Uncharted 4 A Thief’s End

In amongst its frantic combat, slick parkour, and outrageous action choreography, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End achieves something wonderful: maturity. This is less a breezy lad’s tale revelling in fortune and glory and more a story about the lads when they’re all grown up, bolstered by an equally developed graphics engine and career-high performances from its cast. A surprisingly assured set of multiplayer modes ices the cake.

What lets it down, however, is an uninspired and overly long third act which slows down its pace considerably with curiously repetitive gameplay. Uncharted 4 consequently falls short of the greatness achieved by some of developer Naughty Dog’s leaner, more inventive predecessors.

Its 15-hour experience kicks off with focus. Uncharted 4’s story is established in a compelling handful of chapters that weave their way through different time periods with tightly directed cinematic flair. While its setup is overly familiar – Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher are attempting to retire from action-heroism and live a normal life until Nate’s presumed-dead brother turns up with an offer he can’t refuse – a strong emotional throughline is born from the characters’ struggle to reconcile their adult responsibilities with the promise of excitement they secretly crave. Uncharted 4 does a terrific job of exploring a more world-weary group of adventurers, with their concerns and musings layered throughout its quieter moments.

These incidental conversations are a marvel. It’s here that we see characters bristle and soften, brought slowly to life with considered writing and a peerless voice cast. Performances from series veterans Nolan North (Nathan Drake), Emily Rose (Elena Fisher), and Richard McGonagle (Victor Sullivan) are as big-hearted as ever, while newcomers Troy Baker (Samuel Drake), Laura Bailey (Nadine Ross), and Warren Kole (Rafe Adler) are nicely understated in more enigmatic roles.

Uncharted 4’s companion characters never break the spell in more frantic or tense sections, either. If you choose to play stealthily, they’ll crouch down in the long grass beside you (and unlike Ellie in The Last of Us, they do an excellent job of staying out of enemy sightlines). If they’re in your way while climbing, they’ll let you clamber over them. They’re competent in gun fights, helpful in traversal, and typically witty throughout.

This level of polish and slickness permeates Uncharted 4. During traversal you can now reach for platforms by controlling Nate like a puppet with the DualShock thumbstick, which leads to fluid, unbroken climbing. A new 4×4 controls well over tricky terrain, and Uncharted 4’s camera worships Nate’s grappling hook, lovingly zooming out as he swings off of cliff faces to bring home a magnificent vista. Steep gravel paths (a personal favourite) send Nate slipping across cliff faces like they were waterslides.

Naughty Dog has expanded its terrain in order to make the most of these new tools. While I would have enjoyed more to do in this larger land mass – there’s disappointingly little to reward exploration of its various nooks and crannies beyond the occasional sparkling bit of treasure and a great view – I appreciated that occasionally there was more than one pathway to reach my goal. For a series defined by linearity, even the suggestion of choice is refreshing.

The same can be said for the stages of more violent action. While you’re occasionally flung into the middle of a group of mercenaries with little to do but shoot your way out, other encounters take place on elaborate adventure playgrounds allowing for more stealthy play. I appreciated the option, even if this is fairly pedestrian and routine stealth gameplay in 2016: characters can be tagged for tracking, long grass is there for silent takedowns, and enemies linger on ledges begging to be grabbed by the ankle from below or kicked off from behind. That’s not to say it’s done poorly – it’s as polished as everything else in Uncharted 4 – it simply doesn’t do anything surprising or interesting. More, considering AI switches to a cautionary state at any sign of trouble, I was disappointed I couldn’t move bodies.