After 10 years why is there still no sign of a new Uncharted game? – Reader’s Feature

As Uncharted 4 passes its 10th anniversary a reader is upset that there’s still no sign of a new entry in what he considers Sony’s most important franchise.

You’d think the release of a new movie, the first in seven years, would make me happy as a Star Wars fan. But given the poor quality of The Mandalorian and Grogu, and how bad it’s doing at the box office, it’s just making me even more depressed. It seems obvious to me that they should just give up with all these middling films and TV shows, that don’t move the universe forward, and just cancel everything. Then wait 10 years or more, so that people actually miss Star Wars.

That’s exactly what they did with the prequels and the sequel trilogy and even though they were all rubbish it worked and the films were super successful. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say, and time heals all wounds. Or in other words, give it some time and people will forget drivel like The Acolyte and The Rise of Skywalker.

What does all this have to do with Uncharted? Well, May is the tenth anniversary of Uncharted 4 and the theory above has worked: I now want more from the franchise. The only problem is Sony doesn’t seem interested in providing it.

I’m not going to spend too much time talking about the rumours of a new game, because they’re all pretty vague. But as far as I remember they only amount to Sony supposedly shopping around the idea of a new game to various developers and nobody wanted to do it, including Bend, who did Days Gone. Then, more recently, there was some theories that Naughty Dog was ‘researching’ a new game.

This is despite the fact that Naughty Dog said that they didn’t want to work on the series anymore. Given they have a lot on their plate at the moment I’m not sure it seems very likely that they’d change their mind, especially if you assume they’re already making Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and at least planning The Last Of Us Part 3.

I don’t know though. There’s also rumours that Sony isn’t happy that Naughty Dog hasn’t made anything new yet this gen, so maybe they’re looking for an easy win all of a sudden.

Whatever the situation is, I feel we need Uncharted to come back. For me it is ground zero for the Sony formula of third person, story-based action games. It’s what all the other Sony games are copying, including The Last Of Us, as well as most other third person games from any other company. I noticed GC mentioned it in their review of 007 First Light this week, for example.

What I really miss though is that Uncharted was funny. Nate was a great hero and really got the whole Indiana Jones style scoundrel thing right, with a lighter tone but not too campy. Although I do think Uncharted 4 is a bit too serious and suffers from not having any supernatural aspect.

For years Uncharted was as cinematic as games got and I still think it does that better than almost any action game. The quality of the dialogue and acting has a lot to do with that, but it’s also the fact that you like the characters, instead of having to play another sad dad. The combat was never great though, and the platforming pretty basic – even though everyone copies it anyway.

If you wanted to do a new game there are lots of ways to improve the gameplay, which I think is reason enough to do it. The question is, who would be the star? I think Nolan North is getting a bit too old for that kind of motion capture now, but if they do it with his daughter the comparisons to Tomb Raider are going to be endless.

I’m not sure why they wrote themselves into that corner, since if they don’t use his daughter now that’s going to upset people too, but I’m sure something can be worked out. Except I don’t see any real reason to think they are working on it. And even if they are it’s going to take years and probably be a PlayStation 6 game.

That’s better than nothing, but I don’t understand why such a beloved series, that has a lot more flexibility than most other franchises, has been left to rot. Especially as it had a movie adaptation not too long ago.

10 years is a long time in gaming and it’s the 20th anniversary of the first game next year. Maybe we’ll hear about a new one then, but it’s going to be years after that before the game comes out, and I think Nathan Drake’s legacy deserves better.

By reader Zeiss

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