14 DAY TRIAL // 
In a surprising turn of events, the fine folks at Naughty Dog have decided to offer Uncharted fans some closure after Nathan Drake's saga came to an end in the forth installment of the series.
Although it was initially announced as an expansion to the Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, The Lost Legacy's status had been changed into a fully developed standalone sequel. And for good reasons since Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, the final game in the series, will take you at least six hours to complete.
The main protagonists, Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross, appear in other Uncharted games like Drake's Fortune (Uncharted 3) and A Thief's End (Uncharted 4), respectively. Many Uncharted fans thought that a new game in the series that would not have Nathan Drake as lead character would be a big fail.
However, The Lost Legacy shows that the Uncharted series is not necessarily about Nathan Drake. Even if Naughty Dog announced earlier this year that it's highly unlikely to launch another Uncharted game, The Lost Legacy confirms that the series continues to perform great even without the lead character from the first four games.
That being said, let's take a look at what the Uncharted series' swan song has to offer in terms of story, gameplay and graphics.
Story
For the first time in the history of the Uncharted series, players will visit India, a country that's ravaged by civil war. Chloe, a treasure hunter and a not so faithful companion of Drake, goes on an adventure to try and find the Tusk of Ganesh, a relic that's been the main obsession of her father.
Nadine Ross is a mercenary leader who seeks revenge for something that happened a few games ago. Enlisted by Chloe for her knowledge of the rebel forces movements in India, Nadine seems like the perfect match for the treasure hunter.
While Chloe is a cheerful, open-minded character, always joking and making fun of bad situations, Nadine is very serious and rather cold when it comes to befriending new people.
The relation between the two female protagonists is one of the best written parts of the game. It's the main reason Nathan Drake will not be missed at all during your gaming sessions.
The main villain however, isn't that interesting at all. His motivations aren't revealed enough or weak at best. It feels like Asav is in the game just to justify the need for a baddie who would antagonize the two female lead characters. Nevertheless, the dynamic between Chloe and Nadine makes up for the lack of a strong villain, so you'll hardly miss that part.
Gameplay
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy doesn't come with anything new, in terms of gameplay features, that the previous installments in the series didn't offer players. You kill the bad guys, solve some puzzles and get the treasure. All these while learning about Chloe and Nadine and saving a country almost in ruin.
If you've been playing any other Uncharted games, then you'll definitely feel at home playing The Lost Legacy. The same awkward shooting system present in all Uncharted games has been implemented in The Lost Legacy as well, but that's not necessarily bad.
On the flip side, players have much more room run and hide since The Lost Legacy features the largest area ever included in an Uncharted game. Moreover, the Western Ghats region is also the first semi-open world region that Naughty Dog designed for an Uncharted title.
It isn't a huge area, so getting from point A to B will not become a chore, especially that you'll be given a jeep to explore the Western Ghats. Unfortunately, I've encountered some awkward moments while exploring the largest region in the game, such as trying to jump to otherwise reachable spots just to be met with a bump off.
Sometimes, limits of the area are strangely defined and if you try to pass them you'll end up dead for no apparent reason. Another downside is this large open-world area is not really populated and feels rather empty. Players aren't really encouraged to explore the whole region, just certain spots where they can find relics that aren't even useful to their gameplay experience, they only add some flavor to the backstory.
Ultimately, I believe that Naughty Dog has done that just to see whether or not an open-world Uncharted game would be viable. My verdict is that the franchise has great potential of becoming a series of open-world treasure hunting adventures, although I'm not sure that another Uncharted game will be developed by Naughty Dog anytime soon.
The Lost Legacy follows the same formula that made the Uncharted series so popular among gamers: head to point A on the map, kill bad guys, solve puzzles, get the treasure. The last game in the Uncharted franchise relies more on puzzle-solving encounters rather than mob fights, which is a welcome change.
Obviously, that doesn't mean that you can finish the game without having to kill any of the bad guys standing in your way. However, due to the larger area that you can now explore, you will now have more options to go past them than ever before. I've also noticed that the game encourages players to go for a stealthy, melee approach rather than head in with all guns blazing.
Fortunately, there are weapons that you can find in secret caches which should fit any playing style, so there's variation when choosing how to approach every encounter. All enemies drop their weapons after they're killed as well, but I've had some trouble finding enough ammunition, so you'll be forced to change your weapons pretty often.
Graphics and audio
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is one of the best-looking games on PlayStation 4. Although Naughty Dog had used the same graphics engine, the Indian landscape makes it even more eye-candy than most of the previous games in the series.
The game looks and sounds amazing 90% of the time. The scenery in the Western Ghats region is absolutely gorgeous. The lighting, shadows, artwork and everything related to graphics are just about right to offer an immersive gameplay experience like I've rarely seen in other games. This is certainly where Uncharted: The Lost Legacy shines brightest.
If you are one of those gamers who treasure graphics above all else, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy will not disappoint you. Still, that's just one of the aspects that scores high, and not necessarily the one that should be mandatory when you decide to purchase the game or not.
The Good
- New protagonists make you forget about Nathan Drake
- Gorgeous landscapes
- Solid story
- Smart puzzles
- Keeps you entertained for at least six hours
The Bad
- Starts out slow
- Semi open-world regions has its drawbacks
- It forces players to use different weapons
Conclusion
Curiously, The Lost Legacy proves there's life after Nathan Drake and that no matter what protagonist will be featured in the next Uncharted game (if any), it will not be a drawback.
Obviously, you can't play The Lost Legacy unless you've played the other Uncharted games. But if you did, then you can't possibly skip the last game in the series.
I just hope that we won't have to wait too long for another Uncharted game comes out, though I have the feeling that Naughty Dog has a couple of aces under the sleeve, which will probably make us forget that there was once a treasure hunter by the name of Nathan Drake.
