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The series' current logo.

Uncharted is an action-adventure third-person shooter platform video game franchise developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was first developed for the PlayStation 3 hardware, before others such as PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4.

The series follows the adventures of treasure hunter and fortune seeker Nathan Drake as he sets off to uncover the truths behind numerous mythical treasures and lost cities, resulting in clashes with rival hunters and thieves. The series features several supporting characters, including Nate's mentor Victor Sullivan, love interest Elena Fisher, and former flame Chloe Frazer, who also serves as the main protagonist of a spin-off game.

The series was generally met with critical acclaim and numerous end-year awards, as well as honors for its technical achievements, storytelling, and level design; Drake's Fortune was very well-received,[1] with each of its numbered sequels receiving universal acclaim from critics.[2] The series' spin-off titles Golden Abyss and The Lost Legacy were also positively received. The success of the franchise led to expanding into other forms of media such as novels, comics, a fan film and a live action film.

Gameplay[]

While minor changes occur throughout the games, gameplay often involves a combination of platforming, gunplay, elaborated set-pieces, and puzzle-solving. Collectibles known as treasures are also featured in each game, while some games also feature other types of collectibles.

Ambushed gameplay 2

Melee combat in Drake's Fortune.

In each game of the mainline series, the player takes control of Nathan Drake. The Lost Legacy uses a different protagonist serving as the main playable character. Gameplay involves performing several platforming tasks that must be completed to progress through the storyline. Such tactics include jumping, swimming, grabbing, shooting, climbing structures, sneaking along ledges, and swinging from ropes. Actions such as driving and boat riding were added or developed further in later titles.

The Uncharted series is part of the action-adventure genre, however, an ideal amount of freedom is provided through the design of the maps. Elements of open-world design are featured in later titles, as a way to encourage free-roaming to discover scattered treasure as part of side quests or utilizing stealth to avoid enemy detection. In A Thief's End, role-playing was enhanced to include optional conversations between characters. The series as a whole follows the structure of traditional action games, with players being navigated through third-person perspective and following a single line of chapters with linear gameplay.

Shooting is a central gameplay aspect in the series, as players must fight through several groups of enemies. The player is only limited to two weapons at a time, such as a handgun and long gun (rifle or shotgun), plus a total of up to four grenades. However, each game features a wide variety of weapons. Such weapons can be obtained from defeated enemies or found scattered around the environment. If the player dies, whether it is from being gunned down, blown up, beaten, or taking a huge fall, they will respawn at the previous checkpoint.

A Thief's End introduced the function of jeeps in a large, open-world environment, which is also carried over into The Lost Legacy. This gives players full freedom to drive wherever they please, but still, must explore certain areas to progress through the story.

Multiplayer was first introduced in Among Thieves. It features both competitive and cooperative gameplay. Co-op mode supports up to three players, taking the roles of Nate and two other companions. Also included are missions that involve the usual firefights and platforming, but also team-based objectives. If partners become critically injured, or are grabbed by an enemy, players can assist them.[3] Competitive mode supports up to ten players that can compete against each other in two teams, both with five players. Six competitive modes are featured, including team-based objectives and single or team-based deathmatches. Survival mode was introduced in A Thief's End. It involves fighting several waves of swarming enemies and completing other tasks.

Multiplayer allows players to accumulate points and move up the rankings. This can be used to purchase additional skins for both heroes and villains.

Synopsis[]

Setting[]

Amazon rainforest 1

Amazon rain-forest in Drake's Fortune

The series is set in the real world, featuring realistic environments within real countries, such as Panama, France, or Yemen, and several more. Environments consist mostly of ancient, lush jungle environments, while other parts of each game take place in more urbanized settings. Most ancient environments are tied to specific historical characters, such as Francis Drake, Marco Polo, Henry Avery, and several more that the series cover, or are mythical places such as Shambhala or Iram.

The series begin in the year 2007, starting with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The plots of the games follow each other in a chronological order on the timeline of the series, with the exception of Uncharted: Golden Abyss published in 2012 which is a prequel to the first game. There also are flashbacks in the games telling some events in the prehistory of the series. The games mainly feature the treasure hunter Nathan Drake, his best friend and mentor Victor Sullivan, the journalist Elena Fisher who becomes Nathan's wife in the course of the series, and the treasure hunter Chloe Frazer who joins them in some occasions. A Thief's End, the last game featuring Nathan Drake, also introduces his elder brother Sam.

Plot[]

El Goddamn Dorado 1

The statue of El Dorado on the hidden island

The plot of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is set in the year 2006 and tells the story of the search for El Dorado. It begins with Nathan Drake off the coast of Panama. Accompanied by Elena Fisher, whose production company has funded the expedition, they find the lost coffin of Sir Francis Drake. It is empty except Drake's diary which shows the location of El Dorado. Leaving Elana behind, Nate and Sully travel to the Amazon rainforest and find out that El Dorado is not a city, but a golden statue that has been removed centuries ago by the Spaniards. Sully is captured by Gabriel Roman and Atoq Navarro, who are also after the treasure. Nate flies with Elena to a hidden island where the statue has been brought to. They free Sully and find out that the statue is a sarcophagus containing a mummy which emits an infectious dust. Everyone opening the sarcophagus, including Roman, is mutated by the dust into a monster. Navarro airlifts the statue with a helicopter to a ship and wants to sell it as a biological weapon. Nate follows him and succeeds in plunging the statue to into the depths of the ocean.

Shambhalalalalalalala

The mythical town of Shambhala in Tibet

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the plot of which is set three years later in 2009, tells the story of the search for Shambhala and the Cintamani Stone. Nate and Harry Flynn break into the Istanbul Palace Museum to steal a Mongolian lamp that may lead to the treasure of Marco Polo's lost fleet. Inside, they find a map indicating that the fleet had been thrown ashore in Borneo by a tsunami and that it had been transporting the Cintamani Stone from the mythical city of Shambhala. Flynn double-crosses Drake and takes the map to his boss Zoran Lazarević. Nate and Sully follow them to Borneo. With the help of Chloe Frazer who pretends working for Lazarević, Nate can study the documents Lazarević has collected and learns that the Cintamani Stone still is in Shambhala. They find the bodies of the passengers of the lost fleet, a Phurba serving as a key to Shambala and a letter leading them to Kathmandu. There, they meet Elena and find in a temple the position of Shambala. However, they are ambushed by Lazarević's men, and Lazarević gets the map with the directions to Shambhala. Nate and Elena follow him there and find that the Cintamani Stone is petrified resin from the Tree of Life growing there. Lazarević drinks the tree's sap, which renders him nearly indestructible. Nate however, detonates the pockets of explosive resin in the tree with his weapons, thus defeating Lazarević and leaving him to be killed by the Shambhala guardians.

Iram

An overview of Iram, the Atlantis of the Sands

The plot of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is set one year later in 2010 and tells the story of the search for the Atlantis of the Sands. Nate and Sully are ambushed in London by Talbot's men, and Katherine Marlowe cuts Francis Drake's ring off of Nate's necklace. In a flashback, it is shown how young Nate stole the ring from a museum twenty years ago and first met and teamed up with Sully. Charlie Cutter, one of Talbot's men, has faked the ambush and Marlowe has taken a fake ring. Nate, Sully, Cutter and Chloe trace Marlowe's car and come to an underground library. They find a cipher disk that in conjunction with the ring serves to decode Enochian script. Using the decoder, they find out that Drake has searched for the lost city of Iram, also known as Atlantis of the Sands, and that further clues are in a French castle and a Syrian citadel. They succeed obtaining the clues, two halfs of an amulet. Talbot ambushes them in France as well as in Syria and gets both halfs. Nate and Sully follow him and Marlowe to Yemen. Sully is captured by Marlowe's agents, and Nate sneaks into a cargo plane transporting cargo for Marlowe's expedition. Nate causes the plane to crash in the Rub' al Khali desert, but saves himself using a parachute. He is found by by Salim, the leader of a local tribe. He tells Nate that the city is cursed because Solomon has imprisoned the spirits of the Djin in a vessel of brass, and cast it into the depths of the city's water supply. They rescue Sully and come to the lost City where Marlowe's agents try to lift the brass vessel from the water. Nate shoots the winch, and the vessel sinks back into the water. The shoot also destroys the supporting structure and the city collapses into a giant sinkhole.

Quivira

The ancient town of Quivira in Panama

The plot of Uncharted: Golden Abyss is set a few years before the events of Drake's Fortune and tells the story of the search for Quivira.

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Uncharted4Chapter22

Henry Avery's ship hidden in a cave

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the plot of which is set about three years after the events of Drake's Fortune in 2013-2015, tells the story of the search for the treasure of Henry Avery. Flasbacks show young Nate and his brother Sam sneaking out of an orphanage and breaking into a house, searching for their mother's diary. Another flashback shows Nate and Sam together with Rafe Adler in a prison in Panama where Nate finds a Saint Dismas Cross in the former cell of Avery's first mate. Back in the present, Nate works for a salvage company and leads a normal life with his wife Elena. One day, Sam appears and Nate joins him on the search for Avery's treasure, pretending to Elena that he has to go on a business trip. Together with Sully, they steal a second Saint Dismas Cross from an auction at which Rafe wanted to acquire the cross. Inside the cross is a parchment with an illustration of Avery's gravestone. They therefore travel to a cemetery in Scotland near the Saint Dismas Cathedral where Rafe and Nadine Ross, leader of the paramilitary organization Shoreline, are already searching for further clues. Nate and Sam find a hint that the treasure is not in Scotland, but at King's Bay in Madagascar. They are ambushed by Nadine and her mercenaries, but can escape with Sully in his plane. In Madagascar, they find out that Avery and other pirates have taken their treasures to the pirate colony of Libertalia which is on an island near Madagascar. They are joined by Elena who found out the truth about Nate's trip. On the island, Sam is captured by Rafe and Shoreline and forced to lead them to the treasure. Nate and Elena follow them and save Sam from Shoreline. Nate and Sam arrive at Avery's ship loaden with treasure which is hidden in a cave. When Nate is attacked by Rafe, he loosens a bag of treasure that falls on Rafe and kills him. Due to the explosions caused by traps set by Avery, the ship sinks with the treasure, but Nate and Sam escape and the four leave in Sully's plane. The Epilogue, set in 2026-2028, shows Nate's and Elena's daughter Cassie searching the house and finding objects from her parents' adventures.

Uncharted LL Tusk of Ganesh

The legendary lost Tusk of Ganesh.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, the plot of which is set some months after the events of A Thief's End in 2015-2016, is the first game not featuring Nathan Drake. Instead, it features Chloe, Sam and Nadine and tells the story of their search for the Tusk of Ganesh. Chloe's father had been killed by bandits while searching for the tusk. Chloe goes on the search herself with the aid of Sam. Sam is captured by Asav, who also searches for the tusk, and forced to work for him. Chloe then enlists the aid of Nadine who has left Shoreline. Together, they find Asav and Sam, but are captured themselves. Chloe is forced to solve the riddles that lead Asav to get the tusk. Asav leaves them to drown in the flooded treasure chamber, but they escape. Asav sells the tusk to Orca, the new leader of Shoreline, in return for a military-grade bomb. He intends to detonate the bomb in the heart of a large city in order to spark a civil war. Chloe, Nadine and Sam get the tusk back from Orca and follow Asav's train. Chloe and Nadine re-direct the train to a broken bridge. The train falls off the bridge, causing the bomb to detonate and killing Asav.

Releases[]

Games[]

Console games[]

Game Developer Platform Release year
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Naughty Dog PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 (The Nathan Drake Collection) 2007, 2015
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves 2009, 2015
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception 2011, 2015
Uncharted: Golden Abyss Sony Bend Studio PlayStation Vita 2012
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Naughty Dog PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Windows (Legacy of Thieves Collection) 2016, 2022
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy 2017, 2022

Mobile games[]

Game Developer Publisher Release year
Uncharted: Fortune Hunter PlayStation Mobile Inc. Sony Computer Entertainment 2016

Future[]

According to Neil Druckmann, a different studio could make a fifth Uncharted game. If such a game is made, Naughty Dog will be involved in some capacity.[4]

On September 9, 2021, Sony revealed the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection at the Gamescom PlayStation showcase. This collection contains remastered versions of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.[5][6]According to Sony, the game release is scheduled for 2022 on PS5 and PC. However, PS5 players will get to enjoy the remasters earlier than the fans on PC.

PlayStation Showcase 2021 Trailer, released by PlayStation on YouTube, September 9, 2021.

Other media[]

Motion Comics[]

Uncharted: Eye of Indra is a four-part motion comic prequel which sets up the events of Drake's Fortune. A few weeks before the first game, it follows Nathan Drake and Eddy Raja in Indonesia, as they attempt to steal an artifact called the Eye of Indra from a crime lord named Daniel Pinkerton.

A motion comic of the prologue to Drake's Fortune was created, using the same voice clips from the game.

Other games[]

Uncharted: Drake's Trail, released in 2009, was an internet game made available on the official European Uncharted website. As a private investigator in the hire of Elena Fisher, the object of the game was to find Nate by following his trail using various clues left behind by him. This game is no longer available.

There is also an Uncharted 2 minigame released on the official European site that is still currently active.

Uncharted Dual Pack is a 2011 compilation of the first two action-adventure games within the Uncharted franchise. It was released for the PlayStation 3 on September 6, 2011, to promote the release of the then-upcoming sequel Drake's Deception. It contains Drake's Fortune, a Game of the Year edition of Among Thieves, and Eye of Indra motion comics. It also includes a Super Voucher, which has DLC from Among Thieves, as well as an avatar and a dynamic theme from Drake's Deception.

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is a remastered compilation of the first three Uncharted games released on October 9, 2015, in North America for the PlayStation 4.

Novels[]

Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth is a novel written by Christopher Golden, and concerns Daedalus' Labyrinth, a maze used to hold the mythical Greek monster; the Minotaur. The book was released on October 4, 2011.

Drake's Journal is a book that chronicles the making of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. It was by Nolan North, Nathan Drake's voice and mo-cap actor, and published on November 1, 2011.

Uncharted: The Official Movie Novelization is a novel adaptation of the live action film and written by Stephani Danelle Perry. The novel features several differences from the film and provides additional background informations on some characters. The novel is published by Titan and released on February 22, 2022

Cinema movie[]

A cinematic, film adaption was released on February 18, 2022 with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg starring as Drake and Sully and directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay by Rafe Lee Judkins, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. Nolan North makes a cameo appearance in the film, as a hotel guest on the beach in the Philippines, who talks to Nathan and Chloe.

Short film[]

UNCHARTED_-_Live_Action_Fan_Film_(2018)_Nathan_Fillion

UNCHARTED - Live Action Fan Film (2018) Nathan Fillion

The Uncharted Live Action Fan Film is a 2018 action adventure short film. The film is directed by Allan Ungar and stars Nathan Filion as Nathan Drake, Stephen Lang as Victor Sullivan, and Mircea Monroe as Elena Fisher. The three are on the search for the lost treasure of Afonso de Albuquerque which is said to have been on the Flor de la Mar when the ship sunk in 1511. However, they find out that the tresure has been on another ship and discover the coordinates where it is hidden. The film does not form part of the Uncharted franchise, but results from a private initiative of Nathan Filion.

Others[]

Uncharted 3: Race to the Ring is a reality TV/game show that aired on October 31, 2012 at 11:30pm on Spike TV.

External links[]

References[]

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