Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End

The series really needs to evolve and shake any complacency the studio might have following the success of the earlier games. As much as I think Uncharted 2 remains a pinnacle of the AAA blockbuster game, an increasing disconnect existed between the wonderful storytelling / atmosphere / presentation and the disappointingly genocidal gameplay. By the third game, the many great moments were distractingly broken up by tedious combat corridors. The fascinating, fully rounded Nathan Drake of the cutscenes felt increasingly disconnected from the avatar I was controlling, bar a few standout moments such as the extremely effective desert sequence. This was also true of the second game, but there maybe I was just more forgiving since that caught me so off guard after the decent but less spectacular first. There was too many good things about Uncharted 3 for it to be a bad game, but certainly it felt oddly underwhelming.

The Last of Us, though imperfect in other ways, illustrated a more mature relationship between narrative and gameplay - even if Naughty Dog surrendered to vaguely fillerish shooting and stealth just as often, at least the characterisation reflected the violence and cynicism of the world. It felt far more cohesive than Drake's Deception. Almost as if Naughty Dog realised the limitations of Uncharted and purposefully adapted the formula to work in a more appropriate setting. Let's hope it wasn't just a fluke.

Naughty Dog has long since managed to show themselves as at the top of their game in many respects. Now, they need to shake up the formula and subvert our expectations. They certainly have the talent to do so. Hopefully Uncharted 4 won't just be more of the same, but prettier, because that would be a terrible waste of great characters and developers. It's very possible to take a franchise in exciting new directions without undermining what made it memorable and special in the first place: Shadow of the Collossus, Persona 4, Half Life 2, MGS3, all those other worthy follow-ups and sequels. We shouldn't demand anything less, really.

Killing characters is a fairly standard and predictable dramatic tool, for reasons both positive and negative. These are well defined and likeable characters that interact in consistently engaging ways - there's plenty that can be done with that dynamic without reverting to a major death, although I wouldn't be surprised if this was the game where they dispatched someone (and of course deaths can be handled in a potent way too, with the necessary care). Many even excellent TV dramas particularly rely almost entirely on 'shock' deaths, which can be powerful but at the same time eventually becomes sort of a tired old schtick. But then there's the reason why the tragedy has been such a popular dramatic tool since the dawn of storytelling - life and death stakes, after all.

Uncharted 3 actually worked better because they led everyone to expect the death of Sully, but instead focused on reinforced his and Drake's relationship in a richer way - a decision that will serve them well whatever the direction of a fourth story, tragic or otherwise. But it's almost more interesting to try and draw drama without relying on a major death as a punctuation mark.

One problem with gaming deaths is that it's hard to pull off without contradicting the gameplay - especially in Uncharted where Drake survives deathly situations every few seconds. And Sully, Elena et al have survived their fair share of catastrophic events too!

Uncharted 2 is by far the best in the series: a huge leap in terms of quality from the first game, with some spectacular set pieces and smart characterisation. Three largely retained the quality (bar far too much combat filler) but also felt like a very minor leap compared to the huge one between the previous entries.

TLOU felt like a more coherent overall experience, as I mentioned above. Taking that gameplay / narrative harmony and applying it to Uncharted 4 is hopefully what the new creative team will focus on: it's what could and should take the series beyond being a mere rollercoaster. They need to either reduce their reliance on shooting galleries, or at least take Drake's character in a direction that reflects the body count.