I’ve been cautiously optimistic about Uncharted: The Lost Legacy since it was first announced last December. I’m clearly in the minority, but I was really disappointed by Uncharted 4 and the way it abandoned the series’ trademark sense of fun and character for a hollow attempt at telling a “serious” story. Its worst problem, though? It completely erased Chloe Fraser, the highlight of the whole series. In fact, it did one worse – it paid the briefest of lip-service to Chloe with a letter found in Drake’s house in the opening chapter, just enough to make her absence from the rest of the game conspicuous.
Related: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End review – Smallness from Great Beginnings
But then Naughty Dog unveiled Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a new game that puts Chloe front and center, where she belongs. Finally, the character who carried Uncharted 2 on her shoulders gets her own game. She shares the spotlight with Uncharted 4‘s Nadine Ross, but this could also be Nadine’s chance to shine. She’s such a potentially interesting character, but was woefully underutilised in the previous game; maybe she’ll finally get something resembling a character arc.
Today, Naughty Dog shared a new trailer for the game, further filling me with cautious hope. Instead the typical game trailer full of explosions and nonsense, it shows a relatively low-key scene from early in the game. Chloe and Nadine are on a riverboat, with Nadine keeping watch while Chloe pores over a map that’ll hopefully lead to the Tusk of Ganesh.
I still have my reservations. Laura Bailey (who plays Nadine) still can’t seem to hold a South African accent, and this is a more serious Chloe than we’ve seen before. But it already shows seeds of being a more interesting attempt at a serious Uncharted, and Chloe’s unique personality still shows through, even in that seriousness. I’m hopeful that with a new directorial team, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy can step out of its big sister’s shadow and be the game that Uncharted 4 should have been.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy launches on August 23 for PlayStation 4.
