At the tail end of 2013, Sony and Naughty Dog revealed that an Uncharted game was set to launch on the PS4 exclusively but didn't give away any firm release date details for the title.
But thankfully, Sony gave us a little more information at E3 2014 during its press conference, revealing the name and a vague release date for the game.
It’s been nearly three years since Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception was released for the PS3 and Uncharted: Golden Abyss was launched for PS Vita back in 2011. Now we know that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is coming at some point in 2015, so we've only got a year or so to wait.
This is the place to get all the latest news and details on Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the next instalment of the hugely successful series, so keep it bookmarked.
Uncharted 4 Release Date
Casting our mind back to November 2013, the teaser trailer was shown off at a US PS4 Launch event with narration from American actor Todd Stashwick.
"We have great news for all our Uncharted fans – Amy, Justin and the team are hard at work on an amazing new instalment of the Uncharted series to be released exclusively on the PlayStation 4 system,” said Naughty Dog Community Strategist, Arne Meyer at the trailer launch.
“Our goal is to continue what we’ve done in previous console generations and once again deliver the best in storytelling, performance capture, technical innovation and graphics on the PS4. We can confirm that the voiceover is performed by Todd Stashwick and he will play a character in the game.”
Since the game was announced, Uncharted 4 writer Amy Hennig has left Naughty Dog after working on the Uncharted series for over a decade. The Last of Us developer has since confirmed that her departure will not affect work on Uncharted 4.
At E3 2014, Sony confirmed that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End would arrive exclusively on the PS4 some time in 2015, with the news provided in a fresh trailer for the game.
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Uncharted 4 Trailers
The first Uncharted 4 trailer was released in November 2013 and gave us very little information about the game’s storyline or locations. However, there are some clues embedded in the limited footage we’ve been shown, including a suggestion that Uncharted 4 could follow Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag’s pirate theme.
There are several clues in the trailer that point to Cape Agulhas (L’Agulhas) in the southernmost tip of South Africa. This ties in with the mention of Cape of Good Hope which is also in South Africa.
Near the end of the trailer it focuses on an island near Madagascar called Ile Sainte Marie. This island is one of the possible locations of a pirate haven known only as Libertatia, set up by Captain James Mission. Libertatia’s motto was “For God and Liberty”, which is then scrawled on the map in the trailer.
All these tips may suggest a pirate theme for Uncharted 4, but let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Uncharted 4 News
Building on the above teaser trailer, Sony gave Uncharted 4: A Thief's End a little spotlight time during its E3 2014 press conference in June. Not only revealing the name of the upcoming Uncharted PS4 game, Sony also confirmed that Nathan Drake will remain as the game's protagonist, quashing rumours that he had been replaced.
The video was then published on YouTube, offering a little more information on the game's storyline in the description provided below:
"Several years after his last adventure, retired fortune hunter, Nathan Drake, is forced back into the world of thieves. With the stakes much more personal, Drake embarks on a globe-trotting journey in pursuit of a historical conspiracy behind a fabled pirate treasure. His greatest adventure will test his physical limits, his resolve, and ultimately what he's willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves."
Looks like there's a definite pirate theme there then and Drake is a lot older than in previous games. According to the trailer, he's been "out of the game a while" and the trailer starts with Drake battered and bruised lying in a river.
Uncharted 4 – What we’d like to see
Ahead of more details on the the fourth Uncharted game from Naughty Dog later this year, we’ve had a think about what we’d like to see with Uncharted 4.
1. Make sure it stars Drake
It might make us sound like schoolgirls at a One Direction concert, but we’re not ashamed to cry “We want Drake” for Uncharted 4.
Some rumours have circulated since the teaser trailer that Uncharted 4 may not feature our favourite male adventurer, instead taking the form of a prequel or post-Drake title.
If Naughty Dog chooses to ditch Drake, it will be doing the series a disservice. Uncharted and Drake go together like bread and butter. The series is so synonymous with this cocky protagonist that it would be lost without him.
2. Improve the shooting mechanics
Throughout the series, we’ve often found the shooting mechanics to feel jerky, unresponsive and slow, especially in comparison with the fluidity of the surrounding gameplay.
In fact, there were so many complaints about the aiming inaccuracies in Uncharted 3, Naughty Dog actually had to release a patch for the game to fix the problems.
Despite the patch, we still found the heavy combat portions of the game very frustrating at times.
With Uncharted 4, Naughty Dog needs to find a balance between making the shooting parts challenging and rewarding, but not at the expense of still being enjoyable.
3. Take collectibles to the next level
One of the great things about Uncharted: Golden Abyss on the PS Vita was its wealth of collectible items. The series as a whole has always had a strong history of treasures, but never took them to the same level as Golden Abyss.
With the PS Vita title you could examine them, giving them meaning, a backstory and value to the overall storyline. After all, Drake is a treasure hunter and explorer by nature so why not make more of the hidden wonders he discovers along the way?
4. Introduce a bit of Tomb Raider climbing action
Uncharted games are well known for their fluid and intuitive platforming sessions, but sometimes they are far too easy to navigate. All you need to do is hold the analogue stick in the direction you want to move when climbing and occasionally press jump.
Tomb Raider made cliff climbing truly precarious – one wrong move and you’d see Lara Croft plunge to her death, which is something that we’ve never really experienced with Drake. As the game moves to the next-generation console, now would be a great time to overhaul some of those climbing mechanics to make it feel more realistic.
Perhaps Naughty Dog could even introduce some climbing tools like a pick-axe or ropes, just to mix it up a bit and play on Drake’s adventurerous side.
5. Make us use our brains a little more
We long for the game where puzzles make us properly scratch our heads with frustration. That’s not to say that the puzzles in Uncharted games thus far haven’t been perplexing, but we’d like our brains to be bombarded with less linear and more open-ended challenges in this PS4 exclusive.
Make use of Drake’s lust for exploration with the puzzles, make him have to search the locale from top to bottom in order to find clues to the solution.
6. Fully utilise the PS4 features
At the time of writing, we feel that inFamous: Second Son is the only title to take full advantage of all the PS4’s unique features, particularly the DualShock 4.
Uncharted 4 is one of the only games that we know of being specifically built for the PS4, so it would be a shame not to see the console's new features fully utilised.
The touchpad could be used to dust off some of the artefacts you discover along the way or the Six-Axis motion sensing system used to navigate your potential pirate ship for instance.
We’re sure that Naughty Dog will be able to think up some ingenious ways to incorporate all the new features, and we can’t wait to find out more.
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