In my review of The Nathan Drake Collection, I hinted at wanting to play the Legacy of Thieves Collection at some point. That day has come, or rather has passed, and I have some thoughts about Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and The Lost Legacy.

Both titles were unmistakably Uncharted games and improved on many aspects of the previous trilogy. The biggest one pertained to the controls, which were more accurate in the fourth entry of the series and its spinoff. This eliminated all the unintentionally hilarious deaths I frequently endured in the first three titles. Combat also benefitted greatly from these improvements and was more precise this time around. Thanks to the PlayStation 5 overhaul, stable high framerates and the inclusion of Dual Sense controller features made for a more fluid and immersive gameplay. The PC version reached even higher framerates elevating the feel of gunplay further.

Despite all the mechanical grievances being eliminated, Uncharted 4 still contained moments of downtime. Naughty Dog’s trademark storytelling and character moments were stretched to their limits on a couple of occasions. These moments no doubt accurately captured the mood of the situation. This is undeniable. I only wished the writers would have opted for a more concise presentation to make it more delightful. Long-winded traversal and climbing sections slowed down progress and put a damper on the enjoyment more than necessary. This sentiment does not apply to the Lost Legacy, however. Its pacing was without complaint while still managing to deliver strong character moments that portrayed the human side of Chloe and Nadine and their relationship.

On the other side of that ancient coin were these high-quality character interactions emanating from this design and gameplay decision, something we have come to expect from contemporary Naughty Dog games. The tenuous relationship between Nathan and Elena, the love and admiration between the two brothers, and the friendship of the group and Sully; all were exceptionally well written. That even extended to Nadine, one of the two antagonists. In typical Uncharted fashion, the primary adversary was just a bad dude. Arrogant and spoiled. A rich douchebag. Someone to dislike.

The Nerdy Bits

Naughty Dog released Uncharted 4 in 2016, and The Lost Legacy came out a year later. Consequently, the PlayStation 5 re-release in the form of the Legacy of Thieves Collection did not push visuals in any way. Only a few upgrades here and there made it into the engine. The gurus at Digital Foundry covered all changes in detail for the PS5 version and the PC release.

I strongly recommend playing in Performance mode on PlayStation 5. The fast combat greatly benefited from the higher framerate. However, I also understand why one would want to engage in the Quality mode instead. A native 4K-image is nothing to scoff at, even if it only runs at 30fps. On the other hand, the PC version constantly hovered in the high-framerate territory, over 120 fps, both on Windows and Linux. That resulted from the comparably outdated rendering technology on modern hardware (Ryzen 7600 & RX 7900 XT).

Keep in mind that being outdated does not mean being unattractive. Quite the opposite was true. Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy were beautiful games with only a few flaws in their lighting technology compared to more modern graphics engines. The characters stood out the most, especially in the many cutscenes. The models boasted exceptionally high detail, and combined with the accurate physically based material rendering, these cinematic moments indeed came to life. This was among the best I have seen recently, even considering Horizon Forbidden West or the Unreal 5-based Immortals of Aveum.

But it wasn’t just the characters. All locations were beautifully crafted and adorned with abundant detail, displaying a very dense scenery despite the enormous scope and more complex and exciting layout.

Everything great about the first three Uncharted games was also applied here. Beautiful cinematics, perfect audio, and flawless voice acting. The subtle but clever new Dual Sense additions on PlayStation 5 delivered a more tactile experience, making it the treasure you can actually keep.

Occasionally, these gorgeous ancient edifices crumbled like almost all remains when Nathan Drake takes a destructive gander. Now and then, I experienced minor hitches in the PC version, like the infamous Unreal Engine traversal stutters. It was unlikely to be a shader compilation, as there was a lengthy step on the first boot of the game and after every driver update. Although it was a constant occurrence, it was not game breaking. They were few and far between. It is worth noting that the PlayStation 5 version did not exhibit this behavior.

Gameplay, Story & Characters

On the gameplay front, The Legacy of Thieves Collection played like every Uncharted before it with a few additions. The most important staple of Uncharted has stayed the same, though. Nathan still could not sprint. However, he and Chloe in The Lost Legacy had a grappling hook to swing across chasms and around corners. Uncharted 4 also contained driving sections that were more than just pushing the acceleration button. The Lost Legacy took this idea a step further. Naughty Dog employed a hub area to explore, with locations of interest spread around the map to advance the story and provide some side content. This was very well done and an excellent middle ground between an Open World and a corridor simulator.

As alluded to earlier, almost all levels were much more complex than anything in the previous Uncharted titles. Areas were more extensive, but not unnecessarily so, and still very dense with detail. Verticality was significantly increased, too, and usually, there was more than one way to get to the destination. This design made each location more exciting to look at and explore. It also opened up more tactical opportunities when trying to take out enemies, Sam Fisher style.

The bigger spaces also enabled more openings for dialogue and character development. The downtime from the action was always a moment to reflect on the events, reminisce on the past, and establish character traits and relationships with others. Although some of these sections were a bit long, they did a great job of laying the groundwork for building and progressing the personality and feelings of the protagonists. Naughty Dog wanted me to really sense the different emotions of joy, hope, and sadness that Nathan went through.

Uncharted 4 is much more personal than any of its predecessors, which is also what the story was about. Chasing after a pirate treasure was only set dressing for introducing Nate’s long-lost sibling Sam and telling a tale of the strong bond between the two brothers. Nathan’s love and admiration for Sam and what he would do for him even threatened Nathan’s marriage. Nate promised to leave the adventurous life behind. Still, he broke this promise to save Sam and embarked on a treasure hunt to find the pirate treasure of the infamous Captain Avery. Things went sideways, of course, and everything was a bit more complicated than initially seemed, which I won’t spoil here. The Uncharted series has always been great at developing characters. Uncharted 4 took this one step forward. The Lost Legacy was closer to the older entries in this series in that the main objective was finding a long-lost treasure. However, some of the Uncharted 4 DNA carried over, and this fantastic spinoff also had strong character moments.

The most profound modification to the story setup came from removing the supernatural elements. I was never a big enjoyer of that anyway, so I welcomed this change. Untouched were the hordes of enemies posing as self-defending cannon fodder. The Hard difficulty was a true challenge because of this, especially during the battles in the last couple of chapters, telling knock-knock jokes at Unfair’s door.

Famous Last Words

The Legacy of Thieves Collection was an almost perfect amalgamation balancing visuals, gameplay, story, and character building. Every aspect was compelling in its own way. As expected, it was the story moments that kept me going, closely followed by the frantic and stealthy combat and the beautifully crafted levels. I recommend taking the time to experience the game, not just play it.

Finding treasures was still as uninspiring as it has ever been, but it did make me look around more, scour the levels, and genuinely appreciate the love for details the designers have put into every location. These two games looked great and played well.

I do not have a witty comment at the end of this review, like in the Nathan Drake Collection post. All that is left to do is thank you for reading.

I appreciate that you have taken the time.