Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape.

Mark Twain

Uncharted according to many reached it’s peak with the second entry, making a name for itself by way of bombastic action sequences, gorgeous level design and a likeable cast helmed by Nolan North as the smart aleck adventurer Nathan Drake. After Drake’s Deception rather lukewarm reception many wondered if the world needed another Uncharted game? The answer is well, not really, but turns out I’m damn glad we got one.

After years of separation Nathan Drake is reunited with his brother Sam whose sudden appearance quite unsurprisingly sparks the last big adventure for our now domesticated hero. Since the conclusion of the last game Drake had settled down, gotten married and tried his hand at a simpler life - one that requires permits rather than guns, paperwork rather than punches and taking turns at who is going to wash the dishes. The itch for adventure never quite went away though, and it doesn’t take much convincing to strap on the leather holster, break out a fresh journal and go skipping around the globe in search of the greatest pirate treasure cache ever known.

A Thief's End is first and foremost a game about people and the relationships that bind them together more so than any hidden treasure. This new emphasis on the characters rather than the objects they’re after lends the Uncharted franchise a refreshingly human face, and it’s one that some might not necessarily appreciate. Early on there is a litmus test of sorts that might determine how one will react to this newest more mature entry in the series. Chapter 4, whose exact details I will omit, takes a break from the action in a profound way that had me smiling from ear to ear as I ate up everything it offered. Yet I’ve read just as many people be bothered by it’s slow pacing that got in the way of what some came to expect as traditional gameplay. This slowing down of the tempo marks a shift in how the rest of the game is generally paced out. The beginnings of Uncharted 4 offer a surprising amount of story and character exposition before getting into the nitty gritty of things.

When the game does hit it’s stride it’s back to basics for Nathan Drake and crew. Mechanically not much has changed in this newest Uncharted entry. You will do a fair amount of climbing, exploring, picking up of random trinkets and falling as all manner of surfaces break apart all around you in the most cinematic ways imaginable. On top of Drake's famous superhuman grip you will now be able to make use of a grappling hook which is utilized in specific instances, clearly marked by an anchor icon, for both puzzles and traversal alike. It’s a fun little gadget that helps break up the monotony of the now very familiar climbing which remains a simple affair of jamming on the X button as you hold down a direction. Halfway through the game you do get one more tool to use but it shows up so sparingly after it’s introduction and has such a limited use that it’s almost not worth mentioning.

Uncharted 4 does try something a little different with it’s approach to level design. While mostly known for it’s tightly scripted sequences and very tightly knit paths through each area, Thief’s End opens up the level design in a minor yet interesting way. Coined as “wide-linear” by the developer, what this boils down to are levels that stick to a set A-to-B format while offering multiple approaches along the same path. You might climb up and over, down and under or go around the side in any given location. This might seem like barely anything in a world of open ended adventures but surprisingly these multiple approaches to the same destination lend the gameworld an organic feeling that simply wasn’t there when you were locked into climbing over the singular set of handholds every single time. One area early on tasks you with driving towards a mountain and for a second it really does feel like the game opens up this huge landmass for you to simply explore and go where you please. Only after a few minutes do you realize that you've actually been on a meticulously crafted path all along, you just didn't know it. Like many elements of Uncharted 4, it’s a small change but one that you can appreciate.

Combat likewise has not seen a major overhaul. Love it or hate it, the shooting in Uncharted 4 remains quite jittery with enemies soaking up inordinate amounts of damage if you don’t go for those precious headshots - a feat that I found surprisingly difficult as most weapons jump erratically in your hands sending bullets flying in wide spreads. I’m no novice when it comes to shooting in third person action games, but something about the gun handling in Uncharted has always eluded me and continued to do so in this latest entry. You still need to manually pick up ammo and there is no upgrade or progression system of any kind - options that played a key role in the newest Tomb Raider titles. If one is feeling adventurous then the grapple can be used in some interesting ways to quite literally get the drop on enemies, but such acrobatics usually leave you wide open and after the third or fourth time I got completely hosed down with bullets after my aerial takedown I decided to stick to the more conventional means of dispatching baddies. Surprisingly what is new is a stealth system that lets the player circumvent combat encounters all together. As if aware that not all their fans enjoy the peculiar gunplay of the Uncharted series, Naughty Dog has seen fit to allow the player to skip almost all combat encounters apart from the few necessary scripted story sequences. Although the stealth is not as robust as some other games, Drake is able to sneak by in tall grass and use his array of climbing skills to take out or simply bypass guards in any given “combat arena.” Personally I opted for this silent approach each and every time, thankful to not have to engage with the rather clumsy gunplay against waves of spongy targets.

So the traversal is largely the same, and so is the combat, then why am I so glad they made another Uncharted game when it seems that it does little to differentiate itself from it’s predecessors? Well as shallow as it may sound, it’s the spectacle. Uncharted 4 may not be the greatest “game” but it is an amazing “experience” with top notch voice acting, a heartfelt story and spectacular action sequences all dressed up in the most gorgeous graphics the PS4 has seen to date - running at an almost rocksteady framerate to boot. I cannot count the amount of times I simply stood in awe of how beautiful and detailed the world around me was. What Uncharted does well it does exceptionally so. During each scripted event the camera always finds the perfect angle to show off the action in all it’s glory. As you climb impossibly high cliff-sides the view shifts gracefully outward giving you a breathtaking sense of scale as Drake transforms into a tiny dot on the horizon. It's almost impossible to not get swept away in the grandeur of it all even if the act itself of getting up these structures isn't particularly challenging.

It is inevitable that comparisons between Tomb Raider would arise as both of these series are generally about the exact same thing although their approach is radically different. Where Tomb Raider was a very involved videogame, host to upgrades, crafting, skill tree’s and host to all manner of game mechanics, it was also an average story that served as a mere backdrop for all these systems to shine. A Thief’s End shines in being an amazing adventure that thanks to Naughty Dog’s newfound maturity in storytelling and appreciation for character development is both relatable and grounded in a way that you can enjoy even if you don’t care about all these pirates - because by the end of it you’ll care way more about these people, rather than the hundred year old skeletons clutching at golden coins. I may have enjoyed actually playing Tomb Raider a lot more in the moment, but I appreciated Uncharted as a story a lot more by the time the credits rolled. Nathan Drake grows and matures as a person through the course of the game in a way that is at once sombering and very satisfying.

At the end of the day is Uncharted 4 a must have game for all PS4 owners? Again, no not really, but it is an exceptionally well made one that I would recommend to anyone that enjoys a good story and top tier production values. Thief’s End is also the single strongest argument for why these new console revisions aren’t as necessary as some make them out to be as it’s a game that looks and runs amazingly well proving that a talented developer can make these boxes do amazing things when they put a little elbow grease into it. There is a multiplayer aspect that I completely glossed over, and it is competent at what it does but nothing to write home about. There are various modes to play, character customization and as per industry standard microtransactions and “hats” galore for those that wish to partake in that sort of thing.

Uncharted 4 is this great summer blockbuster movie with a solid game driving the narrative forward. The only element keeping this game back for me was that as much as I enjoyed seeing the story play out, some of the combat sequences did bog things down - especially the latter encounters which introduce armored heavy machinegun toting adversaries that shrug off your bullets like nothing and are relentless in their assault. Similarly as beautiful as it is to climb through the various environments, Uncharted 4 doesn't really test your manual dexterity in any shape or form to the point where anything that isn't combat tends to feel like you're simply going through the motions. It's not an especially challenging game. That said if you’ve played all the titles up until now then you really should see the series to the end as it’s an exceptionally satisfying conclusion to the franchise. If you’ve never played an Uncharted game before but have heard all the hype then you can still jump in and have a great time as Thief’s End concentrates on the here and now rather than referencing a whole lot of story from previous entries. Either way I would recommend checking it out as it’s a heck of a ride.