The Uncharted series helped pad the PS3’s launch year with cinematic adventures when Drake’s Fortune launched in November 2007. In the years that followed, Nathan Drake embarked on many treks for treasure, always finding himself in trouble along the way. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was the believed conclusion of Nathan Drake’s story until a PlayStation Spotlight ad sparked the rumor mill of a sequel on its way in the form of Uncharted 5 for PS5, but is it really happening?
When Is Uncharted 5 Coming Out?
Currently, there is no set release date for Uncharted 5 and the game isn’t even confirmed, but it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
The aforementioned spotlight ad gives no real information on the potential development of Uncharted 5, but it absolutely feels like the kind of nudge that would send Nathan on one of his epic treasure hunts.
The ad spent a lot of time focusing on known titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarok. Then we got a quick millisecond of a clip of a girl, flaming torch in hand, approaching a pedestal in a cave.
In another quick shot later in the ad, the same girl blows the dust off an artifact.
It’s definitely an interesting choice, especially when the rest of the ad aligns with other confirmed PS5 titles. Could this have been our first real clue that Uncharted 5 is somewhere on the horizon? And who could this be?
First and foremost, the epilogue of A Thief’s End introduced us to Cassie Drake, Nate and Ellie’s daughter. Through some dialogue and an issue of the in-game magazine “Adventure Life,” we know Cassie is following in her father’s footsteps.
While the epilogue alone doesn’t offer enough to consider it sequel baiting and writer/director Neil Druckmann’s own comments suggest the series is finished, this new ad is quite suspicious. Everything presented aligns with a game on the PS5, whether it’s the quick snippet of a robot from Stray or the Mongols from Ghost of Tsushima riding from a burning village. There’s even a glimpse of imagery inspired by The Callisto Protocol and Returnal.
So, who’s this random girl exploring a dusty cave? And if this is just meant to allude to the legacy of Uncharted, it’s unusual that not only is Nathan not present, but neither is any other PlayStation legacy series.
With all of this said, we’re erring on the side of caution, but we’re not convinced we’ve seen the last of the Drake family. Should we see an Uncharted 5, though, it’s going to be a long, long wait.
What Could Uncharted 5 Be About?
Adventure abounds when Nathan Drake is on the scene. Except, according to Druckmann, we’ve seen the last of the aging explorer’s escapades. Of course, that means his daughter would take up the mantle and embark on her own misadventures. Since all of Nate’s storylines were wrapped up nicely, the series moving forward would be all Cassie’s. Unless the developer opts for the “father gone missing” trope.
Since Cassie would be a new character, it’s tough to say what her perils would be and where her ambitions would take her. All we know is that we’d gladly join her on the quest to find missing artifacts and booby-trapped tombs.
Another choice to lead Uncharted 5 could be Chloe Frazer, the protagonist of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, the last Uncharted game released. In The Lost Legacy, Chloe teams up with Nadine Ross, the mercenary antagonist from Uncharted 4. Any new sequel could feature these two as the protagonists again, or simply as supporting characters, though they will certainly feature in one way or another.
Who Would Develop Uncharted 5?
The safe bet is Naughty Dog. Despite what Druckmann says, a developer can find new inspiration for a long-since-dead IP. We’re not quite ready to believe that Naughty Dog has actually thrown in the Uncharted towel. Just that the story they aimed to tell had been told. As with treasure, there could always be a new one to uncover.
The alternative could be Bend Studio, which worked on the 2011 PS Vita release Golden Abyss. However, in 2021, Bend confirmed it was working on a new IP utilizing the open-world system created for Days Gone.
This brings us back to Naughty Dog — unless it’s not Uncharted 5 we’re getting next, but a Drake’s Fortune remake from Bluepoint Games. In 2015, Bluepoint released The Nathan Drake Collection compendium of remasters for the PS4 before finding its footing in remakes. Considering how fond Sony are of remakes and reboots these days, as well as the fact that there’s a PC audience for the series after the release of the Legacy of Thieves Collection, an Uncharted reboot isn’t out of the question.
Until then, you might as well play through the Uncharted games in order.
READ NEXT: Ranking the Best and Worst Uncharted Games
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