While Naughty Dog has just released The Last of Us 2 Remastered, it could well be that another game from its back catalog will make a return to the forefront. This title is Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, the first episode of this legendary saga which ended in 2016 with the ending we know. Naughty Dog has been clear since retiring its goofball hero: move on. But it seems that on the Sony Interactive Entertainment side, we are not of the same opinion. As we approach the 10th anniversary without any episode of Uncharted, fairly concrete rumors announce the return of the saga through a new remake planned for PS5. Several sources are comfortable enough to talk about it freely today, especially since datamined files also allow us to project Sony’s plans.
Obviously, we know to what extent remakes and other remasters are singled out by players, at least the most vocal on social networks (the reality is quite different). But what we must also accept is that all these graphic updates are also there to make easy profit for the studios and publishers. Proof of this is with the sales of the latest The Last of Us 2 Remastered on PS5, first in sales in France and Great Britain the week of release and which is still part of the Top 5 best sellers today. Also, between two new productions which require between 5 and 6 years of development, or even more today, and which cost fortunes to produce, a small remake of families is no easy task. A remake of the first Uncharted on PS5, with the 3D engine of The Last of Us 2, where exactly does it come from? Why a remake when Sony already released a PS4 remaster in 2015 with the Uncharted Nathan Drake collection? From several sources of course, and the first comes from a journalist, Nick Baker, who works in particular for the XboxEra site. You have undoubtedly heard of the site recently, since it is one of the media which released the scoop on the end of Xbox exclusives which will soon arrive on PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Scoop which pushed Phil Spencer to make a tweet to put out a little of the fire which was spreading on social networks, but without ever denying the indiscretions of the media which leaked Microsoft’s new strategy.
It was during the latest XboxEra podcast, dated February 3, 2024, that Nick Baker revealed this information about the remake of the first Uncharted. He gets this information from several sources, and also specifies that Jon Clarke, his fellow co-host, would also have received similar information. But the sources go further, because following these video revelations, another insider named Speclizer, specialized in data mining, shared files dating from 2020 and found in The Last of Us Part II, mentioning numerous related elements to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Speclizer is also at the origin of the first clues concerning the remake of the first The Last of Us a few years ago and released in 2022 under the name The Last of Us Part I.
So obviously, we can all ask ourselves this question. Why would Sony have requested the remake of the first Uncharted and not another episode? 2 for example, more popular with players. Several reasons and the first is that if Naughty Dog has turned the Uncharted page to devote itself to other new licenses, it is very likely that Sony wants to capitalize on a strong license which has been dormant for too long (almost 10 years altogether). likewise!). And then let’s not forget that a second film is planned on the cinema side and that it is always very fruitful to be present in several mediums at the same time, in order to create bridges. In the film, the Nathan Drake version of Tom Holland has not yet met Elena and this may be the case for the 2nd film, who knows? And it is precisely in the first video game that the two characters first meet. And then of all the episodes of the saga, the first Uncharted is the one that most deserves its remake.
We are talking here about a remake and not a remaster, which means that the restoration work will be much more important and substantial. And if it is indeed the same engine that Naughty Dog used for The Last of Us 2, it will change a lot of things and send some noble wood. The 3D models of the characters will be more detailed, more accomplished, the animations even more advanced and the interaction with the environments more elaborate. We can also imagine settings with volumetric vegetation everywhere, like in Uncharted 4, but with today’s quality and resources. Obviously the gameplay will also be reworked, because even if it was nice in the Nathan Drake collection, the gameplay remained quite rigid. There, he will be able to enjoy the combat system of The Last of Us 2, whether it be melee clashes or the gunfight system.
You will have understood, delivering an AAA as high quality as the Naughty Dog productions takes time. If you watched the documentary on The Last of Us 2, you saw how involved the members of the studio are, that it takes them the time necessary to follow through on their proposal. This is also why Sony needs to find ways to make money easily and quickly, and these remakes and remasters are a pretty viable solution. Now the question is who is taking care of it? Bluepoint Games? Bend Studio? In any case, one thing is certain, it’s not Naughty Dog who is on the case…
