Uncharted: The Lost Legacy PS4 Review

A Short But Flawed Entry In The Uncharted Franchise

Lost Legacy’s art direction is outstanding

The story begins with Chloe in the heart of India on the search for a lost treasure. After a brief introduction to the game’s main antagonist Asav and an adrenaline filled opening in the neon-bathed rooftops of India, the story shifts forward to a lush jungle where almost all the game takes place. Lost Legacy does have some good levels complete with competent platforming sections but there’s a real sense of deja vu here while you play. Expect be driving the jeep from Uncharted 4, navigating tight, winding streets like Uncharted 3 and even fight on a speeding train just like Uncharted 2. Lost Legacy suffers from a lack of pure originality with a disjointed story lacking a compelling introduction to the characters, instead beginning right in the middle of the action. Although Lost Legacy addresses this issue through expository dialogue between Chloe and Nadine explaining how and why they’re teamed up together, it does take a while to really warm to the two characters and get a sense of how they’re aligned and working together. With numerous references to previous games and established relationships in the series, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is a game geared solely toward those already accustomed to the franchise. New players will undoubtedly still have fun traversing the world but to get the most out of this, its advisory to play the previous games first if you haven’t already.

Puzzles are well implemented and genuinely challenging

Unlike in previous Uncharted games, Lost Legacy’s art design doesn’t deviate much from the greens and browns of the jungle. Thankfully, the art team do mix things up with a host of impressively rendered structures and awe inspiring vistas but the dominating location of India firmly roots Uncharted to one location rather than a globe-trotting adventure. Whether it be a vine-choked giant statue of the Indian God Vishnu or just admiring the long draw distances from the many tall structures overlooking the landscape, The Lost Legacy is visually beautiful regardless of the variety in art and boasts some amazing views throughout the run time.

All the familiar gameplay elements from the previous entries in the franchise return this time around so expect to be swinging from ropes with L1, bashing X to climb structures and battling familiar groups of enemies. Berserkers from Uncharted 4, snipers, shotgunners and the usual standard soldiers greet you throughout the game so expect some familiarity in this department too. With only 9 chapters to play with, gunfights are placed quite frequently and a few are genuinely challenging if you play on Hard or Crushing difficulty. Large arenas lacking any real cover is cause for more frustration than it should be. The game itself isn’t necessarily difficult but the questionable layout of the levels and lack of cover in key areas combine to make the game more superificially difficult than it should be when you play on the hardest difficulty. On the lower difficulties this is a little more forgiving but is a real cause for concern when you ramp up the difficulty.

New villain Asav falls into the generic villain trope and isn’t very memorable

As a full retail priced game, The Lost Legacy is a real disappointment. Some of the art assets are re-used from previous games including character models, vehicles and flora and coupled with a lack of distinct locations and varying colour, Lost Legacy feels a little too bland at times. The voice acting is still good and returning vocal talents of Claudia Black and Laura Bailey have some great dialogue to work with, ranging from softer, sombre moments to bursts of biting sarcasm. The music, whilst not quite at the same standard as the other Uncharted titles, is dominated by orchestral themes again that help accentuate the action.

Although the game does have a few large chapters that pad out the game time, expect to finish this one in under 9 hours. Our play time clocked in at 8 hours 22 and that was with almost all the collectables, extensive searching of areas and completing on Crushing difficulty. If you just focus on the story, expect to polish this off in closer to 6 hours. As a discounted title, The Lost Legacy is worth picking up to see how life after Nathan Drake fares but going into this expecting another fully fledged title like the other Uncharted games is bound to leave you disappointed.

Still, The Lost Legacy does have its moments and the puzzles this time around are genuinely challenging. Expect shadow puzzles, physic based platforms and everything in between as you treasure hunt through the vast Indian jungle. The balance between platforming, puzzling and battling enemies is actually The Lost Legacy’s strongest point and juggling between each is well handled and unpredictable. At times, Uncharted 4 was a little predictable, relying far too heavily on its new toys but The Lost Legacy refrains slightly from this tactic, placing some well timed surprises and ambushes to keep the surprise factor at play. On top of the action, there’s a wealth of treasure to grab on top of optional conversations, lockboxes to open and one level-sized challenge seeing you collect coins in a large, open area to gain a lucrative treasure. Most of these collectables are relatively straight forward to find with a bit of exploration but expect a few tricky ones to allude you if you commit to grabbing 100% completion.

Expect to see re-used art assets like the jeep make an appearance

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is an enjoyable but flawed game. There are moments of brilliance here mixed in the gameplay and the visual design in particular is outstanding. The good balance between gunplay, climbing and puzzles is a welcome return for the series that leaned a little heavily on the predictable side last time out. At 6-9 hours long, The Lost Legacy is a disappointingly short entry in the franchise and really should have been released at a reduced price or as a DLC to Uncharted 4. If you manage to pick this one up at a discount, there’s a fun adventure game waiting for you making it well worth the investment but don’t expect a long lasting or very original experience. The Lost Legacy is a fleeting experience and once you’ve finished with the story there really isn’t much incentive to go back through and play again. Still, the game does prove there’s life left in the series after Nathan Drake but a few issues hold this back from the illustrious heights set in the previous games.