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Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Preview: Who needs Nathan Drake?

With Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, developer Naughty Dog proves it doesn’t need Nathan Drake to make a stellar action-adventure title.

Meant as a piece of story-based DLC for Uncharted 4, The Lost Legacy grew so much in scope and scale that it was given is own time to shine as a standalone title. From what we’ve seen in the game’s first level, Western Ghats, shine it does.

Taking place after the events of A Thief’s End, a knowledge of the Uncharted universe isn’t required. As heroine Chloe Frazer braves the wilds of the jungle alongside Nadine Ross, both characters’ backstories are slowly woven, forming alongside an emerging bond between the two women.

In the one-hour hands-on experience we played, Chloe and Frazer set off to explore the Western Ghats with a beat-up four-by-four. It was invaluable, allowing the duo to traverse through Naughty Dog’s largest ever playable area with hardly any effort.

That changed when we encountered a noteworthy landmark.

With a quick click of the DualShock 4’s touch bar, Chloe dutifully brought up her map to mark the object, just in case we wanted to explore it and its surrounds later. Curiosity usually got the better of us, but in each instance, that was rewarded. The first strange set of landmarks we encountered was actually a gigantic puzzle; one object activated a series of fountains in hard to reach places in the area. Chloe and Nadine quickly realised they needed to activate each fountain and turn it off before a timer expired.

After some trial and error using Uncharted 4’s trusty grappling hook, we completed the puzzle and were handsomely rewarded with a Hoysala Token, meant to be gathered throughout the game and used to unlock an item that Naughty Dog keeps shrouded in mystery. The franchise’s familiar Treasure system remains, so exploration is a must.

Mission accomplished, I took the duo around the map, marking more objects as I looked for a fight. With mechanics identical to A Thief’s End, I (perhaps foolishly) engaged in direct combat, using melee attacks and gunshots when a stealthy approach would have suited best. Still, between vantage points, semi-automatic weapons, grenade’s and Nadine’s vicious close-quarters combat – she was in control of an entire army, you know – I emerged relatively unscathed.

I wrapped up the hour with a jaunt to one of the level’s main campaign tombs, one necessary to progress. While The Lost Legacy is linear in nature, the design of the Western Ghats allows for objectives to be completed in the order a player wishes. I elected to enter the tomb and solve its awaiting puzzle – a maze where an incorrect jump meant a bump over the noggin’ by a statue wielding an axe several times larger than my character.

As my time with the game concluded, I left feeling that I’d barely scratched the surface with the Western Ghats, let alone The Lost Legacy itself. As Wonder Woman has recently shown in theatres, strong, female protagonists can easily do it on their own – The Lost Legacy is a perfect example of this, free from the shadow of Nathan Drake and company.

I can’t wait to play more of The Lost Legacy, and thankfully I won’t have to – the PS4-exclusive title is available from 23 August.

Stay locked to Stevivor for an interview with Naughty Dog’s Scott Lowe, Senior Communications Manager, in the coming days.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.