SPOILER WARNING! If you haven’t finished the latest game in the Uncharted series, turn away now. If you have completed it or don’t care about spoilers, please feel free to continue reading as I present three different forms “Uncharted 5” could take!
There are a few stipulations, and things already out of the realm of possibility. The Uncharted property is owned by Sony, but up until this point has been developed by Naughty Dog (excluding the Vita game “Golden Abyss”). Naughty Dog has said that whatever happens with Uncharted, it will not be made by them and the story of Nathan Drake is over with the fourth game “A Thief’s End”. And if you played Uncharted 4, you certainly feel that.
Uncharted: Drake’s Legacy
This one seems like the no brainer. Firstly, I doubt that Uncharted 5 will actually have a number attached to it, as that privilege I think is reserved for Naughty Dog who once again will not be making another Uncharted game. I do think it will follow the fashion though of being an odd numbered game and including the Drake name in the title (the first game being Drake’s Fortune and the third game being Drake’s Deception).
As the title suggests, this would be about dealing with the consequences of Nathan Drake’s adventurous life. We play as Cassie Drake; Nathan and Elena’s daughter who is introduced to us in the epilogue of “A Thief’s End”. We learn only a small amount about Cassie in the brief time we play as her, but enough to make a few assumptions. Firstly, that she has inherited the skills of her father. In the Drake’s beach home, there are multiple magazines strewn about or framed on the wall detailing Nathan’s adventures and discoveries, including a magazine that talks about Cassie and how treasure hunting runs in the family.
We also know that she is just as well versed in history as her father, as she picks up objects and is able to determine its country of origin and the century in which it was made. So Cassie already has experience with archaeology from a young age. What makes it more interesting though is if we delve back into Nathan’s childhood, which we know centered around the loss of his parents, particularly his mother who was a treasure hunter like him. If Nathan grew up to be a legendary adventurer, imagine what Cassie could achieve with the strong parental unit that Nathan and Elena grew up to be.
This would also lead into the second thing we learn about Cassie, in that she is sheltered. The game ends with Nathan beginning to detail the events of the series to his daughter, in the most cliche but ultimately most perfect ending possible. It is clear that both Elena and to a greater extent Nathan, have tried their best to keep their questionable history a secret, only sharing with Cassie the details of their more timid adventures. I doubt even with Nathan opening up to Cassie that he would divulge the fact that he murdered an excessive amount of people, and some of the other darker details of those events. By Cassie’s age, Nathan was already a person of questionable morals: already a thief.
I imagine a game with Cassie as the protagonist would focus a lot more on adventuring and a lot less on action. Cassie would inherently have an objection to conflict, not nearly as ready to take someone’s life as her father. Not to say that Nathan was a cold blooded killer, but the specter of death never really hung over him. I imagine it would weigh heavily on Cassie. What would be interesting is if a relative of one of the people that perished by Nathan’s hand, such as the son of Marlowe (villain of Uncharted 3), took revenge on the Drake family. Maybe kidnaping Cassie, and the game revolves around you trying to escape. Cassie would have to face the more ugly aspects of Nathan’s life, as well as it forcing Nathan to take a deeper look into the sordid parts of his past and truly feel the consequences of his actions. Both Cassie and Nathan would have to determine Drake’s Legacy.
An interesting mechanic would be some kind of morality meter. “Uncharted 4” had dialogue options, but they never had any effect on how things played out. With Naughty Dog, known for their definitive and linear stories, not behind the wheel on this game I would think the next studio would want to incorporate some kind of diverging path. Throughout “Drake’s Legacy”, I imagine there would be several moral choices you’d have to make as Cassie, as well as how much of a pacifist or hostile you play as. This would ultimately conclude in multiple endings, where you take your own revenge or choose to let things go.
Uncharted: Brotherhood
This is the other game I could easily see Sony doing: following the adventures of Sam Drake and Victor Sullivan after the conclusion of “A Thief’s End”. It’s the less interesting of the two options, since we know that the older Drake brother and Sully both survive to be people in Cassie’s life. Also, I imagine that whatever they do get up to in their time together would never be quite as thrilling as the events of “A Thief’s End”.
Samuel Drake is also a lot less complicated than his younger brother, as we learn in “A Thief’s End” that all he ever truly wanted was to find Avery’s fortune with Nate. What makes things interesting is that Sam does not feel complete after his time in Libertalia, and is seeking to fill a void, realizing that his lifelong goal was ultimately not what he needed.
I picture Brotherhood as vignettes: not one adventure, but a handful of them, all smaller in scope than anything in previous Uncharted games. It would have a lot more RPG elements as each player creates their own Samuel Drake. What does he truly want from life? Does he want to be as famous an adventurer as his brother? Or does he want to settle down and have his own family? That would be for you to decide, the game incorporating both an action game and a social simulator. You would be able to choose what treasure hunts you go on, and also have a network of people you bring on said journeys. Depending on who you choose and how you interact with those people depends on the relationships you form. In the end, every player’s Samuel Drake has their own unique personality and unique life experiences.
Uncharted: Journeys
This is a long shot, but something I think would be a totally rad experience. “Uncharted 4” has a dope photo mode, which allows you to capture moments from the game in numerous different ways. To expand on this, Uncharted Journeys would have a video capture mode as well as a world building mechanic. You could create your own environments and insert whatever characters you like to create your own Uncharted game or movie. In addition you could share your “Uncharted Journey” with others online as well as play or watch those shared by the community.
The game would utilize Playstation VR; creating worlds using the Move controllers and allowing you to control characters with your own movements captured via the Playstation Camera. This would allow for players to make their own “Uncharted 5”, and not introduce any new canonical elements, making it so that the story Naughty Dog told remains intact and complete.
