It wasn’t long after the release of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, that people thought the series was over. The end of that game signaled the possible end of the franchise and developer, Naughty Dog had “moved on” to The Last of Us. But now, in 2016, we have a fourth Uncharted game, and despite initial worries about a troubled development, A Thief’s End is the best entry in the Uncharted series.
I won’t delve into huge spoilers, but the gist of the story is that Nathan Drake is retired. He’s married Elena, given up treasure hunting, and found a legitimate job. He misses his old life though, and the game does a wonderful job of portraying this in the early chapters of the game. This normal life is disrupted though when Nathan’s thought to be dead brother comes back into the picture.
Sam Drake is the hook for this game. Played by Troy Baker, he brings a certain kind of energy to the story that was missed in the last game. He and Nathan Drake performer Nolan North have excellent chemistry and you can feel the familial bond between the characters. Nathan doesn’t think clearly when he’s around Sam. Sam represents his old life, and Nathan – whether he believes it or not – can’t resist the temptation of old habits.
The story goes to several amazing locations. From a rich estate in Italy, to old cathedrals in Scotland, and the islands of Madagascar, A Thief’s End takes you all over the world. While all of these locations look amazing, not all of them are as exciting as they might sound. Puzzle solving in Scotland takes a bit longer than it should, and some of the later combat encounters could have been stripped out. Like most Uncharted games, it continues for about two chapters too long.
But the set pieces that hit really hit. A Thief’s End strives to one up the previous Uncharted games and succeeds. There’s an excellent vehicle chase through the town of Madagascar that’s easily one of the game’s highlights. There are two really fun fights with Nadine, the leader of the private military Shoreline. There’s even a sword fight that people will be torn on. Beyond that though, the game’s best moments are when you aren’t fighting, climbing, or nearly getting killed.
The game isn’t afraid to just have the characters walk and talk for a bit. These conversations and character moments are easily the best scenes in the game. They allow you to get to know these characters as more than just the archetypes they represent. The writing by Neil Druckmann and his team goes a long way in keeping you invested in this story and its characters. It’s a step above what we’ve come to expect from Uncharted games in the past. More than just the treasure hunt, we’re invested in these characters and their relationships. The game tackles some rather adult themes for something that’s supposedly just a pulp action thriller and is all the better for it.
In terms of gameplay, everything is a bit smoother than it was in previous titles. The shooting is still average, but is helped out by a stripped down stealth system, similar to what was in The Last of Us. So your allies aren’t seen by the enemy, but they will help out occasionally. If an enemy walks nearby, they’ll lunge out and kill them without alerting the other troops. It’s good for a laugh occasionally, but for the most part your allies won’t do anything until you do.
The puzzle solving in this game isn’t anything special. Save for a few really neat climbing puzzles, everything is simple to solve. It has the unfortunate effect of having some very repetitive environmental puzzles involving a crate. But aside from that, the puzzles are pretty straightforward and kind of fun. If nothing else they give more time for witty banter as you get to feel kind of smart for solving the puzzle in a few tries.
The biggest addition to the Uncharted this time around is the grappling hook. Most of the time you’ll be using it during climbing sequences and that’s pretty satisfying. The sound it makes when it hook on to something and swing around like Indiana Jones is rather fun. It also has combat implications, but not enough of the combat encounters had places to use the hook and even when they do, being exposed like that is really just a way to get killed as fast as possible.
By the time I reached end of the game’s twenty-two chapters – plus an amazing epilogue – I’d felt satisfied by this conclusion to the Uncharted series. The first game was released in 2007 and here we are nearly ten years later. The series has come a long way since then and it shows. There’s a maturity about A Thief’s End that’s fitting for the last entry in the series. Despite a few late game errors in pacing, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is easily the best Uncharted game we’ve gotten and one of the best games one could own on the PlayStation 4.
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