Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End often comes up when we discuss our favorite games over the years. And it isn’t all just because it brings a rollercoaster of emotions to the final chapter of Nathan Drake’s globe-trotting adventure. As Naughty Dog’s first title designed to make the most of the PS4, it was quite the looker when it was first released.
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.
