But in a world where it’s easy for even the most well-designed game to fade away into the background amid a sea of equally potent releases. Uncharted 4 feels like it holds its own against the best of today, and that’s because it’s a title that doesn’t chase spectacle. Instead, it presents controls, animations, combat, traversal and a level of detail that are all so polished, the spectacles it does bring to the table feel more authentic as a result.

It’s a game that continues to be premium, acting as an excellent showcase of what a current-gen console can do without breaking a sweat. It might not be a massive title or as systems-heavy as some of its peers, but there’s something about how confident it comes across, every curated framing of events in Nathan’s concluding chapter continuing to be impressive even after many other titles have come and gone.

Let’s dive deeper into why that’s the case, beginning with the game’s visuals.

Easy On The Eyes

Naughty Dog certainly bets big on its art styles, and Uncharted 4 continues to be a strong contender among current-gen video games with naturalistic lighting that continues to bring diverse biomes to life, and a sense of hand-crafted quality to every environment that makes it a delight to revisit. There’s a level of detail that’s really helpful in selling the story it’s trying to tell, with character models, facial animations, and movements that bring an impressive level of realism to every scene we’re a part of.

There’s a great use of color and contrast, along with great framing on scenes to present them with a cinematic flair that goes toe to toe with the best games of today. This one’s intense scenes have certainly aged better than some modern titles that have valued technical prowess over the actual art of weaving your players into the story and world they’re playing.

On the visual front, Uncharted 4 continues to be as good as its peers thanks to a grounded and readable visual style that’s underlined with just enough elegance to make it stand out even among some of modern gaming’s greats. Of course, details and lightning are only a part of the experience, and they lead us directly to the game’s animations, which we believe have been a crucial part of its shelf life over the years.

Nathan continues to control well, his speed and agility feeling believable without making him feel annoyingly sluggish. There’s a sort of natural response to different surfaces that Naughty Dog has baked into Uncharted 4, and he grabs surfaces, sometimes slipping on ones that misbehave, leaning into walls when he needs to, and even stumbles in a way that immediately makes him more relatable as a player-controlled character while remaining agile enough to do justice to the game’s stunts.

He’s helped by smooth transitions between all of the things he can do, and it all comes together so well that you feel quite confident with navigating the adventure, while those of you looking to challenge yourselves could certainly think of ways to do so. Of course, the way enemies react to your actions, as well as environmental interactions that soon weave themselves into your gameplay, are also facets of animation systems that have managed to stand tall a decade later.

Yes, there are games with higher resolutions and more effects on our screens courtesy of current-gen power under the hoods of our systems. But only a few come close to how polished Uncharted 4 can feel with its visual fidelity and high-quality animations. Of course, the gameplay that they service is the next stop on our list of reasons why this one continues to hold relevance, perhaps even reverence, in modern gaming.

A Pleasure To Play

Uncharted 4 might not be as mechanically deep as some of the best games we’ve had over the years, but its gameplay relies on the same refinement that underlines its visuals to present combat and traversal mechanics that continue to sell the action, while still staying readable and responsive. Lining up shots to take out enemies feels ever so smooth and cinematic, while seamlessly switching between cover ensures that combat never ends up feeling too static.

Nathan’s always on the move, and that restless energy translates to an experience that sees you become deadly from a distance and up close, with the melee system keeping things light on mechanics but quite punchy on impact. Of course, combining all of that with the verticality of traversal courtesy of the rope and the way it brings a simple sort of momentum to everything Nate does is ingenious.

Not only does it bring a great new way to navigate combat encounters thanks to swings and climbing points, but it also opens up avenues for you to thin out the herd before you get into an actual firefight. It can also act as a lifeline if you need some breathing room, letting you get out of sight and come back to an encounter from a place where you regain the tactical advantage.

Of course, larger combat spaces and multiple paths to encounters let them all unfold in a way that feels very organic, letting you respond to situations on the fly in very satisfying ways. It’s easy to forget that this one’s a rather linear adventure, given how it rewards diligent exploring with optional spaces and more curated sections, like the ones with your Jeep, to create a loop of exploring that has you on your toes and keeps you there.

It balances its cover-shooter mechanics with its cinematic presentation, while letting you engage with it all in ways that continue to be immersive. That’s because its systems are all baked into the very fabric of it all, and work very well to nudge you along between objectives in ways that give you enough agency to make it your own. Which brings us to its set pieces.

Controlled Chaos

Anywhere Nate goes, a bit of chaos is sure to follow. And we continue to be thrilled by how this one handles it all, with the action part of the adventure being a very welcome part of the experience. Uncharted 4 takes control of how it presents its chaos, making its grand moments readable without needing to be loud and presenting memorable scenes that blend great camera work and animations along with player inputs.

There’s a sort of flowing balance between everything Nate does, with exploring, traversal, and combat being given room to breathe alongside a few quiet moments that serve to contrast the action very well. There’s no shortage of games that now bring higher particle counts, special effects, or even armies for protagonists to fend off. But Uncharted 4 is a rare kind of narrative rhythm that can be hard to imitate.

Its pacing makes the balance between its various interactive settings work very well, and given the way its visual presentation and the responsive animations work well with finely tuned gameplay systems, this one is an experience that makes it feel like a classic, and a timeless one at that. In a gaming world where too many titles value bloat over quality gameplay, Uncharted 4 continues to be a game that has blazed its own path to a visual and narrative identity of its own.

It may not be among the biggest or most mechanically complex games out there, but it’s a title where every facet of the experience feels carefully curated, with the end result being a title that continues to serve as a benchmark in the action-adventure genre. Uncharted 4 is especially enjoyable thanks to that, as it’s a relatively shorter experience that feels respectful of its players’ time, in a world where massive maps demand a lot of time and effort from them. Its shorter runtime packs so much more of it all that it can be quite a fulfilling journey to the credits anyway.

Nate’s final outing continues to be a benchmark for new titles in the genre, and it’s a showcase of how a game should weave its story and art style with its gameplay systems and presentation to take players forward through a title that feels so memorable almost by default. It isn’t just a game that looks good for a 2016 title, but continues to be among the cleanest and finely polished blockbuster titles to grace our libraries, and there have been a few of them over the years.

But Uncharted 4 deserves credit for standing tall among them, and being a title that continues to be a consistent presence in discourse about the finest ones ever made. Nate would certainly be proud of how his tale continues to be talked about.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Hideaki Nishino went into more detail about how generative AI tools are being used at PlayStation. With the goal of automating repetitive workflows, first-party PlayStation studios are using AI to accelerate QA, 3D modeling, and animations. The latter is worth noting, since Nishino has confirmed that the company is using a tool named Mockingbird to generate facial animations based on performance capture data. The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Intergalactic developer Naughty Dog, and MLB: The Show developer San Diego Studio have been confirmed to have adopted this tool.

“Our goal is always to be the best place to play and the best place to publish,” Nishino said. “We see AI as a powerful tool to help us in this mission.” He also reiterated Totoki’s statement, saying that “The vision, the design, and the emotional impact of our games will always come from the talent of our studios and performers. AI is meant to augment their capabilities, not to replace them.”

The use of generative AI has continued to be a big topic of discussion amongst game developers in recent times. Many companies have come out to state that they have been abstaining from implementing these tools into their pre-existing development pipelines. The latest team to do so was Atomic Heart developer Mundfish.

“It’s true, there are a lot of differing opinions on this topic right now,” said studio CEO Robert Bagratuni. “We understand that neural networks and AI can significantly simplify the pre-production phase of projects, helping to iterate ideas faster and reduce overall development time. Because of this, we conducted extensive internal research to evaluate their potential for our workflows. However, at this moment, we have decided not to integrate them into our daily production pipelines.”

IO Interactive, the studio behind the upcoming 007: First Light, has also noted that it hasn’t used generative AI for development. “No, we haven’t. We haven’t worked with AI on the project, generative AI,” said art director Rasmus Poulsen, who went on to note that there was a “combined discussion between core execs in the studio.”

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has also noted that, while generative AI has its uses in game development when it comes to tasks like engineering through machine learning, none of the art assets of Grand Theft Auto 6 have been made using AI.

“That said, do I think tools by themselves create great entertainment properties? No, there’s no evidence that that’s the case, and it won’t be the case in the future,” he explained. “Specifically with regards to GTA 6, generative AI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building. Their worlds are handcrafted. That’s what differentiates them. They’re built from the ground up, building by building, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. They’re not procedurally generated; they shouldn’t be. That’s what makes great entertainment.”

“It’s wild how many of my ex-colleagues still message me today saying how amazing TLOU Online was going to be — still the best multiplayer game they’ve ever played. Never going to let what I work on not see the light of day again. Thank you all for your support and confidence!”

The title was cancelled a couple of years ago, and in a statement, Naughty Dog mentioned that the studio wouldn’t have been capable of properly offering post-launch support for the multiplayer game.

“The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part 2 – crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential,” Naughty Dog wrote. “As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystallized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.”

“In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online, we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post-launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”

Agarwal had mentioned earlier this month that The Last of Us Online was around “80% complete” by the time it was cancelled. He called the moment devastating and “soul-crushing”, since he had worked on the project for seven years, only to never see it get a release.

“That was a devastating moment for me because I spent seven years working on that game, and it was soul-crushing. I remember honestly finding out that it was getting cancelled 24 hours before it was announced to the public. That’s how I found out about the game getting cancelled, and it was just unfortunate, and they had to do that because they have to control the messaging.”

Despite this, however, he expressed empathy for the decision made by Naughty Dog, noting that the company had to pick between continuing to support The Last of Us Online or work with Neil Druckmann on his next project – Intergalactic.

Former technical designer on the project, Nathaniel Ferguson, had also praised The Last of Us Online, calling it the “highlight” of his entire career. He said that it “will always be a very special project for me.”

More recently, Microsoft Game Studios co-founder Laura Fryer discussed the cancellation and called it a good thing, while also noting that the management of the project was quite poorly handled.

Fryer noted from her own extensive experience in overseeing game development on a wide range of projects that a typical multiplayer game tends to require a lot of planning, especially in its earlier production stages. She praised Naughty Dog for not falling into the “sunk cost” fallacy, since it had already invested quite a bit of money in its development before eventually cancelling the whole thing.

“A lot of people are saying they should have just finished the game and shipped it because it was so close, and I understand how frustrating it must be for the players who were looking forward to this game,” said Fryer. “But I think that’s missing the bigger picture because the truth is that this is a classic example of the sunk cost fallacy. And I’ve seen it play out many times before, where you have a studio that’s already spent many years and millions of dollars, and they feel like they have to ship the game anyway, that they have no choice, even when they know the long-term live service support will be brutal. Then the game comes out half-baked, the team burns out on endless updates, and it usually ends badly.”

“Naughty Dog didn’t do that. They made the harder choice. They looked at the road ahead, and they realized that they should stop instead of risking turning the entire studio into a live service operation that was only going to be able to support one big title for years. In my opinion, that was the right call, even though it hurt the team that worked so hard on it. They chose to go back to what the bread and butter of their studio was, single-player narrative games.”

Fryer’s criticisms were primarily aimed at the leadership of Naughty Dog for having continuously supported the development of the live-service game. In fact, she believes that the project shouldn’t have been greenlit to begin with. Among other things, she questions the lack of planning and analysis, which led to a seven-year-long development period that ended with cancellation.

“I keep coming back to the bigger question of why did they start this game in the first place,” she said. “Where was the planning? Live service games are not a mystery. There’s plenty of data out there that they could have looked at to understand what it would take to do this type of game. You’ve got new maps. You’ve got new modes, weapons, seasons, balance patches. It’s an infinite treadmill. Any studio leader could have run the numbers on what a team Naughty Dog size could realistically support. They could have seen pretty clearly that a team the size of Naughty Dog could never support a live service game and all of their amazing cinematic single player games. It wasn’t possible.

“But instead of doing that analysis, they went ahead and let the game go forward. They let it run for seven years. Eventually, Bungie was brought in to do an analysis in 2023, and their reality check on player retention and what it really takes is what finally convinced people that it might be a problem.”

It is worth noting that former director Vinit Agarwal has spoken fondly about the project and discussed the disappointment he felt when it was eventually cancelled. In an interview, he said that it “was a devastating moment for me because I spent seven years working on the game, and it was soul-crushing.” Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has also spoken about the push for live-service games at PlayStation, and how he wasn’t really a fan of the idea.

“They’ll set internal deadlines, and treat them like actual, external deadlines,” he said on the podcast. “It’s at that point you realize you’ve wandered too much, and it could be Sony tapping them on the shoulder, being like, ‘Hey guys, it’s been three years, not seeing much from you, we’ve spent I don’t know how much money already, what’s going on?”

Russell explained that the studio seemingly learned from its time developing The Last of Us that crunch is what it would take to make the games. “It was just an admission in a [meeting after The Last of Us], ‘Well, we’ve just come to realize this is what it takes to make games at our level,” he said.

“‘If you don’t want to do that, we understand, we’ll write you a great letter of recommendation.’ The company runs the way it wants to run; you either want to be a part of it or you don’t. They’re not technically breaking any laws. It’s not like a requirement. It is a, ‘hey, we really could use your help. Please come here.’ And you’re incentivized to do it because your bonuses will be bigger.”

A report from back in 2020 was one of the bigger ones to bring the company’s culture of crunch into the light. In a report, Jason Schreier—writing for Kotaku at the time—conducted interviews with multiple current and former employees from Naughty Dog on the condition of anonymity, and made note of unhealthy working hours and overtime work still being prevalent.

“This can’t be something that’s continuing over and over for each game, because it is unsustainable,” said one developer working on The Last of Us Part 2. “At a certain point, you realize, ‘I can’t keep doing this. I’m getting older. I can’t stay and work all night.’”

“They do try to take care of you, providing food, encouragement to go take breaks,” said another former Naughty Dog developer. “But for the most part, the implication is: ‘Get the job done at all costs.’”

It is worth noting that reports of Naughty Dog’s employees being forced to crunch are by no means recent. The company also came under fire for this back in 2011, shortly after the release of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, with creative director Amy Hennig talking about how “it was the hardest thing in the industry [I’ve] ever done.” Similarly, cinematics animation lead Josh Scherr said that “it was pretty brutal this time around. I mean, there’s always crunch. There’s always people putting in extra hours. But this time around, just because of the scope and the ambition of the game – even after we had gone back and shortened some things, trimmed some other things – there was just still a lot to do, in the amount of time we had to do it.”

Intergalactic is being developed exclusively for PS5. While it doesn’t yet have a release date, reports indicate that Naughty Dog might be aiming for a mid-2027 launch.

Henderson went on to note that this isn’t the first time that Naughty Dog has “flirted with the idea” of making an Uncharted 5. “I don’t know what they’re trying to do with it or whatever. I know that there was some planning of an Uncharted 5 before COVID.”

Henderson went on to discuss the state of the industry at large, noting that many companies might be aiming for safe bets rather than trying to create an entirely new IP. He brings up Bungie with Marathon as one point of comparison, noting that the studio’s safest bet would be a brand new Destiny game. Similarly, Naughty Dog would likely see new entries in The Last of Us and Uncharted as safe bets.

“I think the issue that we run into now is Uncharted 5 is considered a safe bet, right? And that’s what we’re going to see from a lot of studios. It’s like Bungie with Marathon,” he said. “I think that’s got a long tail on it, and it is probably going to do okay, right? Like, I don’t think it’s going to shut down next week or whatever, but the next safe bet for them is Destiny 3, and the next safe bet for Naughty Dog is obviously The Last of Us Part 3 and Uncharted.”

The Instagram post that sparked the entire discussion included a photo that, while looking like one that could be taken by any tourist visiting a scenic location, had the caption “Research…” under it. While Escayg didn’t reveal any further details on what the research could possibly be about, the general vibes of the photo could fit in quite well with a potential Uncharted 5, since the franchise typically takes players to scenic, beautiful places quite often.

It is worth noting that neither Naughty Dog nor Sony has made any official announcements regarding the franchise, and for all intents and purposes, the former is still focusing purely on Intergalactic’s development.

The last mainline entry in the Uncharted franchise was 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Its story revolves around protagonist Nathan Drake getting pulled into one last major adventure, and deals with many themes, ranging from unresolved trauma from Nathan’s childhood to the responsibility he has for his new family with Elena.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End got a standalone expansion in 2017, dubbed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. The title features Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross as its protagonists, and sees the two investigating the Hoysala Kingdom ruins. It featured a more open-ended structure for its second act, giving players plenty of freedom to tackle obstacles.

For more details, check out our review of the PC release of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, which features both titles.

The image shows an old cannon on a wall overlooking a city by the sea. It would come across as a neat vacation photo if Escayg didn’t put the caption, “Research…” Research for what exactly? He didn’t say, but considering how much it lines up with Nathan Drake’s entire profile of gallivanting around, exploring ruins, and even dealing with pirates, what else but Uncharted?

A new title in the series wouldn’t be too surprising at this point. After all, Naughty Dog previously wrote that it has several “ambitious, brand new” single-player titles in the works (that “brand new” seemingly indicating that they’re not remakes). There’s also the rumor that Escayg has been working on an unannounced project for almost four years now, which may be the same that Druckmann is producing.

Could it be something out of left field, like, say, a new Jak and Daxter? Sure, but given that it’s been nearly a decade since Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – not to mention Escayg serving as co-director on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – you’d have to think that Drake is gearing up for a return. Hopefully, we’ll learn more later this year.

In a recent interview with the Lance E. Lee Podcast from Tokyo (transcription via Kotaku), the game’s former director, Vinit Agarwal, spoke out about how its cancellation and the disappointment he felt at learning it was being cancelled, especially after spending so much time on it.

“That was a devastating moment for me because I spent seven years working on that game, and it was soul-crushing. I remember honestly finding out that it was getting cancelled 24 hours before it was announced to the public. That’s how I found out about the game getting cancelled, and it was just unfortunate, and they had to do that because they have to control the messaging.”

Stating that it was “around 80% complete”, he seems to have empathy for Nought Dog’s decision to move in a safer direction with whatever Neil Druckmann was cooking up at the time.

“Basically, at one point, a decision had to be made. ‘Okay, make this game or make the next game that Neil Druckmann was directing, the president of the company…They had to pick the game that was kind of the bread and butter of the studio rather than this experimental game that I was working on that I believe was going to be really big, but unfortunately couldn’t see the light of day.”

Agarwal has since landed on his feet, founding a new studio and working on a title that seems to be making good use of all the lessons he learned during his time working on The Last of Us Online. While details are still under wraps, we’re hoping that those lessons bring some familiar elements, and perhaps even a dash of familiarity for what could have been.

This project would revolve around a man and a girl traveling through a broken America—essentially the plot of the original The Last of Us. What makes his post interesting is a mention of “the few stops that remain on the road ahead.”

“Cleaning out the garage today and stumbled on my original sketches from 2003 for a game pitch about a man, his surrogate daughter, and a trek across a broken America,” he wrote. “Been a wild journey. Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead.”

It is worth noting that the concept art itself doesn’t really mean much anymore, especially since the design behind The Last of Us protagonists Joel and Ellie would see massive changes since 2003, thanks in large part to the advancements in console hardware made at the time. As for the franchise’s future, while Druckmann could simply be referring to the 2027-bound third season of HBO’s The Last of Us, the fact that he used the plural “few stops” indicates that there might be even more in the works.

While he has largely been quiet about the idea of a third The Last of Us game, Druckmann had revealed back in February 2024 that he had some ideas for a third part already in mind. At the time, he noted that he only had “a concept” for it, however, and didn’t have a full story that would fit that concept. Discussing the ending of the first two games, he questioned whether there was potential for more.

“If we never get to do it again, this is a fine ending point. That last bite of the apple, the story’s done,” he said. “The great thing about working at Naughty Dog is that we don’t have to. So it’s always like, we would love another Last of Us, but if you guys are passionate about something else, we’ll support this other thing. Very privileged position to be in. I never take that for granted.”

“I’ve been thinking about, ‘is there a concept there?’ And for now years, I haven’t been able to find that concept- but recently that’s changed. I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept, that, to me, is as exciting as 1, as exciting as 2, is its own thing, and yet has this throughline for all three. So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”

More recently, Druckmann has been busy with Naughty Dog’s next major game—Intergalactic. While few concrete details about it have been revealed since its original announcement, Druckmann recently teased that we might see an actor from The Last of Us returning in the sci-fi game.

In his post, Howe said that he was in charge of creating a shot-for-shot recreation of one of the game’s early cutscenes as part of the pitch to show Sony what it would look like. He has also made it clear that the cutscene’s recreation was not commissioned by Sony, and the PlayStation maker had no involvement in the proposal. Further in the comments for his post, Howe also credits Sanzaru Games senior character artist Tyler Bronis for his work on the animated short.

“A long while back, a team was assembled to pitch a remaster of Jak & Daxter. I was asked to animate an IGC shot-for-shot, to show what this updated version would look like,” wrote Howe. “To be abundantly clear: this was NOT commissioned by Sony, nor did they have any involvement in our proposal — this was essentially a fan pitch to try and gain their permission.”

The cutscene’s recreation is quite an impressive one, seemingly making use of modern technologies to render things like the fur on Daxter’s body, and more modern implementations of things like particle effects, which were much harder to render on the original’s PS2 hardware.

In his own post about the project, Bronis revealed that the pitch was worked on back in 2019. His own involvement at the time revolved around remaking Jak’s model, along with environment art and lighting, and the camera work and editing.

The video has seen a positive response, with former Naughty Dog writer and narrative designer Josh Scherr commenting about how well it was pulled off. Scherr had worked on the Jak and Daxter games, and was an animator on this scene in particular.

“This is wild – I was the animator on the original scene way back in 2001,” wrote Scherr. “Y’all did a great job! On the original game each cinematics animator had to churn out 30 seconds of animation per week, so it’s nice to see it looking more polished.”

Currently, the Jak and Daxter series is essentially missing. The last time we got any official word on the franchise was back in 2021, with Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells confirming that a new Jak and Daxter game was not in the works. In a discussion with Insomniac’s Ted Price, Wells was asked whether Naughty Dog still gets requests for a new entry in the franchise.

“We do, in fact,” he replied. “We’ve had a couple of Twitter campaigns where people have been tweeting us every single day [saying] ‘I want a new Jak and Daxter, I want a new Jak and Daxter’, and they aren’t just simple 280-character tweets, they have Photoshopped memes and everything they’re including on a daily basis, and the effort has got to be significant.”

“And I hate to break it to them, [but] we do not have Jak and Daxter here in development right now.”