Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection isn’t just the first time Nathan Drake and Chloe Frazer come to PC. But the franchise also breaks free from its PlayStation roots at an exciting time for PC ports. Both Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy Studios have paid close attention to the ins and outs of a proper port. While a number of surprisingly accessible ways to play Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy make these the best versions to date.
Nathan Drake’s final adventure still goes out with a satisfying bang. As a port, players will be happy to enjoy the same emotional story in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. PC players launching it for the first time will also be thrown into a globe-trotting treasure hunt. As per our review, Uncharted 4 pulls out every cinematic trick in the book to immerse viewers. A heroic soundtrack blares out when players escape collapsing temples.
Walls shift with the pull of a well-hidden lever. Mercenaries still look up as player swing past gunfire and tee up a punch on their way down. This still feels like a fun action-adventure rife with platforming, puzzles and cover shooting. But players are also wrapped around a campy, old-fashioned love letter to Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. The PC port comes with a guarantee that Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy are still sublime games worth revisiting.
PlayStation still tortures fans by not bringing The Nathan Drake Collection – which contains the original trilogy – to PC. But Legacy of Thieves Collection is still a great game to settle with from sheer visuals alone. The PC port goes a step above the PS5 version released in January 2022. Over the modular PC platform, players can make Uncharted as pretty as possible.
Working off a 4K screen and 3080ti, Legacy of Thieves Collection feels lifelike with photorealism. Places, characters and nature look even more believable from enhanced settings. Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy come with extra film polish at the highest possible graphics configuration. While players will turn into moviegoers across 17 hours of content.
More importantly, PC players will be bathed in the atmosphere thanks to enhanced lighting and shadows. Iron Galaxy Studios works their magic from Crash Bandicoot 4 for a smooth translation of consoles to computers. There’s just enough performance overhead to add fog effects and deeper shadows for tension. Sun rays and reflective surfaces sell an illusion of realism. Characters like Nate, Sully, Elena and Sam are all convincingly part of Uncharted‘s beautiful but hostile jungles.
Performance is surprisingly smooth out of two games from 2016 and 2017. Iron Galaxy Studios strikes a balance with optimization and making a beautiful game that runs smoothly. When the settings are maxed out at 4K, users shouldn’t be expecting a seamless 60 frames per second. Frames can dip to a standard 30 while averaging out at the mid-40s. This makes performance closer to the PS4 Pro, with the added splash of 4K. But switching to 1080p naturally hits high refresh rates with an average of 100 and above. Even under intense fire and reflections, Legacy of Thieves stayed consistent throughout. Out of a remastered PS4 game, I expected nothing less out of performance on new and older PC rigs.
“Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection continues PlayStation’s promise to open up their content for PC players.”
Legacy of Thieves surprised me even more by the many ways it can be played over PC. Both A Thief’s End and The Lost Legacy are also great portable games to have over a wide range of laptops. But Valve’s Steam Deck became my favourite way to play Uncharted. It’s a long way from Bend Studio’s crack at handhelds with Golden Abyss that launched alongside the PlayStation Vita in 2012.
Performance was equally matched as a verified game. While I was able to play Uncharted 4 for hours at medium settings at that 1280x800p resolution. At a modest medium settings and enhanced textures, the Steam Deck outperforms the base PS4. Frames stuck to a respectable 35 to 40 without ever buckling. It’s worth noting the Encounter Select features and fun bite-sized levels in The Lost Legacy make it a natural fit for handheld.
Uncharted‘s official PC debut comes with a few twists in controls. It’s still weird to see Xbox button prompts in a very PlayStation game. But that also opens the door to use accessible devices and any gamepad with a USB. Of course, I don’t recommend finishing both games with a flight stick (which is possible by customising controls). As the latest Naughty Dog project, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection also sports a number of gameplay modifiers and accessible tweaks to maximise the fun for all players.
Mouse and keyboard are surprisingly intuitive for a game that relies on button-mashing. But Uncharted‘s crafty and easy-to-use third person controls won’t take very long to pick up on over PC. Nathan and Chloe only need to run, jump, cover, swing and shoot. While players can also map out the best keys for a fluid, swashbuckling good time.
Sadly, there’s no way to transfer save files from the PS4/PS5. Gladly, players will have to start the first level for each game and go through all of it again. Steam users benefit from Cloud Save, which seamlessly works across the PC to Deck and laptops. It’s no surprise as a PC port gives new and experienced players a chance to come out of Uncharted retirement. Legacy of Thieves is far from perfect without taking full advantage of the PC platform. Features like Ray Tracing and field of view aren’t included at the time of review. But AMD’s FSR and Nvidia’s DLSS are both there to boost performance and keep Uncharted looking as crispy as ever.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection continues PlayStation’s promise to open up their content for PC players. It’s a long time coming to see Uncharted break exclusivity. Both Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy Studios have knocked this port out of the park by giving players a proper variety of PC settings. It’s also elevated by smooth optimization that makes Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection a real treat for Steam Deck owners. While the collection only satisfies with delivering a definitive action-adventure, everyone can now enjoy.
