Is it worth entering the same river twice? Uncharted: The Legacy of Thieves Collection [RECENZJA]

I’m not hiding that Uncharted 4 and Unchrated: The Lost Legacy are my favorite installments of the famous saga about the adventures of Nathan Drake. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I have played the original trilogy many years after its premiere and during this time it has gotten a bit old.

The problem is that the last two installments of the series Uncharted by no means have grown old. Both A Thief’s End, which debuted in 2016, and Missing Heritagewhich came to players a year later, in 2022 they still look great – both technically and visually.

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Why do we need this remaster?

I’m not naive. I am aware of the fact that the main purpose of remastering is to cut off coupons and monetize the success of a given title. However, this can be done by making a crude “cash jump”, as was the case with GTA: The Trilogy Definitive Edition, or by offering players the best possible version of their favorite title. Fortunately, Sony chose the latter variant.

Uncharted: The Legacy of Thieves Collection w peni uses the potential of the PS5 console – it is all about greater computing power, fast SSD NVMe memory, as well as the DualSense controller with adaptive triggers and haptic vibrations.

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Lets start with audiovisual setting. Both A Thief’s Endwhat The Lost Legacy already on the day of the premiere, they looked great – especially on the PS4 Pro console. It turns out, however, that the PS5 from Naughty Dog’s work is able to squeeze even more. In the case of a remaster, they attract attention Prettier models characters, richer landscapes and higher level details.

Perhaps the most striking differences relate to the animations of the characters’ faces. Their facial expressions are more natural and realistic, and their mouth movements are better in sync with the lines that are spoken.

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The Legacy of Thieves collection offers three graphic modes:

• 4K + 30 FPS (Fidelity)
• 1440p + 60FPS (Performance)
• 1080P + 120 FPS (Performance +)

The second mode seems to be the best choice. It combines the best of both worlds. On the one hand, we can count on gameplay at 60 frames per second (the Performance mode from the PS4 Pro version is incomparably worse here), and on the other hand, still high resolution. The image is generated natively here at 1440p and then the console is upscaled to 4K.

If you are fans of liquid like hot chocolate gameplay, and at the same time you have a TV compatible with the standard HDMI 2.1However, nothing prevents you from playing Naughty Dog’s work in 120 frames per second.

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Another aspect that is definitely worth paying attention to is loading screens, or rather the lack of them. Due to the fact that the PS5 has a very fast NVMe memory, both the game saves and individual levels are loaded on the fly. This is especially useful in a game where our hero (A Thief’s End) or heroine (Lost Legacy) he could lose his life at any moment.

It is worth adding that The Legacy of Thieves Collection enables us import game states from the PS4 version. So if we started playing on our old console, we can continue it on PS5 – without having to repeat already completed stages.

The remaster also uses the possibilities controller DualSense. It is, among others, about adaptive triggersif new vibration motor. In this case, however, these changes are difficult to describe in words. Because how to convey the feeling that accompanies us when the controller begins to put up a clear resistance while making breakneck jumps between successive rock shelves?

When it comes to the storyline and the gameplay itself, this is The Legacy of Thieves Collection does not make any changes. On the one hand, that’s fine, because why mess with something that works. On the other hand, maybe it would be a good idea to “treat” players with some new game mode, additional mission, or other additional content? There were many possibilities, and Sony did not bet on any of them. Pity.

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But why is it so expensive?

There is also the question of price. Sony priced its refreshed collection at PLN 219. Considering that this is a “pure” remaster – with no bonuses, the amount seems too high. Personally, I was counting on that The Legacy of Thieves Collection will be valued at about PLN 150-160.

It is worth adding that players who have Uncharted 4 in their library: A Thief’s End or Unchrated: The Lost Legacy, they can “replace” the original versions of the games with a remastered collection for PLN 50, which seems like a decent offer.

Unchrated: The Legacy of Thieves Collection | Grade: 7.5 / 10

The game distributor: Sony Interactive Entertainment Polska provided the copy for review.