How to play Uncharted games in order, by release date or story chronology

By Joe Julians

Published: Thursday, 27 January 2022 at 12:00 am

There is a lot of Uncharted fun doing the rounds at the moment. Not only do we have Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg teaming up for the Uncharted movie, but we also have the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on its way this week!

The game sees two previous titles given the remaster treatment and we already know a great deal of what to expect from it. That includes the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection trophy list for you to glance over so you are in the know about what not to accidentally miss – like conversations in the game that you could easily not engage with.

But if you have never played the games before and you want to start at the beginning, you’ll need to hold off playing the revamped versions for now.  But so you know exactly what to play and when, here at the details for playing Uncharted in order – that’s in both release and chronological orders.

And after that, have a read of our Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection review!

How to play the Uncharted games in release date order

If you want to play the Uncharted games in the order that everyone else played them, here is the list to follow! We’ve included the original platforms and release years in brackets.

It’s worth mentioning here that the portable entries in the franchise are not exactly essential, but you may still want to find a way to play them. You can strike Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Uncharted: Fight for Fortune and Uncharted: Fortune Hunter off that list if you want to streamline the process.

 

How to play the Uncharted games in chronological story order

Want to follow the Uncharted story in the order that it all happened, from the perspective of Nathan Drake and his pals? Below is the order to follow!

Note: Fight For Fortune does not really have a place in this story-focused order, considering that it’s a digital card game rather than a narrative experience. Likewise, being a puzzle-based mobile game, Uncharted: Fortune Hunter does not feature in our story order of Uncharted. The games below are the ones that really focus on story.

Another note: Uncharted 4 opens with a flashback to Nathan’s youth, so you could play that game first if you really wanted to. We’d argue that it works better as a flashback, though, hence why we recommend the order below if you’re looking for a flowing narrative experience.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

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When it was putting together the launch lineup for the PS Vita, Sony made the bold choice of giving the Uncharted brand to Bend Studio (as opposed to the usual team from Naughty Dog). Thankfully, the team from Naughty Dog did oversee the process and share their learnings with Bend.

The result was Uncharted: Golden Abyss, a handheld-only prequel to all of the other games in the series. It kicks off with Nathan Drake and his pal Jason Dante heading to a dig site in Panama, setting in motion a series of events involving ancient amulets, special swords and plenty of action.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

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Finding Francis Drake’s burial site is the event that kicks off the first game in the mainline Uncharted series. Drake’s Fortune was released way back in 2007, and it hits the ground running with an action-adventure game that was quite something for its time.

From the burial site, Nathan heads out on a secret route to El Dorado while searching for his friend, Sully, and there is a great mix of gameplay in place that only gets better as the series goes on.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

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Uncharted 2 begins with an epic climb through a train that is hanging off of an icy cliff which sets the stage for what is to come nicely.

The antagonist this time is war criminal Zoran Lazarevic and he puts up quite a fight against Nathan and his teammates as they search for the city of Shambhala and the Cintamani Stone.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

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In his third adventure, Nathan is on the hunt for the Iram of the Pillars, a lost Arabian city. But as ever, they are not alone in the search and this time they are being hunted by someone that they had previously thought was an ally. We’ll say no more about that as if you are reading this, we will likely be heading into spoiler territory for you.

You can pick up all three of the original Uncharted games as part of the Nathan Drake collection.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

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Years have passed since the original trilogy of games and we now find Nathan much older – but still ready to get into some serious trouble while adventuring. The quest here, and the one that brought Nathan out of retirement, is hunting down Henry Avery’s lost treasure and this is as epic as the games have ever got.

There were some welcome changes to this game too, including an increased emphasis on stealth and a fun multiplayer mode!

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

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Last but not least is Uncharted: The Lost Legacy which came along as an expansion to Uncharted 4. This time you play as Chloe Frazer who is on a mission to find the Tusk of Ganesh in India.

Also after getting some tusk in their life is ex-mercenary Nadine Ross and the pair find themselves going up against a powerful warlord as they attempt to find it.

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