Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection Review – Prettiness for a Price

2 years 2 months ago

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on PS5

If there’s a studio that really spearheads PlayStation’s exclusive library, it’s Naughty Dog. The developer has been pushing the limits of what we thought was possible in video games, from stellar writing and character development, through to minute visual details that help bring their worlds to life. One of its most iconic franchises has been the Uncharted series, telling the tale of Nathan Drake as he travels around the world in search of long-lost treasures only talked about in myths and legends. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection combines both of the PS4 titles — Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and its standalone spin-off, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy — and gives them a fresh coat of PS5 paint, all to tempt us with another playthrough of these iconic adventures.

Editor’s Note: As Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection consists of two games we’ve already reviewed — Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy — this review will primarily be focusing on the improvements Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy have brought to the collection thanks to the additional horsepower of the PS5. We will be covering how the gameplay in both titles holds up years after release, but if you’re looking for full reviews, we’ve linked them for your convenience below.

If the actual gameplay remains the same in the Legacy of Thieves Collection compared to their originals, then the main attraction here are the visual improvements. Making use of that extra horsepower inside the PS5, the collection offers up three new ‘Rendering’ options: Fidelity, Performance, and Performance+.

Fidelity displays both titles in a native 4K resolution, with a target framerate of 30fps. It’s the best-looking version of the game, but retains that last-gen feeling framerate. Performance, on the other hand, balances resolution and framerate. It sacrifices the native 4K resolution for a base 1440p resolution upscaled to 4K, but the mode targets a smoother framerate of 60fps. Performance+ drops the resolution down to 1080p, but targets a lofty 120fps framerate, though you will need a compatible 120hz display to see the benefit from this option.

I started my time with Legacy of Thieves Collection in Fidelity mode, and the visual improvements over the PS4 version of the game are staggering. The thunder and lightning of the opening boat sequence looked fantastic with HDR enabled, with realistic lighting effects adding a layer of atmosphere and realism to the scene that are lacking in the original version.

The muzzle flare from my pistol and enemy boat’s LMGs aggressively illuminating my nearby surroundings, while the lightning gave snatching glimpses of the island in the distance, and the jagged rocks stretching out of the turbulent waters below, itself significantly more impressive in this PS5 remaster than the original. Massive waves buffeting the boat to and fro. The DualSense crashing around in my hands thanks to the use of the haptics inside the controller, while every shot fired from my pistol sends a ripple of feedback through my finger resting on the trigger.

It’s all oddly realistic, and while this is only the opening 10 minutes of Uncharted 4, it provides a suitable snapshot of the remastered experience on offer here.

uncharted legacy of thieves collection review

Pushing further through Nathan and Sam Drake’s adventure to idyllic, tropical islands and exotic shores in search of Henry Avery’s long-lost treasure, it’s clear that these visual enhancements have greatly benefited every environment, every leaf, every blade of grass and coarse hair making up the stubble on Nate’s jaw. For all the stunning details you notice in that super-crisp native 4K resolution, though, Fidelity does still feel oddly last-gen due to its 30fps framerate. It feels more like the classic 24fps of movies now, a limitation of the industry years ago and now something of a stylish relic.

For those wanting the very best experience, you’ll want to spend a majority of your time in Performance mode. Balancing resolution and framerate, Performance mode still retains plenty of the visual fidelity of Fidelity mode, while pairing it with a 60fps framerate. It’s the best way to experience both games out of the three modes with the added bump up to 60fps transforming the experience. The clunky climbing of Nate and co. was exacerbated by the original 30fps framerate, but doubling it makes climbing and traversal in general feel that little bit more natural and fluid.

It was most noticeable whenever Nate was using his grappling hook to cross a giant chasm by propelling himself through the air, the whole sequence now a butter smooth sight to behold. Smaller details like seagulls flying off into the distance, or the foliage blowing in the breeze just looks that little more realistic thanks to the bumped up framerate, and doesn’t look dramatically worse in order to compensate for it. Even lighting, shadows and reflections, for the most part appear to be of a similar quality to those found in Fidelity mode.

The mode managed to stick around the 60fps mark for almost the entirety of both games, too. If there were drops, they weren’t noticeable to me and my naked eyes sitting in front of my TV.

Rounding out the ‘Rendering’ options in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is Performance+ mode, dropping the resolution right down to 1080p in order to target as 120fps framerate. This is the mode I spent the least time in, largely due to the significant hit to the resolution in order to reach the lofty target framerate. It still looks good enough, but the difference between 60 and 120fps just wasn’t noticeable enough for me to sacrifice those 4K visuals. Still, if you favor framerate over everything, then know that you’ve got this option in here. The framerate does bounce around more in Performance+ but it never seems to drop down to sub-60fps, from my experience and naked eye observations.

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection isn’t just about the different ‘Rendering’ options, though, as it also brings DualSense and 3D Audio compatibility. The DualSense features bring that same level of added immersion as we’ve seen them bring to other games such as Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. The adaptive triggers give a little resistance when driving the 4×4 around the overworld in Lost Legacy, and the right trigger kicks back realistically when firing a weapon in both titles. Meanwhile, the haptics provide more accurate feedback, rumbling into life during particularly explosive cutscenes or action set-pieces. It’s never intrusive to the experience, but they’re noticeable. A subtle inclusion that really does just enhance the moment-to-moment gameplay in each adventure.

3D Audio, on the other hand, is absolutely fantastic. It’s a feature I’ve been a big fan of since Sony announced it for the PS5, and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is yet another example of how to do it. The grandiose soundtrack, the booming explosions, the crash of gunfire and the shouts and screams of your enemies surround you, and you can pinpoint their direction with surprising accuracy when using a compatible headset. All in all, then, the Legacy of Thieves Collection brings a whole host of modern enhancements that make this the definitive way to experience these PS4 masterpieces.

Author
Chris Jecks

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