UNCHARTED 4

UNCHARTED 4

At the end of Uncharted 3, we see Drake and Elena talk about a fresh start and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End picks up the story three years later and shows us the couple settled down.

But, their routine is disrupted when Drake’s older brother Sam, previously thought to be deceased, bursts back onto the scene.

Sam is on a quest to find a legendary pirate artifact and until he does so, his life hangs by a thread. Of course, with the whiff of adventure and opportunity in his nostrils once more, Drake jumps to his brother’s aid.

Drake and Sam must journey to Libertaria, a mythical pirate colony in Madagascar. Naughty Dog has said the whole game won’t take place there, but it will be a major location for Uncharted 4.

Inevitably it’s not all plain sailing, as two rivals named Rafe and Nadine are also looking for the treasure.

That’s all we know about the Uncharted 4 storyline so far, but we’ll keep you posted if we discover anymore details.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Gameplay

The first Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End gameplay trailer was shown in December at the PlayStation Experience event in Las Vegas, giving us a first look at what the game will actually play like. And wow, were we impressed.

Take a look at the gameplay trailer below, but it starts with Drake spelunking and mountain climbing – highlighting the improved verticality of the game.

But, it’s when the combat starts that you begin to see the major enhancements coming to combat. The enemy AI has been drastically improved along with the level design, especially when it comes to stealth.

Drake will crouch automatically when he enters foliage, but it’s the AI of the enemies that you need to watch. They can be evaded, buy they’ll behave much more dynamically, leaping around ledges and scoping the terrain more realistically than in previous Uncharted titles.

Overall, Naughty Dog has said it is aiming for a “wider, more sandbox feel” for the game.

“With the verticality of Nathan Drake, with adding set pieces that weren’t necessarily in this demo, how do you get a bigger flow, something that is deeper at an emotional level? All those things come together to make the Uncharted we want to play,” explained the game’s Creative Director Neil Druckmann in an interview with Game Informer.

“We have our vertical slice and we’ve found our flow and the voice of this game. Now it’s like, how do you expand on that? How do you flesh that out across the entire experience, making sure it’s got its proper pacing, it’s got its ups and down? It seems like an eternity from now until when we’ll be finished with it.”

Of course, although there’s a huge focus on creating a world that feels vibrant and real, there’s a massive push on the combat.

“To us the Uncharted combat works best when it has a flow to it, when you're not just behind cover, shooting over and ducking back down; when your cover is getting flanked and you have to jump and move down to another level.”

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Multiplayer

All we know so far is that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will feature some kind of multiplayer component.

That’s not much of a surprise really, as Uncharted games have been multiplayer since Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was released in 2009.

We’ll keep you posted if we hear anything new about the Uncharted 4 multiplayer.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – News

The battles of 60FPS

Naughty Dog is trying to get Uncharted 4 running at 60fps, and said as much when the game was first announced.

However, the developer is shying away from that target a little now, as it now says it wants to do what’s best for Uncharted 4 – even if that means a sub-60fps frame rate.

According to Uncharted 4 Director Neil Druckmann, achieving the 60fps frame rate is no simple task. In fact he went as far as to say that it is “really f**king hard.”

“That’s true for any game. It was really hard on The Last of Us Remastered, and that’s a game we'd finished and we knew exactly what the end result would look like. And here [with Uncharted 4] we’re trying to push the boundaries of what this game can look like, and do realistic, real-time cutscenes. And trying to do 60fps is really hard.”

That means nothing is nailed down in terms of frame rate right now.

“The objective for us is just to make the best experience. And right now we’re trying to push the look. Then we’ll see where we’re at and reassess. We’re constantly making choices to our production about what’s going to make the game feel best and look its best.”

The game will star Drake

Sony gave Uncharted 4: A Thief's End a little spotlight time during its E3 2014 press conference in June. Not only revealing the name of the upcoming Uncharted PS4 game, Sony also confirmed that Nathan Drake will remain as the game's protagonist, quashing rumours that he had been replaced.

The video was then published on YouTube, offering a little more information on the game's storyline in the description provided below:

"Several years after his last adventure, retired fortune hunter, Nathan Drake, is forced back into the world of thieves. With the stakes much more personal, Drake embarks on a globe-trotting journey in pursuit of a historical conspiracy behind a fabled pirate treasure. His greatest adventure will test his physical limits, his resolve, and ultimately what he's willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves."

Looks like there's a definite pirate theme there then and Drake is a lot older than in previous games. According to the trailer, he's been "out of the game a while" and the trailer starts with Drake battered and bruised lying in a river.