One of PlayStation’s best-selling and most iconic franchises is getting rebooted, presumably for the PlayStation 5. While this should’ve been an exciting announcement for PlayStation owners, it comes with a caveat: Naughty Dog isn’t working on it. With neither Naughty Dog and Amy Hennig involved, would the Uncharted remake still feel the same?
Over the weekend, the latest rumors about the next Uncharted project has been making the rounds, courtesy of The XboxEra Podcast.
The hosts, Nick “Shpeshal Nick” Baker and Jon “Sikamikanico” Clarke, claim to each have heard “verifiable intelligence” from their respective sources that Sony is remaking Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Jon adds that the project is “quite old” and it might be in development “for a number of years” already. However, both warn that this isn’t a confirmation of anything. They’re describing the remake as something that their sources have only shown them as being “strongly considered” – not confirmed.
If you’ve played through the first Uncharted recently, you’ll know it hasn’t aged well. Unlike the later entries, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune feels and plays like a 2007 game. It desperately needs a rebuild from the ground-up, hence, the remake.
In 2021, a Bloomberg report revealed that Sony asked Bend Studio to work on an Uncharted reboot after canceling a sequel to Days Gone. The studio ultimately declined to pursue its own project, which may or may not be revealed soon.
Since then, there have been countless other reports of an Uncharted reboot or remake being in development. In between, Naughty Dog released Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, a bundle for PlayStation 5 and PC that contains the two most recent Uncharted titles: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Remaking the earlier Uncharted game/s makes financial sense. Drake’s Fortune might not be in the best shape but the same goes for Among Thieves. The aforementioned PlayStation 3 classics deserve a fresh coat of paint and the remakes will be worth the cost. Both games had sold millions of copies on their first days on the market. Thus, remakes of these games could appeal to diehard fans who want to relive their favorite moments and those who became fans via the later entries.
Remaking older titles is a strategy that have worked swimmingly for Capcom in recent years. The remakes of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 4 have all gone to either outsell or outpace the original games.
With Xbox preparing to release Indiana Jones and the Great Circle exclusively on Xbox Series S/X later this year, Sony could respond by bringing Nathan Drake out of retirement.
