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Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection was truly my first experience with the series, but it still felt like a solid place to start. The collection is a pair of games: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, both of which have been remastered for the PlayStation 5.
Uncharted 4 was the last adventure for Nathan Drake, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy served as Chloe Frazer’s breakout role, no longer a mercenary, now a treasure hunter. Though it was my first time playing a game in the franchise, it was still an exciting adventure, and it told me all I needed to know about why Uncharted is such a beloved franchise.
How do the remasters stand up and is the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection worth investing in?
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection faithfully retells the two stories
Other than multiplayer content, everything players love about Uncharted 4, and Uncharted: Lost Legacy are present here in their entirety. At first, it felt weird starting with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, but the start of the game gave me plenty of information about just who Nathan Drake is, and why he does what he does.
Out of the two stories though, Uncharted: Lost Legacy stands stronger on its own. Both games feature excellent, clever writing, strong character-driven narratives, and non-stop excitement.
Uncharted: Lost Legacy was a reinvention of two characters Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross. Both characters grew and matured over the course of the game, and experienced a wealth of emotions that had me invested in the story the whole time.
Both games in the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection are fun, and both stories are worth telling, but Uncharted: Lost Legacy is a much stronger story, and held my interest longer. There were so many moments where I laughed, got a little misty-eyed, or lost in dramatic moments, opening my eyes as to why people love this series.
The Uncharted gameplay is back and as intense as ever
As someone who is not especially fond of heights, many parts of this game had me at the edge of my seat. There are so many jumps, drops, and tumbles that made me clench my controller in nervousness.
If a player is familiar with the Uncharted series, they will find nothing amiss. Both games play the same, a fact that I appreciated. A new feature that really added to the game was using the power of the DualSense controller. The haptic feedback for punches, jumping, and rope-swinging was incredible.
The way the trigger buttons tense up when the player is taking part in action sequences cannot be understated. Even simple things like driving a jeep through the wilderness felt more realistic through the power of haptic feedback.
The gameplay loop is a tried-and-tested one. The player is given a mission or objective and then given no real hints on how to overcome them. It’s up to the player to figure things out.
Whether you want to tackle the game by being stealthy or by going in guns blazing, both are intense. It can be draining on Drake to play aggressively, but Frazer never seems to run out of guns in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection.
However, one new feature stands out here for inexperienced treasure hunters. If the player dies too many times or spends too long on an area, the game will offer them a hint.
This can be turned on or off, and the player has to accept it (by pressing the up arrow on the d-pad). Many of these areas are dangerous and massive, so this was a benefit to me, who was still pretty new to the franchise.
Players can also turn on Aim Assist or make Aiming a toggle (which I do not recommend). Aim Assist is solid and can really turn the tide of a gunfight if overwhelmed. Thankfully, I never really ran out of ammo except on the silenced pistol.
While the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection games itself are pretty straightforward, there is so much to both titles. It’s easy to get lost looking for treasures, notes, optional conversations, and weapon caches that need to be lock picked. There were very few moments in the game where I experienced a glitch or bug that hurtled my character to their deaths, but checkpoints are pretty close together and it didn’t really cost me any time.
The beauty of this collection cannot possibly be understated
While the gameplay was nice and familiar, one thing that was new and exciting was how gorgeous Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is. I played this in Fidelity Mode, which is 4k resolution and a 30fps framerate. I had zero issues with the frame rate and did not find any problems there.
There’s also Performance Mode, and Performance+ Mode, each with its own resolutions and framerates. Performance Mode has 4k TVs output in 4k upscaled from 1440p, and 1080p TVs have 1080p resolution supersampled from a 1440p base, with improved anti-aliasing.
Performance+ Mode offers 120 FPS framerate and 1080p resolution, but I wanted to see just how gorgeous the game is and Naughty Dog did not disappoint here. While I could occasionally become frustrated trying to figure out where to go, I was constantly in awe of the visuals.
Colors pop brilliantly, and the character models look fantastic, except for young Nathan Drake who looked like he belonged in an entirely different game. His character’s face model just looked awkward to me. The up-close shots of Chloe Frazer were stunning, even down to her eyes being red and weary after lengthy action scenes and exploration.
Everything was rendered with stunning attention to detail. The war-torn streets of India depicted in Uncharted: Lost Legacy felt all too real. The Italian villas and the dilapidated temples lost in jungles were awe-inspiring and no matter where I went in either game, the world around me was a visual masterpiece.
The collection is not flawless
There are some issues here to mention. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection had a few glaring issues with the character models themselves. When Nathan Drake was not wearing his tuxedo jacket, for example, he spent odd moments with his arms stuck out, constantly fidgeting with his cufflinks.
It only happened in one area of the game and was brief but it is still worth mentioning that rarely, the character models did some strange things.
While the gameplay for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is great, it can feel very repetitive, but that's the way the Uncharted games work. Both games have very similar gameplay loops. On the topic of Uncharted 4, the story also feels very weak to me. It reads like every "one more job" story or movie I've ever seen.
The gameplay and action very much props up the game, but the story just didn't do it for me.
The Verdict
Playing this on the PlayStation 5 was an absolute treat. The load times were fast, the game was visually appealing, and it was easy to play both games. While on a personal level, I wasn’t as fond of the Uncharted 4 story, I enjoyed the gameplay enough to overlook that.
The Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection stories felt like they could start a whole new series of games in the franchise. What this collection does, it does exceptionally well.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a gorgeous, intense experience, and I enjoyed every moment. Hopefully, this will lead to more Uncharted on the PlayStation 5. These remasters are a thrilling pair of adventures that are worth adding to any PlayStation 5 collection.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
Reviewed On: PlayStation 5 (Early access provided by Sony)
Platform: PlayStation 5
Developer: Naughty Dog
