One of the big questions a lot of gamers had about the upcoming Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is whether or not Nathan Drake will make an appearance in the upcoming standalone game. Well, will he? Naughty Dog has some choice words for people expecting, hoping for and asking about the PlayStation hero making an appearance in The Lost Legacy.
According to the PlayStation Blog, writer Josh Scherr talked up and down about the upcoming follow-up to Uncharted 4, as well as whether or not a cameo from the long-time face of the franchise, Nathan Drake, would be making an appearance, saying...
We entertained a few possible ideas around including Nate as a secondary character, but everything we did felt superfluous because we tied it all up with Uncharted 4.
That actually makes a ton of sense.
In fact (minor **spoilers ahead**) they had already made it known that Drake was done with this adventures by the time Uncharted 4 had concluded. A Thief's End didn't just have to do with the treasure that Nate and his brother Sam were hounding down, it also had to do with the fact that Nate, as a thief, had finally finished that life of adventure.
Not only did Naughty Dog wrap up Nate's days of adventuring and a fast life of high danger, they gave him a happy ending and closed out his story with something pretty conclusive. It wasn't like there was any other way to interpret it, and it was basically saying "Nate's story has ended here".
It's absolutely true that if they did anything else with the character -- especially after all of the stuff Nate and Elena went through -- it would definitely come across as if they were walking back on the promise of Uncharted 4 being the last game.
Retiring Nate so Chloe Frazer could take over seems like the right way to go about things. Besides, it's not called "The Adventures of Nathan Drake", so just about anyone could really take charge of the series and do their own thing so long as it's an adventure and it's fun, and it's entertaining, and there are some blockbuster moments contained therein.
Chloe was originally introduced in Uncharted 2 and made a return in Uncharted 3. She and Cutter were both fan-favorites and accompanied Nate, Elena, and Sully in their adventures around the world. It would make sense that people would ask about whether or not Nate would be joining in on the adventures in some capacity given his past relationship with Chloe, but it also makes sense what Scherr says about it seeming "superfluous" to what was already established and wrapped up in Uncharted 4.
For the upcoming game, however, they're taking a lot of what was already established in the previous game and they're tweaking and fixing and modifying it to improve on the stealth, platforming, and combat. In fact, they've even mentioned that Uncharted: The Lost Legacy will have one of the biggest areas they've ever created in an Uncharted game that allows for multiple routes to be explored and challenges to be tackled in various ways.
Chloe will also be the first Uncharted character you can play in the campaign mode who also gets a few tools and weapons not featured in other games, such as the silenced pistol. Nate may not make an appearance in this new Uncharted title, but it sounds like the spirit of the franchise will be alive and well with Naughty Dog's upcoming release.
