great write up. It is definitely the best game in the series. The serious moments that seemed like they were pulled from The Last of Us, really made the game for me. I actually cared about the characters, their relationships, and their feelings. They show their is more to Nathan Drake than a silly, lovable adventurer, and they explore what these characters mean to him. It touches on a lot points the other games just glossed over, such as greed and selfishness. His interactions with Elena were excellent, with multiple somber moments with a perfect soundtrack to set the mood. Everything about the story felt like they learned a lot from making The Last of Us, and it paid off greatly.

Surprisingly, I didn't find any parts of the game poorly paced or dragged on. Maybe it was because I played the game in 5 (maybe 6) sessions, which really broke it up over the course of two weeks for me. I think the ending was handled really well, and the beginning, while I was certainly itching for the adventure to begin, really made for great payoff later in the story. Naughty Dog is an awesome developer and I can't wait for their next adventure.