The PC release of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a big one for Naughty Dog. Because it allows us to celebrate the past and introduce a new and meaningful audience to the world of Nathan Drake and Chloe his Fraser. But it’s also a pivotal moment for us, an opportunity to look ahead and expand the way we develop games while ensuring the level of quality our audience expects.
To do this, we’ve partnered with Iron Galaxy Studios to bring two of the most emotional and thrilling Uncharted adventures to a new platform with PC-centric quality-of-life features. We’re so excited for new players to experience these two great stories all in one great package. Let’s take this opportunity to show you why this release is so important to Naughty Dog and how it continues to demonstrate our commitment to bringing memorable games to more players than ever before. Think for a moment about what you are hoping for.
Bring Uncharted to PC
PlayStation 5 remains our primary platform, but we saw the potential to bring our games to PC as a great opportunity to reach a new large audience around the world. When considering what to debut on PC, we looked through the catalog and decided that the journey through the beautiful world of the Uncharted series was a natural fit to introduce players around the world. Now, you might be wondering why the original didn’t start with Uncharted. Nathan Drake’s first of his three adventures from the PlayStation 3 console still stands the test of time narratively, but the latest in his PC release and the expectations that players might have has to do with the visuals. I felt that it would require a major overhaul.
The Uncharted franchise is made up of standalone adventures that players new and old can jump into, so while the first three games still have great story and character development, players can easily jump into Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End to find Nathan , I felt I could get Elena. , and Sally’s story. Especially with the introduction of new characters like Sam the Drake, Rafe the Adler and Nadine Ross, A Thief’s End offers players a lot regardless of their history of getting in and out of trouble as Nathan Drake. To do. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is also included in the collection, offering a new playable protagonist in Chloe Fraser. Fans who knew her original trilogy will be happy to see her return, but newcomers should start with the collection to get a sense of her amazing story. No problem.
As such, these two games, both developed on modern hardware and also offered remasters for the PlayStation 5 console, are perfect candidates to introduce the franchise and Naughty Dog to the modern PC player. I felt like We also wanted to make sure that players were getting the value they deserved, so we brought both experiences together to give him a whole suite of PC features and customization options that would suit as many players as possible.
We also knew this PC release wouldn’t be a one-off. As you may know, The Last of Us Part I is in development for PC after its successful launch on PlayStation 5. computer. But for this new version, we also decided to carefully consider every aspect of the game. So for the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, we intentionally partnered with the Iron Galaxy. We found this to be a team that shared our love of the series, as well as the great understanding of PC development that can be learned at the studio. themselves. Iron Galaxy has provided us with a partner we can trust to deliver quality versions of these two of his Uncharted games. Working closely with this partner has allowed him to focus on current and future projects and bring them to his PC as well, while gaining a better understanding of PC development.
lesson learned
The PC debut of the Uncharted series is thrilling, reflective, and a chance to seize the lessons learned from delivering games on a new platform, and the anticipation and opportunities that come with it. Having learned so much from our partners at Iron Galaxy, we are more excited than ever to look ahead to the future of his Naughty Dog games on PC.
First and foremost, we’ve learned what it takes to bring our own engine to parity for delivery on PC hardware, especially through partnerships. Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy are already beautiful games in their own right, and we wanted to maintain that quality for the PC release. Still, we wanted to give PC players the flexibility to fine-tune the experience they expected, so it was important to support more cinematic resolutions than just his specific PC graphics capabilities. One of the biggest visual changes to Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is support* for ultra-wide monitors. This allows you to experience the breathtaking environments of the Uncharted series like never before, including Madagascar and the Western Ghats. But for cinematic cutscenes, we tested many graphic variations to see what worked best. In the end, we decided to add real black bars to the movie scene. Because through all iterations and testing, we determined that maintaining the original artistic intent and design of these bespoke scenes was paramount to the emotional experience.
The PC space is also a space that provides users with flexibility in terms of hardware specifications, controls, etc. This was an eye opener for us, as we’ve mainly focused on looking at one or two system specs so far. Developing primarily for console controllers, I found myself having to learn about the settings and flexibility that keyboard and mouse controls offered, and re-evaluating certain game mechanics to accommodate new input methods. rice field. For example, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy features a tense lock-picking mini-game that utilizes the controller’s analog sticks and haptic feedback to allow players to unlock. However, the lack of these features inherent in keyboards and mice forced us to rethink the application of the mechanics.
We also had to take into account the variety of PC hardware involved in loading data, so we reworked the engine and added a sort of “safety valve” to ensure a smooth gameplay experience on various PC specs. did. This isn’t something I’ve had to worry about since the days of Jak and Daxter, when Jak added a staggering animation if the data loaded too slowly.
Learning all of this through our partnership with Iron Galaxy Studios will help us better understand Naughty Dog’s PC development so we can deliver the quality we expect in future releases. We are excited to bring The Last of Us Part I to PC in the future. Going forward, the addition of his PC development to the way games are developed in no way diminishes the importance of the PlayStation 5 as a major platform. , will continue to benefit our team in the long run. As Naughty Dog has become more understanding of hybrid and work-from-home development over the past few years, PC development gives the team flexibility on how, when, and where games are made. So that players can enjoy his Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on PC from a variety of his PC builds, our developers can work on iterations of his PC on a variety of hardware from home or the office. I can do it.
The PC release of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a pivotal point of transformation for Naughty Dog. Not only have we had another chance to celebrate our beloved franchise, but we have also been able to introduce it to many new players. By doing so, we understand how Naughty Dog is ready to deliver quality games on PlayStation 5, with options for a PC release as well, and to meet the varying needs of both current and future audiences. did. .
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection has created a tremendous foundation of technology and learning that will only serve our future development. We would like to thank our partners at Iron Galaxy Studios and fans old and new for reaching this important milestone for Naughty Dog.
*Requires a compatible PC and display device.
