Buy Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection

It's still a little wild to see Sony bring out some of its big PlayStation hits to the PC. Even though the plan is to bring out those games a year after their PS4/PS5 debuts, seeing the likes of God of War, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered hit the platform is very welcome, considering how well done and well liked those games are. The release of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection marks another big PlayStation franchise hitting the PC, and like the previous releases before it, this looks to be the best version of the game to date.

The collection brings two titles from the series to the PC. The first is Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the latest game in the series to star protagonist Nathan Drake. Set years after Uncharted 3, Uncharted 4 finds Nathan having left behind his treasure-hunting days and settling down with longtime series companion, Elena. It isn't long before he meets up with Sam, his estranged brother who he thought was dead. Duty to family and the promise of recovering a lost treasure from Henry Avery leads Nathan to go off on one last adventure.

The second game in the collection is Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a spin-off focusing on some of the series' side characters. You play the role of Chloe Frazer, adventuring thief and fan favorite character since the series' second outing. Already in India, she's on the hunt for the Tusk of Ganesh, a valuable artifact for the Hindu people and a treasure that happens to be hunted down by Asaf, a warlord who wants to start a civil war in the name of ethnic cleansing. Helping you on your expedition is Nadine Ross, one of the antagonists of Uncharted 4 who has lost control of her private military company and is trying to use the funds from this expedition to get it back.

Storyline-wise, the tone of each game contrasts the other in interesting ways. For The Lost Legacy, you get the witty banter and quips the series is known for, but it's coming from characters you've only met in passing before. There's some time for introspection between characters here and there, but it plays out like a buddy adventure movie. Meanwhile, Uncharted 4 goes in the opposite direction; the dialogue is still funny but more introspective. Nathan constantly wonders if he's doing the right thing or if the lifestyle is still for him. It's all well done but has more of an impact if you've played the previous three titles.

For the most part, both games are nearly identical in the gameplay department. For both games, the main attraction comes from the big set pieces, such as a jeep chase through a crowded town or a rooftop chase where you run from soldiers at night. It's equally as thrilling to use your grappling hook to swing over yawning chasms and grab on to a ledge at the last possible moment. Peppered between the action are the quieter moments, like an elephant ride through a cave or coming to grips with Crash Bandicoot on an old PlayStation. These are the moments that make the game feel like a classic action movie when compared to other adventure games; the pacing between these kinds of moments is well spread out, so things rarely feel like they're dragging on.

Speaking of action, both games do so with shooting and stealth. For the former, the action is fine. It works a bit better with the keyboard and mouse combo due to the quicker reaction time. While the ability to mark targets is nice, the shooting is more perfunctory than joy-inducing. You might opt for more hand-to-hand combat if you want more excitement from combat. For stealth, it works very well in both games thanks to how much natural cover you can have. You don't have many stealth mechanics, like distracting enemies or hiding bodies, but you can knock out enemies silently or grab them from behind cover, making it something you'll fall back on since it means less shooting.

About the only real difference between the titles comes from the open-world element. For Uncharted 4, there are more than a few areas that have been given the open world treatment, but they're small enough that they feel like semi-linear levels. For The Lost Legacy, the game mostly takes place in one open world that's much bigger by contrast. The game is short, but because it uses that open world's expanded size effectively with a scattered placement of objectives and the freeform order in which you can complete them, it feels like a proper use of the mechanic versus the numbered sequel.

If you're looking for them, you can find a few flaws with the collection. Much like the PS5 incarnation, the multiplayer mode that was present in the PS4 version is missing here. One can argue that there are other games that are better multiplayer third-person shooters, but it still feels wrong to have whole modes go missing like this. Another issue is that this covers the games specifically developed for the PS4. It might not be that much of an issue for The Lost Legacy, as it happens outside of the main series and newcomers can easily jump in without getting lost, but that isn't the case for Uncharted 4. The series already has the first three games remade for the PS4, so it's a shame that they're absent for PC players who are most likely jumping into the series for the first time. Finally, while there is the appropriate DualSense compatibility with haptic feedback and tension triggers, it only happens if you use it in wired mode; that functionality is gone if you're going wireless via Bluetooth.

If you're looking for a change in the audio, prepare for disappointment, as it is pretty much the same here as it was on both the PS4 and PS5 releases. That said, what you have here is still fantastic. The music plays just like any big action movie would, with heart-pumping action sequences paired with high-tempo music, stealth sequences going appropriately quiet with a few notes to punctuate the action, and tunes of grandeur when arriving at a vista in a new area. The voice work is also well done, with everyone from main characters to even the regular enemies sounding pitch-perfect. Combined with the various surround sound options available, this is a game where you really want to turn up the audio to soak it all in.

Graphically, the games have always been a showcase of what Naughty Dog and the PlayStation can do. The PC does one better in this regard, as it gets rid of frame rate/resolution preset combinations to give players the freedom to set up things as they see fit. That means resolutions up to 4K, including ultrawide variations and an unlimited frame rate to make it suitable for high refresh rate monitors and TVs. Aside from that, you've got picturesque environments lush with foliage and little details that give each place some life, along with textures that appear very clean in any resolution. The character models all look awesome, and their animations are smooth and lifelike, with rarely an awkward transition to be found.

The game is already in Verified status, so Steam Deck owners know that they'll be able to live out their PS Vita dreams of a new portable Uncharted game. There's quite a bit of work that needs to be done if you want to squeeze the most out of the game. The default settings go for a medium preset with Vsync on and an uncapped frame rate. The game also defaults to FSR 2.0 at Quality mode. The game looks gorgeous at these settings, but the battery life drops to a little over 90 minutes at a full charge, with fluctuating frame rates between 22-45fps and a fan that isn't afraid to ramp to 100%. There is a frame rate lock to 30fps and adaptations to go for Performance mode. Lower everything to their lowest settings to reach two hours of game time, but that is something to keep in mind if you don't want the Steam Deck experience to be cut short with this game.

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for the PC shows that patience can sometimes get you the best version of a game. Both included games remain fantastic entries in the series, and that's saying something, considering how almost every title in the franchise is held in high regard. The gunplay may work fine, but it is the exploration and stealth that make the game shine alongside the various set pieces. PC players will appreciate the unlocked nature of the graphics, and even if you don't have the best hardware, you'll still be able to enjoy something that's on par with what PS4 players have already seen and heard. This is another title that deserves to be in your gaming library.

Score: 8.5/10