5/5 ★ – Nestunt's review of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves.

I was wrong. When I first played Uncharted 4, back in 2016, I was impressed, but it did not meet my expectations. Those expectations had been set by The Last of Us, a game that changed Naughty Dog and cinematic action-adventuring in games forever. In retrospect, it probably was unreasonable to compare them at that time. TLoU had the canvas of a fresh idea to explore. While, Uncharted 4 had to juggle several things at once: finish Nathan Drake’s story (a beloved character); respect the legacy of the previous 3 games (old Naughty Dog); embrace the inevitability of new Naughty Dog; and probably much, much more behind the scenes. All those challenges contributed to what was known immediately: Uncharted 4 was going through development hell, with continuous delays, story re-writes, characters scrapped, and, more notably, the game director and series creator – Amy Hennig – no longer working at Naughty Dog mid-project. Looking back at all this mental and operational tumult, and playing these remasters now for what they are… I’m sorry Uncharted 4. I was very harsh on you. Besides the imperfection that remains of it trying to do and say too many things, perhaps as a result of the ‘two games’ turmoil during development, Uncharted 4 is a revolutionary masterpiece. It is, more than The Last of Us, the true inflection point in character animation. All these years later it’s still the benchmark. The remarkable sense does not come from how realistic Nathan animates when energetic vs tired, but how that realism never compromises control fluidity. Uncharted 4 is a trailblazer in another aspect of game design: the wide-linear approach. Despite not being a sprawling RPG, this game remains the best recreation of the archaeologist power(?) fantasy. By designing, not an open world, but linear levels that are open enough you don’t feel pushed, Naughty Dog managed to allow for player agency in exploration, while retaining the propelling nature of its page-turning storytelling. This wide-linear ethos really works wonders to elevate the main narrative beat of the experience: pirate treasure hunting. I loved how the writers juxtaposed the wonders and tragedies of the Golden Age of Piracy with current-day Nathan Drake’s adventuring, danger-seeking and wish to have a family. Like I said back in 2016, Henry Avery (the pirate) is one of the best characters in all of video games, and you never get to see his face. Yet, this conflict resonates deeper precisely because this is a video game. You are mesmerized by the landscapes and ancient ruins. You want to probe every side path. You feel thrilled when sneaking up on enemies. You are ecstatic when things start to escalate and you are executing to perfection a choreography with gunfire, car chases, and giant clock towers collapsing. And then you see how the people who care most about you react to all that… We can never be Nathan, yet that feeling of shame of your actions is universal. Now I notice that I have yet to talk about Uncharted Lost Legacy, the other game that comes in the Legacy of Thieves collection. So, let me be straight to the point about it. Back in 2017, I felt that Lost Legacy was a better game than Uncharted 4. I was also wrong, but for different reasons. Once again, context and expectations influenced that view. Lost Legacy was supposed to be a DLC to Uncharted 4, but it grew so much in scope that ended up developing into its own game, with its own identity. Only Naughty Dog to make a completely polished, high production level and value, fully-fledged game one year after a colossus like Uncharted 4. No wonder I was staggered by all of it. But, what really put it above UC4 for me was, ironically, the fact that it was smaller. By beginning as a DLC, there were no ‘two games’ conundrum of too many things left to say and do. It was focused, while taking advantage of the wide-linear advances they had done one year prior. Now, years later, I know for a fact that Lost Legacy is not a better game than Uncharted 4. Although, IT IS the groundbreaker of a production level I wish more and more of the AAA side of the industry adopted: 7-to-8 hours experiences. Don’t get me wrong: I love big adventures, and I will always advocate for a market space to every approach in scope. Notwithstanding, imagine some of the more bloated AAA offerings out there (that are only this way because those same studios ‘conditioned’ consumers to equate dollars spent with hours of content), and all those talented developers in state-of-the-art animation, environment design, graphical fidelity, musical composition, performance capturing, etc, and you let them design and direct those elements in service of a narrative completely in line with gameplay like Uncharted Lost Legacy. I bet we would get some of the best artistic products gaming as ever seen. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves, by being a collection of UC4 and Lost Legacy remastered, instantly becomes an unmissable anthology on wide-linear design that everybody should play.