News that the Uncharted video game franchise may be rebooted has been met with predictable skepticism. The evident final game in the series, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, was just ported to PlayStation 5 and PC earlier this year. The original entry, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was released on the PS3 in 2007, and the series had a nine-year run until its final chapter in 2016 with Uncharted 4. Given the satisfying ending Uncharted 4 provided, a reboot is a highly suspect premise for most fans. Rebooting Uncharted at this point does not make sense, but based on Sony’s other recent gaming decisions it is less of a surprise.
Unlike Tomb Raider, where the 2013 reboot provided a more serious tone and a significantly improved aesthetic, the Uncharted games have aged well. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection was a PS4 Bluepoint Games remake of the first three PS3 games. The supposed Uncharted reboot is not a Naughty Dog production, according to rumors, which suggest an unknown developer working with only the acclaimed studio's assistance. The entire Uncharted series is playable on PS5, except for the PS Vita spinoffs. Uncharted games still hold up, and thanks to the PS4 and PS5 remakes their presentation remains stellar by current standards.
Uncharted Is Too Recent For A Reboot
Sony has recently shown a regrettable trend of doubling down and oversaturating PlayStation consoles with its most popular AAA franchises. The company has seemingly abandoned new IP that aren't a major commercial success, and many older franchises have been long forgotten. The Uncharted games were a showcase for Naughty Dog’s storytelling skills alongside the cinematic presentation afforded by the PS3 and subsequent consoles. The premise was a simple pulp adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider, not something that was inherently unique or memorable, which casts doubt as to what a reboot even means for Uncharted.
Clearly PlayStation’s remakes and remasters repeat the same mistakes, producing new versions of games that are not old enough to warrant them. Reboots may this trend, where Sony leans further into its recent successes, aiming for commercially safe products that offer little room for originality. Rebooting an older franchise like Wild Arms, which has not had a new entry since the PS2, could have some potential, but Uncharted is too new to appeal to nostalgia, and not unique enough in its essence to warrant a reboot. Absent Naughty Dog’s signature style, a fresh start to Uncharted is simply a new pulp adventure series about modern-day treasure hunters.
While The Last Of Us has seen separate releases on three successive PlayStation consoles, Sony has closed its first party Japan Studio, which produced a number of fan-favorite JRPG series along with collaborating on critically acclaimed games like Shadow of the Colossus and Bloodborne. New IP ventures are rarer, and Days Gone 2 was canceled despite fan petitions to resurrect the sequel project. ing fresh series like Days Gone with sequels or revisiting older franchises like Alundra or Legend of Legaia would both be reasonable approaches for Sony. A cycle of short-term remakes, remasters, and reboots of only the biggest recent hits aims to please stockholders while alienating consumers.
Rebooting Uncharted Only Panders To PlayStation Fans
There is nothing a reboot of Uncharted can add to the gaming landscape other than more of a good thing that already ran its course and did so within this past generation of consoles. A reboot could yield a solid, pulpy action-adventure, but such a title could simply be the start of a new franchise. Attaching the Uncharted name without its original developers is pandering toward existing fans. The PlayStation 5 is already overly reliant on its repackaged prior gen experiences, TLOU Part 1 being the problem's most recent example. Attaching the Uncharted name to a reboot reinforces the narrative that Sony is unwilling to take risks, neither aiming for new experiences nor tapping into the rich well of PlayStation history.
