Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the fourth main entry in the Uncharted series. Set several years after the events of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, players control Nathan Drake, a former treasure hunter coaxed out of retirement by his presumed-dead brother Samuel. With Nathan's longtime partner, Victor Sullivan, they search for clues to the location of Henry Avery's long-lost treasure. A Thief's End is played from a third-person perspective and incorporates platformer elements. Players solve puzzles and use firearms, melee combat, and stealth to combat enemies. In the online multiplayer mode, up to ten players engage in co-operative and competitive modes.

Development of Uncharted 4 began in 2011, soon after the release of Uncharted 3. It was led by creative director Amy Hennig and game director Justin Richmond. Development was hampered in 2014 due to Hennig and Richmond's departure from Naughty Dog; they were replaced by Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. The team sought to incorporate elements of open-world gameplay, with larger levels to encourage free-roaming exploration and combat. The relationship between Nathan and Elena was central, and Naughty Dog attempted to humanize them more than in previous games. A Thief's End was Naughty Dog's first game developed specifically for the PlayStation 4; the team took advantage of the hardware to process larger dynamic environments.

A Thief's End was released in May 2016 to acclaim for its gameplay, narrative, emotional depth, visuals, and multiplayer, with several reviewers finding the game a worthy conclusion to Nathan's story. Considered one of the greatest video games ever made, it won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications, critics, and award ceremonies. With over 18 million copies sold, it is the highest-selling Uncharted game and one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games. A standalone expansion, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, was released in 2017. A remastered version was released as part of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for the PlayStation 5 and Windows in 2022.

Gameplay

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Players traverse several environments via platforming, moving through locations including towns, buildings, and wilderness to advance through the story. They use firearms, melee combat, and stealth to combat hostile enemies. For most of the game, players control Nathan Drake—a treasure hunter who is physically adept and can jump, sprint, climb, swim, scale narrow ledges and walls, swing with a rope, use a grappling hook and perform other acrobatic actions. Vehicles are driven during some gameplay segments.

In combat, players can use long-ranged weapons such as rifles and shotguns, short-barreled guns including pistols and revolvers, and handheld explosives like grenades and dynamite. The melee combat system was reworked to avoid the presence of quick time events. The grappling hook allows players to leap over gaps, often giving them a tactical advantage in combat. Players can attack enemies directly or use stealth tactics to attack undetected or sneak by them. While the game is linear, environments feature multiple paths for players to explore; maps are significantly larger than earlier entries in the series.

The game features an artificial intelligence system in which hostile enemies react to any combat situation they are placed in; they respond to players' actions, coordinate tactics, and cooperate with each other. Players' companions are also controlled by artificial intelligence. The game introduces a dialogue tree, allowing players to decide the outcome of some conversations, though it does not affect the story's progression. Extra visual filters and modes, such as a zero-gravity mode, bullet time gameplay, and a cel-shaded art style, can be unlocked by using points players collected in the main game.

Multiplayer

The online multiplayer allows up to ten players to engage in competitive gameplay in recreations of multiple single-player settings. Players control different characters from the series, and are tasked to defeat their opponents. The game features five multiplayer game types: Command, in which players capture sites to attain points; Ranked and Team Deathmatch, which are deathmatch game types where players kill their opponents; Plunder, a capture the flag game mode in which players seek the idol; and Trials, where players cooperate to defeat non-player characters. Treasures can be found in all maps, which can be used to purchase items and weapons.

Multiplayer features "Mysticals"—supernatural power-ups that boost players' ability. For example, the "Wrath of El Dorado" damages all opponents standing next to it, while the "Cintamani Stone" can heal both players and their teammates. Companions, known as Sidekicks, can be summoned to assist players, and have different functions: Hunters immobilize their closest opponent for an easier kill, Saviors provide medical support and ammunition to players, Snipers defend locations with a sniper rifle, and Brutes attack enemies using a heavy machine gun. A cooperative survival mode, released in December 2016, features three players fighting against waves of enemies that continually increase in difficulty.

Synopsis

Characters

The main character of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is Nathan "Nate" Drake (Nolan North), a veteran adventurer and explorer. Following the events of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011), he has retired from fortune hunting alongside his wife Elena Fisher (Emily Rose), a journalist, to a more normal life, and taken up employment with a salvage company in New Orleans. The game introduces Samuel "Sam" Drake (Troy Baker), Nate's older brother, who was presumed dead. Drawn back into his old life of adventure by his brother, Nathan is aided by his longtime friend, fellow adventurer, mentor, and father figure Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Richard McGonagle). Their journey to find and recover the long-lost treasure of pirate Henry Avery brings them into conflict with wealthy and dangerous businessman and treasure hunter Rafe Adler (Warren Kole), his partner Nadine Ross (Laura Bailey) who runs the private military company Shoreline, and drug lord Hector Alcazar (Robin Atkin Downes). The child versions of Nate and Sam are portrayed by Britain Dalton and Chase Austin, respectively.

Plot

Several years before the events of the first game, Nate and Sam hunt for Avery's treasure. Alongside Rafe, the Drake brothers infiltrate a Panamanian jail to access the former cell of Avery's first mate, where Nate discovers a hollow St. Dismas idol. When the prison warden who aided them demands a cut, Rafe impulsively kills him, triggering a frantic escape. Nate and Rafe successfully escape, but Sam is shot by guards and presumed dead.

Fifteen years later, following the events of the previous game, Nate has retired in New Orleans with Elena but misses the excitement of his adventuring life. He is visited by Sam, who survived the gunshots and has spent the intervening time incarcerated. He explains that he escaped with drug lord Hector Alcazar, who demands that Sam find Avery's treasure or be killed. Nate agrees to help Sam, lying to Elena that he has accepted a salvaging job. Aided by Sully, the Drakes steal a duplicate Dismas idol from an illegal auction in Italy, bringing them into conflict with Nadine and her employer, Rafe, who is still searching for Avery's treasure. A map inside the idol leads the Drakes to St. Dismas's cathedral in the Scottish Highlands, where they discover a hidden temple and a map highlighting King's Bay in Madagascar.

In King's Bay, the Drakes and Sully learn that Avery, Thomas Tew, and ten other pirate captains pooled their treasures. Nate uncovers a map to Libertalia, a fabled pirate utopia. The group return to their hotel to find Elena. Upset at Nate's deception and the appearance of Sam, whom Nate had never mentioned, Elena leaves. Nate sends Sully after her. The Drakes follow the map to an island and discover Libertalia. They find evidence of a civil war; the founders stole the city's treasure and moved it across the island to New Devon, an extravagant and well-fortified town built for them. The brothers are cornered by Rafe, who reveals Sam lied: Alcazar died six months ago; Rafe released Sam from prison two years ago and Sam had actually double-crossed Rafe to resume searching with Nate. Rafe prepares to shoot Nate; Sam shields him, inadvertently knocking Nate off a cliff.

Elena rescues Nate, who reveals his past: as teenagers, he and Sam discovered that their mother, a historian named Cassandra Morgan, was researching Libertalia. The boys, after breaking into the house of the person associated with their mother and nearly being caught by police, decided to start new lives by changing their surname to Drake to honor their mother's theory about Francis Drake's descendants. In New Devon, Nate and Elena learn that Libertalia descended into conflict over the treasure, with the founders killing all the colonists. In-fighting between the founders began, until they were all poisoned by Avery and Tew.