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Each new Uncharted game is a big event in the PlayStation calendar, but expectations for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the latest entry in Naughty Dog's action adventure series, have never been higher. It's the first Uncharted game to be released on PS4 after all, so fans will be hoping for a truly next-gen experience to blow the already technically impressive Uncharted 3 out of the water. It's also (with the greatest respect to the Infamous and Killzone) arguably Sony's biggest long-running PlayStation exclusive, potentially making it 2015's top system seller.
It's a series that's become synonymous with Sony, but details on the game's plot are relatively scarce at the moment, so we've collected everything we know about the game so far. We'll be updating this article as new information's confirmed, so be sure to check back for all the latest news.
RELEASE DATE
So far, all we know about Uncharted 4's potential release date is that it will be released some time in 2015. Sony's PlayStation Store page currently states the game will release on December 31st 2015, but this is no doubt a temporary placeholder that will change at a later date.
It's likely that it will be probably be Sony's big Christmas game, though, as all three Uncharted games have launched in either October, November and December in previous years, so we wouldn't be surprised if Uncharted 4 will be released around a similar time towards the end of this year.
GAMEPLAY TRAILER
The first teaser trailer for Uncharted 4 was pretty vague on what the game might entail, or even whether it would star long-time hero Nathan Drake, but Sony's subsequent E3 trailer in 2014 did indeed confirm that Drake would be coming out of fortune hunting retirement to take up the mantle of Naughty Dog's latest adventure.
Sony then revealed a full 15-minute gameplay video at its PlayStation Experience event in December 2014, giving us a small taste of what we can expect to see in the final game. As you can see from the trailer below, Drake starts off in a beautifully dense, cliff-top jungle area, rendered at a smooth 1,080p with cut-scene material seamlessly blending into in-game character models.
As Drake explores a nearby cave, Drake's climbing and jumping animations have been greatly improved since the previous game, as he looks much more athletic and realistic than before. Drake can now steadily reach for footholds rather than leaping from point to point and the grappling hook on his side flows and shakes round on his waist as he clambers up rock faces. Drake can also use a pick axe on certain surfaces to help make his way across cliff edges, creating makeshift grip points as he reaches for the next ledge.
The lighting looks particularly gorgeous, as Drake's torch reflects and shimmers off the low-hanging cave ceilings as he trudges through a waist-high watery pathway. More impressive, though, is the suggestion that gun fights will now take place in much more dynamic and strategic play spaces, as the trailer's climactic shootout showed Drake clambering around on all manner of different platforms and levels as he took down an army of enemies.
The open, freeform structure of the particular arena on show was almost like its own platforming section, as enemies were continually appearing from all heights and angles as Drake pushed through their defences. If all the game's fight scenes are this dramatic, then we'll be very pleased indeed.
In terms of fighting mechanics, Drake seems to have taken a few notes from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Unity as we saw him hoisting enemies behind cover to knock them out, creeping around in tall bushes and taking down soldiers from above. At one point, he even used his grappling hook to swing down to a lower section of the cliff and punch an enemy in the face in one fell swoop, so we only hope this sense of cinematic flair persists through the rest of the game.
60FPS or 30FPS?
The E3 2014 trailer showed a bruised and beaten Drake heaving himself off a beach in a perfect 60fps when Sony first showed off the game last year, but the latest news suggests that Uncharted 4 will actually run at 30fps instead. In the February 2015 issue of Edge magazine, game director Bruce Straley confirmed that the above PlayStation Experience demo was locked to 30fps.
"We’re actually above 30, but we locked it [for the demo],” he said. "We’re going to do whatever it takes to make the game we want to make. If it means we could go for 60 but lose something that would really impact the player’s experience, then it’s our choice as developers to say, ‘Well, we’re going to go for the experience over the 60 frames.’"
30fps would be in keeping with previous Uncharted games on the PS3, as these were all locked to 30fps, but it's a shame the PS4 might not be up to the task of delivering a great gameplay experience at 60fps. Still, The Last of Us: Remastered launched on PS4 in 60fps, so there's always a chance that Uncharted 4 will receive the same treatment in the final version.