Following recent reports about a secret project in the works at Naughty Dog seemingly not being related to The Last of Us, a new one indicates that it might be a brand-new entry in the Uncharted franchise. According to Mp1st, the new game will seemingly once more feature series protagonist Nathan Drake in some way. However, whether he will be playable or not remains unknown.
The report also notes that it is not going to be a remake. Despite Naughty Dog seemingly having at least discussed the idea of a remake of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, the project is instead an entirely new game, making it the first one in the franchise since 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and the first mainline one since 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
The project is being headed up by Shaun Escayg, who fans of Naughty Dog will recall has been teasing a new project through a cryptic social media post. Escayg is no stranger to the Uncharted franchise, having previously worked on the last two entries. As for when this game might come out, the report notes that Naughty Dog will start working on it after the release of Intergalactic. The Uncharted title will then apparently be followed up with The Last of Us Part 3.
It is worth keeping in mind that Naughty Dog itself is yet to make any announcements regarding the Uncharted franchise. The company has chosen to stay silent on the matter, instead focusing its attention on the ongoing development of Intergalactic.
Escayg teased this secret project with an Instagram post earlier this year. The post featured a picture of an old cannon on a wall, with a seaside city being visible in the distance. While far from an official announcement, Escayg simply wrote “Research…” in the post’s caption.
Earlier this week, noted industry leaker NateTheHate said that the studio is seemingly working on something unrelated to The Last of Us, but it was “nothing I’m prepared to share at present”, which indicates that the project is likely still quite early in development, and there are few details that have been nailed down even internally.
As for what a new Uncharted game might entail, we saw Naughty Dog experimenting with the formula with The Lost Legacy, which featured Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross as its protagonists rather than focusing on Nathan Drake. While the story largely stuck to the franchise’s roots with plenty of action and puzzle-solving along the way, Naughty Dog experimented quite a bit with its gameplay, with a middle chapter featuring a large open zone that players could freely explore and take on objectives in any order.
As for Drake, the character’s story arc has been largely considered finished with the events of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End by fans of the franchise, with many players praising how the story ended things with Drake reconciling with his brother and learning to become more responsible for his new family.
Both Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy are available on PC, PS4, and PS5. PC and PS5 players can experience the title through the Legacy of Thieves Collection. For more details, check out our review of the PC version.
