When Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was first revealed during E3 2014, Naughty Dog presented a stunning teaser trailer featuring Nathan Drake waking on a beach… the detail was unprecedented and astonishingly, it was running at 60 frames per second. Of course, that 60fps dream never came to pass – beyond multiplayer mode – but 30fps was just fine, bearing in mind the quality of the final game. That said, we were left wondering what might have been. Certainly, simulated 60fps gameplay using the game’s slow-motion mode looked absolutely beautiful – but now, thanks to PlayStation 5, it’s running at 60fps in real-time. Or 120fps, if you prefer.
Revisiting Uncharted 4 and its Lost Legacy spin-off – both remastered now for PlayStation 5 – reminds us of the sheer level of achievement delivered by Naughty Dog in the last generation. Both are impressively executed games that essentially perfect the cinematic action formula, delivering strong characterisation, stunning locations and exceptional set-pieces. Across the PS4 generation, the studio proved time and again that it had mastered the balancing act of delivering engrossing player agency within a tightly-defined cinematic experience.
