Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Heavy story spoilers, including the ending. One of the things I liked about Uncharted was the direction Nathan and Elena's relationship took. They actually got to build a life together. A Thief's End puts that life right in front of you, and then Nathan starts putting it at risk again. He has a job. He has a home. He has Elena. Then Sam comes back, and suddenly there's another treasure to chase and another reason to tell himself this is the one thing he has to do. The search for Henry Avery's treasure gives the game its adventure, but the situation with his family is a big part of what gives that adventure any weight. Elena isn't somebody who doesn't understand him. She's been through these things with him. That's what makes the lying matter. He isn't just hiding a dangerous trip from someone who would never understand why he wanted to go. He's shutting out the person who already knows that part of him. And Sam complicates all of it. Nathan gets his brother back after thinking he was dead, and there's a whole history between them that Elena wasn't there for. But that doesn't make the life he built with her less important. The game puts those relationships against each other without making the answer as simple as picking one person and forgetting the other. There's still plenty of Uncharted in the actual adventure. The auction, Scotland, Madagascar, the chase through King's Bay, Libertalia. The climbing and gunfights have more room to move around, and the rope gives you another way through an area instead of keeping every fight behind the same piece of cover. But I really like where the story leaves Nathan and Elena. They don't have to pretend adventure never meant anything to them. They find a way to have a family and a life together without continuing to live exactly the way they did before. Seeing them with Cassie gives that whole journey somewhere to go. I played this series a while back, so some of the details needed looking up again. That part of it is one of the things I wanted to come back to. We spend all these games watching Nathan risk his life, and this one actually lets him have a future.