uncharted series

The Best of Uncharted: All 6 Games Ranked

Greatness from small beginnings.

6. Uncharted: Fortune Hunter

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uncharted fortune hunter

The brand new mobile Uncharted game — Fortune Hunter —  launched right in time for the highly anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. It may not appeal to every Uncharted fan, but it does grant you in-game content for the Multiplayer portion of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. It can’t really compete with the other games in terms of gameplay, though, hence it finds itself at the bottom of the list.

The mobile gameplay consists of solving puzzles and moving from point A to B, which in result will grant Nathan Drake an ancient treasure. Puzzles do become a bit difficult, and Sully even plays a part, but while this game sticks to its route, it’s far from competing with the other Uncharted titles.

5.Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Uncharted Golden Abyss

Golden Abyss launched exclusively on the PS Vita back in 2012, and quite honestly served all the purposes Naughty Dog intended for it. A handheld version of the popular series, it brought new elements by utilizing the Vita’s abilities. Overall, Golden Abyss proved one thing – that a PS Vita version of Uncharted could be worthy, even though larger counterparts existed on consoles. While there was still room for improvement, Golden Abyss did sell well and gave a little more story for Nathan Drake.

Developed by Bend Studio, Golden Abyss acted as a prequel to the first game in the series, Drake’s Fortune. Working with an old friend, Dante, Drake finds himself in the middle of chaos once more. This time, he’s looking to protect an archaeological dig site under attack by a scandalous warlord, who wants to use antique treasures to fund his evil empire. Many of the features included in the main games were brought to the handheld version, with a few new mechanics such as drawing your climbing route with the touchscreen and the rubbing the Vita screen to solve puzzles.

4. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

uncharted: drakes fortune, uncharted series

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune tells a story about a young treasure hunter, Nathan Drake, who’s on a mission to uncover the past of his ancestor, Sir Francis Drake. The opening finds you in the middle of the sea recovering his journal, which will guide you through the jungle as you search for the lost city, El Dorado.

Drake’s Fortune kicked off a series that is still relevant almost a decade later. This wasn’t your average adventure game; it launched one of the top PlayStation franchises in history. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune set the momentum for character development in action-adventure games, and some of the most iconic characters in gaming soon became Nathan, Elena, and Sully.

As the first game in the series, there were definitely flaws within the gameplay mechanics. At times, it would be hard to progress through a certain stage because of cumbersome controls. The shooting felt off, and enemies suffered bullet sponge syndrome. On top of annoying gameplay mechanics, this game always suffered from poor pacing, and in some cases felt repetitive: move from stage to stage, kill some enemies, watch a cutscene and repeat.

As the first game in the series, this title set off a legacy, but suffered from its most basic mechanics. This is why Drake’s Fortune finds itself on the bottom end of the ranking.

3. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

uncharted 3: Drake's deception, uncharted series

While the series grows better between entries, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2 was too good to be demoted by Drake’s Deception.  That doesn’t mean that the third game in the series wasn’t anything short of amazing.  Uncharted 3 got Nathan Drake looking better than ever and on an important adventure to find the Iram of Pillars, another location pulled straight out of history.

While the first and second entries went to the jungle and frozen tundras, this one took us to the dry lands of the desert in the Middle East. Set pieces in Uncharted 3 became iconic to the franchise, specifically the plane scene where Nathan Drake battles the beautiful, deserted landscape of the dry Arabian sea.

Despite being a top notch game, Drake’s Deception did have its downsides. It seemed that in Uncharted 3’s story lacked the dramatic strengths of its predecessor, making the game feel a little more boring and generic in comparison. In the end, Uncharted 3 didn’t live up to the utter peak that was Uncharted 2.

2. Uncharted: A Thief’s End

uncharted 4: A thief's end

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is the fourth and final entry in the series, or at least the final Nathan Drake story from Naughty Dog.

The finale is breathtaking, and quite certainly on the same footing as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, but each game has their different motives. Uncharted 2 distinguished and perfected  the adventurous spirit, while Uncharted 4 was closing out a legacy. A Thief’s End perfected the gameplay mechanics and stunning graphics, and when all is said and done, these two titles are almost unrankable. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, however, cemented the series in history and set a worthy bar for Uncharted long ago.

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

uncharted 2: among thieves, uncharted series

Without a doubt, Among Thieves has one of the most action-packed openings to a game in history. This adventure opens with Nathan Drake scaling a derailed train that falling off a snowy mountain top, and throughout the game, this particular scene remains a recurring theme.

This sequel follows Nathan Drake as he tries to stop the ruthless war criminal Zoran Lazarevic, who is trying to get his hands on the mythical Cintamani Stone. Throughout Among Thieves, players explore stunning areas of the world like Nepal, Borneo, and Tibet. Bringing back the same great mechanics and cover system from the prequel, this title improved on the series in virtually every way with improved shooting mechanics, in-depth puzzles, and a better narrative story that furthered the Uncharted lore.

Another major addition was multiplayer. For the first time, players were able to team up and battle it out against each other, taking all the gameplay mechanics and weapons from the main story into a PvP arena.

Overall, when it comes to the action-adventure genre, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves stands out among all other games in this series, while also remaining one of the definitive titles of the genre as a whole.

Do you agree with our order? If not, be sure to let us know in the comments, and for more on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, be sure to check out more down below.


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Image of Chris Jecks
Chris Jecks
Chris Jecks has been covering the games industry for over eight years. He typically covers new releases, FIFA, Fortnite, any good shooters, and loves nothing more than a good Pro Clubs session with the lads. Chris has a History degree from the University of Central Lancashire. He spends his days eagerly awaiting the release of BioShock 4.