There are simply not enough pirate adventures in my opinion. Just adding pirates to Assassins Creed made Black Flag one of the best games in the series. The globe-trotting treasure-hunting gig has also been surprisingly quiet in gaming circles, now that Miss Croft is on a break. In a stroke of genius, the developers at Naughty Dog decided to combine both Pirates and treasure hunting for Nathan Drake's final hurrah in the Uncharted series. 

The Good Life

With an impressive career in his portfolio (and very little to show for it), Nathan Drake (and his pretty wife Elena) had decided to go straight and settle down. Of course, giving up a life of adventure isn’t that easy when it is ingrained into your very being.

Our game opens with a little time travelling, filling in the blanks in regards to Nathan's long lost and thought to be dead brother Samual Drake. It turns out the Drake brothers were clambering up drain pipes and through other people's windows way before the first game kicked off. The legendary horde of Pirate Henry Avery has been an obsession of theirs ever since they could read a map. We catch up with a fresher-faced Nathan as he is infiltrating a Mexican prison searching for the next clue in the quest for Avery's horde of riches.  

Tagging along is his brother Sam and their quick-tempered partner, Rafe. Things go south soon after and Sam is shot; presumed dead. We then jump back to the present day to find Nathan and his now wife Elena living the American Dream. I absolutely love this introduction back into the Uncharted world. Going through Nathens attic lets new players (and old) catch up with some of the prior game's exploits and even a bit of Nerf Gun action doubles as a combat refresher. The exquisitely detailed apartment that Elena and Nathan live in just shows how good Naughty Dog are at what they do. Photo albums, trinkets and even a very fitting challenge on Crash Bandicoot (and actual prior title for the studio).

Den of Thieves 

So with the catching up done and the gang back together it’s time to kick this adventure off proper. With a death sentence hanging around Sam’s neck and Nathan agrees to help his brother seek out the treasure of the ages. The Drakes head to an illegal auction where they hope to acquire the next clue in the hunt for Avery's treasure. It’s here we also see series favourite Sully using his contacts and charm to get them in. Unfortunately, the wheel comes off after bumping into their old pal Rafe and his new muscle-for-hire Nadeen. From here the stage is set and the race for the treasure is on. 

Getting a Grip

You can chop the gameplay in uncharted into three distinct phases: exploration, puzzle solving and combat. As the various story cut scenes play out the scene will then seamlessly phase into gameplay. Each of the settings in Uncharted 4 comes with their own personality and challenges, but they all circle around the basic rules. Clambering up ledges, shimmying across beams, leaping to new platforms and so on. The grapple is used plenty to pull objects, rappel down or perform death-defying leaps into the void. Nathan’s movement treads the line between plausible but often bordering on superhuman, sometimes pulling off stunts that would put Spider-Man to shame. However, given how fun traversal is I don’t think the assistance detracts from the experience. The way you hop around things can seem very on rails but don't worry, there are plenty of opportunities to send our plucky hero plummeting to his doom.

So once the physical stuff has been overcome it’s time to put your thinking cap on. You must face the trials Avery has set out to test you, puzzles that all have a lovely Goonies vibe to them. I don’t think a single challenge stopped me for long but all are enjoyable and beautifully put together. It is also interesting how Nathan actually uses his notes like another whip-cracking explores does.

Red Rum

One issue that developers (and more specifically writers) face is the justification for our loveable rogues murdering the equivalent of a small country. One minute Nathan is yearning for a nice cup of warm cocoa and the next he’s snapping someone's neck. Action games with likeable characters have been struggling with this one since day dot. How does Lara Croft go from shivering victim to blood-covered war machine in the space of an hour? Games like The Last of Us 2 get away with it because Ellie isn’t really a nice person and her thirst for vengeance kinda fits with her body count. In fact, Neil Druckmann likes to mess with players' guilt glands by getting adversaries to call out their friend's name when you off them. For me personally, I have no issue with this juxtaposition as there really isn’t a way around it. 

Speaking of the old ultra-violence, how does combat stack up in Uncharted 4? Like the traversal system, fighting people is both streamlined and yet highly enjoyable. Most situations where you find hostiles the level structure is geared up for this. Conveniently places walls, handy rope swings and so on. Yet this half-on-rails approach helps you pull off some great moves, like swinging off a rope and lamping a guard on the way down. Aiming is far easier with mouse but not as easy as it could have been due to the widely inaccurate bullet spread. There are still series staples, like chucking gas canisters and exploding them with one shot. The range of weapons is also pretty wide and still not being unwieldy due to there being just two slots. It is sometimes a pity that the stealth mechanics aren’t as fleshed out as they could have been but then again, this is a game that is happiest when the bullets are flying. 

Same Mud Same Blood

So far I have focused almost completely on Uncharted 4, but in the Legacy of Thieves collection, there is another title included. The Lost Legacy is not a direct sequel in the Uncharted series but a full game set after the events of the last. You take on the role of Chloe Frazer who has set out to find the legendary Tusk of Ganesh. Here we also see a somewhat henpecked Nadine Ross who lost her security company in the last game and has been hired by Chloe to assist with the Tusks' retrieval.

While there are some definite links to the exploits of the Drake brothers, this is very much its own game cut from the same cloth as A Thief’s End. Almost all the traversal techniques and combat mechanics from the last game are here. However, using the Indian mountains as a backdrop certainly gives this outing its own very distinct flavour. I absolutely loved the opening to this game,  pushing through the busy city streets and onto a tense nighttime encounter. You do spend the majority of the game in the same region in Lost Legacy, which makes it a little less diverse than A Thief’s End. However, to make up for this you do get to see some pretty jaw-dropping sights and vistas. Each time you emerge into a new section, Chloe will take a snap on her phone which is exactly what I have been doing (hitting screen grab constantly). Chloe is voiced by the amazingly talented Claudia Lee Black and her voice just oozes character. The banter between her and Nadine (voiced by the equally talented Laura Bailey) is also what makes this game such a joy to play.

While The Lost Legacy is shorter than A Thief's End, it is still a substantial game in its own right. There is also the fact that it has one of the most impressive and heart-pounding chase sequences in any game I have ever played. I do wonder if we will see any of these characters again, given how the prior title wraps things up. I do hope so, as they are far too full of life to leave in the attic for long.

Is it PC?

Uncharted 4 came out on PS4 in 2016 and The Lost Legacy a year later. So we already know that these games are masterpieces: the real question for me was how well have they transferred to PC? They were arguably some of the best-looking games available when they came out and still look incredible today. As you might imagine, they are looking their very best on PC and just pip the PS5 remaster that came out at the start of the year. Each place you visit will make you smile with just how wonderful it looks, from the wind-swept coastline of Scotland to the vivid colours of Madagascar. 

As always lighting is vital for realistic games to shine and here we see some of the best in the business. As Nathan dives deep underwater shafts of sunlight dance around him, his hair undulating in tune with his movements. Dark interiors are often invaded by light, breaching open windows or breaks in the structure. Foliage is also masterfully used to make outdoor scenes feel alive or to show how old ruins are now being reclaimed by nature. Often it isn’t just the assets used but how they are placed to make places feel lived in. 

Animation is another way Nathan and Chloe are brought to life in front of our eyes. Moving around from each position just looks seamless and natural. I love how Nathan (and Chloe) reach out to touch walls when they get near, subtly connecting the player to the environment. I have seen a few wonky limb animations where the game didn’t quite know what to do, but these were very few. There were also some strange issues when moving past people in crowds, where Nathan would be pushing on fresh air. It was also unfortunate that too many actions were assigned to the shift key and this seems to have made in-game hints not work at all.

So in terms of the raw performance on PC the news is good. With every setting on ultra, DLSS on quality and playing at 1440p I was getting 130/144 fps. To finally be able to play these games with these super high frame rates is a dream and very worth the wait. All the action sequences run so much better, combat feels silky smooth and play out without a hitch. I had reported on the mouse acceleration issue which was patched but left input sensitivity broken. Just after publishing my review, a patch landed which has completely fixed that issue. I am very happy to say that mouse input is now beautifully smooth and slicker than snot.

Conclusion 

As Sony is now starting to embrace PC gaming we are seeing some fantastic ports, after that initial stumble with Horizon Zero Dawn. Seeing games that were already fantastic, being unchained by a powerful gaming rig is very satisfying indeed. Spider-Man running at 144 fps and with the added precision of mouse and keyboard is exactly the way I always dreamed of playing it. Yet because these games were initially moulded around a limited pool of resources, adapting them to PC can be tricky. Iron Galaxy are the folks who brought us the abysmal port of Batman Arkham Knight, so I was concerned when I saw it was them overseeing Uncharted. However, on the side of sheer performance, they have done a stellar job, it is just a shame they missed all the other extras that PC gamers have come to expect over the years, such as full-screen mode and a field of view slider. As mentioned above, the mouse input issue has now been fully resolved so a huge thanks to Iron Galaxy and credit where credit is due.

The wrinkles aside, these two Uncharted games have never looked as good as on PC. There really isn’t anything out there that reaches the incredibly high bar set by Naughty Dog. If you are in the market for one of the best ‘Pyrate’ adventure games ever made then this be the treasure ye seeks.