Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Allows Secondary Characters to Take the Spotlight

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was released last year and allowed PlayStation gamers to go on one last adventure with the charming explorer Nathan Drake. Whilst it seems our time with Drake has come to an end, developer Naughty Dog has got one last treat for us in the form of the stand alone DLC Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

Recommended Videos

The Lost Legacy will be a game in its own right and will not require players to own a copy of A Thief’s End to play it. The DLC will put players in the boots of Chloe Frazer, a character first introduced in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and will see her teaming up with Nadine Ross, one of the antagonists of A Thief’s End, following the end of the fourth game.

In an interview with GameSpot, game director Kurt Margenau spoke about how The Lost Legacy will allow the series’ secondary characters take center stage and why he feels this is more interesting than simply bringing Nate out of retirement.

“There was never any doubt in our minds that Uncharted is more than just Nathan Drake,” Margenau said. “While Nate was the center of this series, we felt that this presented a blank slate for us to show off others that we didn’t explore all that [much]. And to build them to be as fully featured and complex as Nathan Drake, but in a different way. For Nate, he has this hero complex, but for Chloe, she’s more selfish and focused on self-preservation. It’s an interesting idea to play as someone like that, but also it allows us to stay fresh and stay flexible. We can set our characters in an interesting location, with Chloe herself being half-indian and her being in India allows her to have explore her own background with the tusk, and of her father, who was an archeologist.”

Though it is now set to be released as a standalone game, The Lost Legacy began life as DLC for A Thief’s End. The game will follow Chloe Frazer as she hunts for the Tusk of Ganesha and tries to keep it out of the hands of a fierce warlord called Asav. Frazer has enlisted the help of Nadine Ross, the gun-for-hire who fronted the Shoreline mercenary group who took on Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4. Their relationship will be an uneasy one, with each character not fully being able to trust the other.

The Lost Legacy will apparently be a lot more open that past Uncharted games and will feature the largest open spaces Naughty Dog has ever created for an Uncharted game. This may be an expansion, but it’s certainly not lacking in size and scope.

The game will give you access to an all-terrain vehicle with a winch, much like in Uncharted 4, and this allows you to quickly travel from one part of the map to another. Margenau explained how the developers wanted the game to feel big, saying: “On the gameplay side, we wanted to do something bigger. We took the Madagascar space from Uncharted 4, which was to us Uncharted 4 at its best. It was just firing on all cylinders, allowing you to freely explore the space and without giving you a super targeted goal. To just allow the players explore, let them go off and discover things, and to take the reigns off. It was to let these character relationships grow, as they gallivant around these gorgeous ruins in the Western Ghats.”

“The open areas are just one part of the game, and we’re making them fit into the broader picture of the game. It’s always a challenge for us to make sure that the games have this momentum to them. We’re always pushing the narrative for it, and now we’re in this big space trying to make sure we’re still progressing the plot, narrative, and relationships.”

Whilst the game will feature one main plot, there will also be plenty of side missions to keep you occupied. Completing these side missions can unlock new areas and character interactions. New features also include Chloe’s ability to pick locks and chests which will reward you with new weapons and valuables. Many of these are hidden away either in remote locations or in enemy camps, meaning you’ll have to work to get them.

Combat has also seen some changes. Like in past games, you can still go in guns blazing but the DLC will also see the addition of silenced weapons which will allow you to take out enemies before they can sound the alarm. Some encounters can be bypassed entirely by using stealth and your grappling hook to sneak past enemies.

Given its large size, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is set to be released for $40 and also includes new multiplayer and survival content on top of the main story. It will be exclusive to the PlayStation 4 and is set to be released on August 22.