Thoughts on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (No spoilers) (Patreon)

If you don’t know, this is a standalone Uncharted game, set after the events of Uncharted 4, and drops Nathan Drake in favour of Chloe Frazer (first seen in Uncharted 2). Chloe is chasing down some ancient macguffin in India, alongside her new gal pal, Nadine Ross (Uncharted 4). 

I thought the DLC was great. It's one of my favourite Uncharted games, just behind Uncharted 2. And if you liked the other games you've gotta get it - even if you're feeling some franchise fatigue.

Here are some of my key takeaways from the game.

Uncharted 4, but better

I wasn’t overly keen on Uncharted 4.

I mean, in terms of the core gameplay, Uncharted had never been better. The combat takes place in open, free-flowing arenas with much less focus on sticking behind a single piece of cover. And the stealth’s more nuanced, too.

Plus, the climbing even got a whole bunch of upgrades: a climbing rope, a piton, and more fine-grained control over Drake’s arms allowed for more interesting platforming challenges than we’d ever seen in Uncharted.

But I just felt like the game was let down by really low energy pacing. The game had so many slow walky-talky story bits and lengthy sections without significant gameplay. Plus, the game seemed to be darker, more mature, and more down-to-earth - which meant they ripped out the supernatural enemies (probably for the best) and downplayed the crazy cinematic set pieces (definitely for the worst).

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, then, has all of Uncharted 4’s gameplay advantages, but rocket-propelled pacing and epic over-the-top action (with just enough heart and sincerity) that’s closer to Uncharted 2.

It’s about six hours long, has hardly any cruft, and - by my recollection - even manages to pack in more set pieces than all of Uncharted 4!

Unlike any Uncharted 

For the most part, Lost Legacy sticks to the Uncharted formula. Combat, puzzles, climbing, cutscenes, grabbing onto a rock but then the rock breaks and you fall down but it’s okay because you grabbed onto something else. All of this in pretty much a straight line.

But Chapter 4 is actually quite different to anything we’ve seen in an Uncharted game before. It’s a bit like Uncharted 4’s Madagascar level in that it’s more open and you’re driving a car, but Lost Legacy takes it much, much further.

Chloe and Nadine need to open a giant gate, by finding and activating three locks. These are dotted around the landscape in towers, caves, and whatnot. There’s also a tower in the centre that overlooks the entire area and will mark the locations of the switches on your map, but you’re not forced up there if you wish to explore.

Basically, this entire section is open and non-linear. You even get a physical map, complete with pencil markings, to help you around.

And that’s not all. The area also features 11 bonus treasures (and another for getting the lot) which require even more exploration and plenty of puzzle solving, platforming, and combat. It’s up to you how much of this you do.

This whole section just feels so different to a typical Uncharted game and makes me wonder what Naughty Dog might be cooking up in The Last of Us 2…

Puzzling goodness

Hey, the puzzles are actually pretty good! Which is maybe a first for Uncharted games, where the puzzles are often all about opening your notebook to get, essentially, the answer. They’re supposed feel like puzzles, even if they’re not especially puzzling.

But the ones in Lost Legacy are genuinely difficult and interesting. One feels like something out of Lara Croft GO, another is almost like a Zelda dungeon, another requires a good ear. This is something that Uncharted has never excelled at but these conundrums are very impressive. 

Gal pals

The relationship between Chloe and Nadine is really well done. I suppose you could call it a tad cliched - it’s right out of the “buddy cop” playbook - but still. The acting and writing is great, and these two women are afforded proper arcs, backstories, and characters. 

The game often takes on the tone of a road trip, with the two women swapping stories, chatting about the Drake brothers, marvelling at the landscape and ancient ruins, and generally having a lovely time.

And while the relationship is almost entirely done through the usual means (cutscenes, dialogue while driving) there are some good interactive sections too, often involving Chloe’s new gameplay mechanic: a simple but effective lockpicking microgame that further improves the stealth gameplay.

Experimental DLC

One thing Lost Legacy could have done better, is be more experimental.

You see, DLC is cheaper to make than an entirely new game, which means developers don’t have to be so risk adverse. They can be more experimental, knowing that they’re not trying to sell this to a mainstream audience.

Last of Us’s DLC is a good example. You can’t make a $60 PS3 game about two girls going to a shopping mall, but you can make DLC that does just that, with all the production values of a triple A video game.

And I wish more games did this! Including Lost Legacy, which has some risky elements (two female leads for one thing), but pretty much ends up feeling like “more Uncharted” which is what 90% of DLC is doing (the other 10% is zombie horde modes).

So I’d love to see DLC that focused squarely on certain mechanics from the main game. To be specific, imagine a Tomb Raider DLC that ditched the combat entirely and was just all climbing puzzles. Or an Assassin’s Creed 4 DLC that went much much further with the treasure map gameplay. (To be fair, Syndicate’s detective DLC is an example of this done right).

Do give me examples of DLC that’s more risky and experimental, though. Could be a future video topic!