Uncharted is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the Uncharted franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who travel across the world to uncover various historical mysteries. The series features historical fiction, elements of fantasy and folklore, and fictional characters alongside real-world historical figures and events. In the main series, players control Nathan Drake; in the expansion, players control Chloe Frazer.
The main games are played from a third-person perspective, with gameplay mostly revolving around combat, shooting, exploration, and puzzles, while platforming is used to navigate the environment. Later titles began including competitive and co-operative multiplayer game modes, stealth, and driving gameplay. Uncharted drew inspiration from other games,[1] film, and additional media, and is known for featuring exotic locations. Several adaptations of the series have also been released, including a live-action film, board games, comics, and a novel.
The main series received critical acclaim, with praise for the stories, characters, voice acting, gameplay, and graphics, with its high production value being frequently compared to Hollywood-produced action-adventure films, specifically the Indiana Jones series. It has also been credited by critics and publications for raising standards for single-player games, and its second and fourth numbered installments are consistently ranked among the greatest video games. Uncharted has shipped over 41 million units, making it one of the best-selling video game franchises, helping the success of PlayStation during the seventh and eighth generation and elevating Naughty Dog's reputation as a developer.
Drake's Fortune, the first game in the series, was released for PlayStation 3 in November 2007.[2] The system carried the following two installments of the main series, after Naughty Dog agreed to exclusively release the games on Sony systems. Among Thieves was published in 2009, and the creative team were afforded a greater license to utilize a larger amount of the system's random-access memory (RAM), due to an improved proprietary engine. It subsequently introduced more locales, higher free roam and combat abilities, and a larger map. Drake's Deception, released in 2011, built upon this aspect, while it also added an improved online multiplayer mode.
The following main installment, A Thief's End, was published on PlayStation 4, and focused on realism and detail. The last in the series to feature the main protagonist, it added driving elements and improved other gameplay aspects, like stealth and role-playing, and comprehensive upgrades to multiplayer. It was released to massive financial success, breaking multiple records.[3] A free-to-play game for iOS and Android, Fortune Hunter, was released to tie in with A Thief's End.[4][5]
Golden Abyss was published in 2011, and is the first in the series to be released on PlayStation Vita, marking the series' first on a handheld console. It is considered a prequel to the main series, although, some developers have stated that it acts as a separate, original story.[6] In 2012, a turn-based card game titled Fight for Fortune was released. It was developed by One Loop Games,[7][8] and contained interactive elements suitable for the Vita.[9]
Drake's Trail is a now-defunct 2007 online game. The game was a browser-based game[10] with alternative reality elements. Consisting of ten chapters, the story, serving as a prequel to Drake's Fortune, recounts journalist Elena Fisher hiring a private detective to track down famous treasure hunter Nathan Drake believing he is onto something big. The game was played using a Google Maps plugin to locate game areas within the real world, in conjunction with a Flash Player to explore those fictional locations (such as Drake's apartment) for clues to the next location.
Gameplay in the Uncharted series is a combination of action-adventure elements and 3D platforming with a third-person perspective. The player is given various physical tasks which must be completed to progress through the storyline, such as jumping, swimming, grabbing and moving along ledges, and climbing and swinging from ropes.[20] Other aspects, including shooting, combat, and puzzle solving, also regularly feature. In later titles, driving, boat riding, and other acrobatic actions were added or developed.
The Uncharted games grant a reasonable amount of freedom through the design of the maps. Later games contain elements of open world design, in order to encourage free-roaming to secure collectibles or stealth to avoid enemies.[20] In A Thief's End, role-playing was expanded to include side discussions with other characters. The Uncharted series follows the structure of traditional action games, where players complete a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, and is navigated through a third-person perspective.
Shooting is central to the game's function, as players are also required to bypass a string of foes. Although a wide variety of weapons are present in the game, the player can only carry a sidearm such as pistol, a primary weapon such as a rifle or shotgun, and a handful of grenades. These weapons are obtained by picking up weapons dropped by a downed foe, or from those scattered around the various maps. If the player dies, they will respawn at a specific level checkpoint.[21]
In A Thief's End, the use of vehicles in an explorable environment was developed. It provides the player with freedom to take vehicles wherever they please, albeit, must be driven to a certain location to progress the story.[22]
In Among Thieves, multiplayer was introduced. It features both competitive and co-operative gameplay. The co-op multiplayer mode allows up to three players to take the roles of Drake and two other "hero" companions and features missions involving gunfights, platforming, and teamwork-based objectives.[23] Players can also assist their comrades if they become critically injured or if they are grabbed by an enemy.[23] The competitive multiplayer allows a maximum of ten players to play against each other in two teams of five. Six competitive modes are featured, including single or team-based deathmatches, and team-based objectives.[24] In A Thief's End, survival mode was introduced, which features wave-based progression on swarms of increasingly powerful enemies, as well as completing other objectives. Furthermore, multiplayer allows players to accrue points and rank up, which can be used to purchase more skins for both heroes and villains.[24]
In Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the game is set off the coast of Panama, in the Amazon rainforest, and an uncharted island off the coast of South America. The second entry in the franchise, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, was the first in the series to experiment with several locales. The game is set in the snow-capped mountain landscapes of the Tibetan Plateau in southernmost China, a museum in Istanbul, the jungles of Borneo, and the urban landscapes of Nepal. Subsequent games followed this concept, with Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception featuring the streets of London and Colombia, as well as a chteau in France, a castle in Syria, a city in Yemen, and the sprawling deserts of the Rub' al Khali.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End features a Panamanian jail, an estate in Italy, a cathedral in Scotland, several locations in Madagascar, and many uncharted islands in the Indian Ocean not far from Africa, to reflect Libertalia. Boston and New Orleans are also included, in both the past and present respectively, where the titular character resides.
The prequel game Uncharted: Golden Abyss features a dig site and several other locales set in the forests of Panama while the standalone expansion Uncharted: The Lost Legacy features the locales set in and around the mountain ranges of Western Ghats in India as well as a small bazaar and a city in Tamil Nadu.
Many of the locations represented were extensively researched for the series. The development team organized field research trips with tour guides and architectural historians and captured many photos and hours of video footage to properly reflect the settings.
The series has included a wide variety of voice actors, with the development team settling on the decision that prominent characters would be voiced by lower profile actors. Only three characters have featured in every main installment, while Chloe is the only other single-player playable character:
Sony Computer Entertainment America released the first of a four-part motion comic series adventure called Uncharted: Eye of Indra on October 23, 2009.[37] It is a prequel to Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The second part was released on November 25, while the third and fourth parts released simultaneously on December 7.[38]
A motion comic adaptation of the prologue of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, starting with the discovery of Francis Drake's coffin and up to the first encounter with Gabriel Roman. Uses the same voice clips from the video game.
An Uncharted comic book was released by DC Comics around the time Uncharted 3 came out. Written by Joshua Williamson, with art by Sergio Sandoval and covers by Adam Hughes, it was released on November 30, 2011, as part of a 6-issue mini series.[39][40] In the story, a quest for the legendary "Amber Room" launches Nathan Drake on a journey to the Hollow Earth.[41]
A novel titled Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth was published in October 2011. The novel is written by Christopher Golden and published by Del Rey Books, and follows the search for Daedalus's Labyrinth, a maze used to hold the Minotaur, a monster from Greek mythology.[42]
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