{"id":662270,"date":"2026-05-10T18:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T18:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/662270\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T18:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T18:00:08","slug":"20-years-on-uncharted-is-still-changing-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/662270\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Years On, ‘Uncharted’ Is Still Changing Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

The PlayStation 3<\/a> turns 20 years old in November, and you can\u2019t talk about the console without talking about\u00a0Uncharted. Naughty Dog\u2019s globetrotting franchise was one of its crowning jewels, and this early into May, it celebrates two significant milestones.<\/p>\n

First and more immediate is the 10-year anniversary of Uncharted 4: A Thief End<\/a>.\u00a0Originally released on May 10, 2016 for the PlayStation 4, the game marked Naughty Dog\u2019s first non-remaster dive into the console and was billed back then as the series\u2019 final entry. It also had a famously troubled development, including crunch<\/a> and the longtime creative director\/co-writer Amy Hennig<\/a> and director\/designer Justin Richmond<\/a> both leaving in 2014. Their exits led to heavy rewrites, made clear by the game\u2019s reveal trailer<\/a> hinting at a darker, potentially less family-friendly tale not followed through in the final product.<\/p>\n

Despite the circumstances of its existence,\u00a0Uncharted 4\u00a0was a critical and commercial darling. As is, it stands as the best-selling entry in the series and one of the PS4\u2019s best-selling titles. More so than The Last of Us,\u00a0this game is arguably where Naughty Dog\u2019s vibe shift occurs: longtime employees (and Last of Us directors) Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley took over after Hennig and Richmond\u2019s departures, with Straley leaving<\/a> after\u00a0development wrapped on\u00a0A Thief\u2019s End. Druckmann\u2019s stayed at Naughty Dog, gradually becoming a more central figure and boosting his profile enough to become a key creative on\u00a0The Last of Us\u2019\u00a0HBO adaptation<\/a>. Far from the first developer to rise up the ranks where he works, it\u2019s tough to not associate Naughty Dog with him these days, which has partially backfired on the studio as it\u2019s repeatedly revisited its post-apocalyptic franchise<\/a> throughout the 2020s.<\/p>\n

Going further into the past, May 9 marked the 20th anniversary of the original\u00a0Uncharted\u2019s\u00a0debut at E3 2006<\/a>. (For the first 11 years of its life, the showcase began in May rather than June or July.) After four Jak & Daxter\u00a0games for the PlayStation 2, it was a big deal to hear Naughty Dog was leaving it behind to work on a new IP, let alone one in a photorealistic style and set in the real world. Then known under the codename \u201cBig,\u201d it didn\u2019t take long for the project to draw comparisons to Indiana Jones<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tomb Raider,\u00a0even with its focus on cover-based shooting. From that point on, interest in the game grew with each new look at it.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Uncharted: Drake\u2019s Fortune finally came out on November 19, 2007, its positive reception birthed a key PlayStation franchise and helped usher in cinematic, usually third-person games<\/a> that exist to this day. The number of titles that stand in its shadow is too many to count, but\u00a0Uncharted\u00a0itself has been MIA for a while. The movie finally came out<\/a> in 2022, while its last proper game installment was the standalone offshoot The Lost Legacy.\u00a0These days, it\u2019s not a question of \u201cif\u201d we\u2019ll get more\u00a0Uncharted,\u00a0but \u201cwhen\u201d: a 2023 PS5 ad got fans buzzing with a vague tease of a woman in a cave<\/a>, and they\u2019ve more recently been excited by Instagram posts<\/a> from\u00a0Lost Legacy\u00a0director Shaun Escayg<\/a>. Naughty Dog may be at work on\u00a0Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet<\/a>,\u00a0but like Nathan Drake, it can\u2019t resist exploring the past for too long.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n