Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection Review – Hunting For Booty Never Looked This Good

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is a remaster of the latest two titles in the franchise—and we’re here to review this 2-in-1 game. Comprising of both Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, this new collection is available on PS5 on 28th January and later this year for PC.

Note that this review will not touch on the gameplay or story of the two Uncharted games, but more on the graphical and performance upgrades included in the Legacy of Thieves Collection.

Graphics

Upon starting the game, you’ll have the option to play either Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End or Uncharted: The Lost Legacy from the main menu. Besides selecting the difficulty and tweaking around with the settings, you’ll be greeted with the option to play the game in either Fidelity Mode, Performance Mode, or Performance+ Mode. 

• Fidelity Mode: Play in a super sharp native 4K resolution with a 30 FPS target framerate.
• Performance Mode: Play with a smooth 60fps target framerate.
  – 4K-TV players will experience a 4K resolution upscaled from a 1440p base resolution.
  – 1080p HD-TV players will experience a 1080p resolution supersampled from a 1440p base with improved anti-aliasing.
• Performance+ Mode: Play with a high impact 120 FPS target framerate and a 1080p resolution.

Obviously, your TV has to be compatible with 4K resolution or 120 FPS to be able to make full use of the respective modes. Before I get into the specific modes, I’ll touch on the overall graphical changes from the PS4 versions first. As you might already guess from the trailer above, both games look absolutely amazing. Character models look incredibly detailed and backgrounds—especially some of the memorable set pieces are breathtaking.

However, it isn’t that huge of a graphical leap. Both games were already amongst the best looking games on the PS4, so the graphical enhancements are minimal compared to something like the upgrade of NieR: Replicant ver.1.22474487139… from the original NieR.

As for the graphical differences between Fidelity Mode, Performance Mode and Performance Mode+, I have trouble noticing any. Take a look at these screenshots I took in the game in Fidelity Mode and Performance Mode:

While the graphics are superb, they aren’t perfect, especially the shadows. Rarely, you’ll encounter weird shadows as such:

Also, perhaps I’m nitpicking, but the lighting in Uncharted 4 feels better than The Lost Legacy. Compare the difference between the player models in both games under somewhat similar lighting:

However, in darker areas, the lighting/shadows in The Lost Legacy are absolutely on point.

Overall, the graphics for both games are phenomenal, despite the slight inconsistencies here and there. For cutscenes, they’re basically cinema-quality.

Performance

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the game runs as smooth as a baby’s butt. There is no slowdown or lagging at all. Cutscenes and gameplay transition seamlessly. I couldn’t even remember if there were any load times at all because everything runs so fast. There were no crashes either.  

The only difference I can tell is between Fidelity Mode and Performance/Performance+ Mode. The smoothness of Performance and Performance+ Mode is apparent when compared to the 30 FPS of Fidelity Mode. In Fidelity Mode, if you spin the camera around the character, it feels slow compared to Performance and Performance+ Modes. Since all three Modes look graphically identical, might as well play in Performance or Performance+ Mode instead of Fidelity.

PS5 Dualsense

Sadly, the game doesn’t really make use of the Dualsense features of the PS5 controller. There is the very generic shaking and rumble, but nothing that feels distinct like in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection also doesn’t really implement adaptive trigger features into gameplay. While the game was marketed with adaptive trigger implementations, I failed to find any noticeable use of the adaptive triggers. The shoulder buttons perform just about the same functions as the PS4 versions.

Compatibility

If you own both Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: Lost Legacy, you can upgrade to Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for $10. Save progress is also transferable from the PS4 versions and to the PS5 remaster.

Another thing that is missing from the original games is multiplayer. Unfortunately, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection is purely single player. For those who want to play the multiplayer, they’ll have to play the original PS4 version.

Closing Thoughts

That’s pretty much it for this Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection review. Objectively speaking, the remaster is definitely a step up from the PS4 versions of both games, bar the multiplayer. If you have a PS5 and never tried A Thief’s End and The Lost Legacy before, there is basically no reason why you’d want to get the PS4 versions instead of the remastered collection.

However, if you already have both PS4 games, unless you’re a huge Uncharted fan, I don’t think the Legacy of Thieves Collection is a must-have as the PS4 versions are already absolutely amazing games. The remaster is a bit too small of an upgrade from the PS4 versions, especially when you compare it to other remasters.

You can learn more about Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection by visiting its product page on the PlayStation Store.

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