Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection Review – Polishing Perfection

The Uncharted series is without a doubt one of Sony’s best. If anything, the series has always pushed the limit when it comes to visuals and delivered breathtaking landscapes to gawk over while you run around looking for treasure and shooting baddies. I remember playing the original Uncharted game back on the PS3. Sitting there in complete shock as I didn’t think people could look so amazing on a video game. Now, PS5 owners can enjoy two of the best games all over again thanks to the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection.

The package comes with two games including Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. These are two of my favourite Uncharted games. Uncharted 4 because it was released as we moved into HDR gaming and it is absolutely gorgeous on-screen and The Lost Legacy because it is set in India and while it follows Chloe and Nadine, it proves the series is strong enough to live without Nathan at the helm.

Watch our Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection Review below

The PS5 package comes with a range of improvements but at the same time, has cut out all the multiplayer features. This means the games are solely single-player experiences and that is just fine. The Uncharted series boasts some incredible storytelling so you really don’t need multiplayer here to enjoy these games.

It goes without saying that Uncharted games should be played on the best TV you have on the loudest volume possible. The PS5 enhancements really shine across both games thanks to a range of graphics modes. Both games come with three modes to choose from.

The first is a 4K Fidelity Mode. Here, the game runs at 30FPS at 4K. Those of you who have played the series in the past will feel right at home on this mode. The Uncharted games have all run beautifully at 30FPS and if you appreciate the sheer beauty in these games, you would stick to this option. I am the kind of person that would sacrifice frame rate for higher resolutions when it comes to story games so this 4K 30FPS mode is my baby.

There’s also a Performance Mode that boosts the game’s frame rate to 60FPS while dropping the resolution to 1440p. This is a sweet spot for those who want the best of both worlds. Lastly, there’s a Performance+ Mode where the game runs at up to 120FPS at 1080p. You’ll need a compatible display to enable this option though.

Testing all of these modes out in the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection was a little daunting. Not because they don’t look great but rather because they all looked so good that it was hard to choose between the three. I wanted to use the 120Hz mode because I don’t get to use my 4K120Hz mode enough on my Bravia. However, at the same time, the 60FPS mode feels smooth enough to not warrant the 120Hz mode. Then again I want 4K resolution.

You can see some examples of the modes in the video. I just can’t show you the 120Hz frame rate but you can see how the game quality drops slightly. The 120Hz results in a few texture quality drops and distance objects don’t look so sharp. If you have an eye for perfection, you might stay away from this mode.

Graphical modes aside, the PS5 version of the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect from a first-party game. This includes haptic feedback and trigger support for the DualSense controller. These features go a long way to enhance the general gameplay. For example, the haptic feedback nudged my hand every time Nathan or Chloe moved about while climbing. I could feel the controller slightly vibrate every time I grabbed a new piece of the ledge and even when I shimmied across a wall.

The haptic feedback also does a great job distinguishing between smaller vibrations and larger ones. So jumping, climbing and interacting compared to explosions, falling pillars and all those other dramatic set pieces that come with these Uncharted games.

Speaking of explosions and shooting, the adaptive triggers feel just as good as any other shooter thanks to their weapon trigger support. This means pulling the trigger on weapons all felt different. I know we should all be used to these triggers by now but these small features really do make Sony’s first-party games stand out from the crowd.

Other than those features, the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection remains true to the original games to every degree. The stories are the same, the action is still unrivalled and the gorgeous locations are still as enjoyable to visit and explore as ever before. I specifically used this collection as an opportunity to go on a treasure hunt. It took longer but I followed a guide online and picked up all 109 treasures in Uncharted 4 and 68 treasures in The Lost Legacy. It also gave me time to appreciate these games a bit more. There are quite a number of hidden areas I missed and even dialogue options I overlooked. If you have played these, I recommend doing a treasure run this time around.

So is Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection worth it? Well, considering the game isn’t as pricey as a new release I would say yes. The enhancements are definitely noticeable and the games offer some stellar experiences that are worth revisiting again. There’s so much to love in the series that a collection like this is worth a revisit every year or so. It also does a great job showcasing the power of the PS5. It is hard to believe these games were on PS4 to begin with.

If you are jumping into the Uncharted series for the first time, this collection offers the best games to experience.  If you’re a big fan of the series then you’ll probably jump at the opportunity to play these games again because you already know how great they are. The unrivalled action series has never looked better on PS5.

This Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection review is based on a code sent to us by Sony. The game sells for R865.

Note – We published this review during our trial run of our new “star” review system. The original score was 4.5/5 stars. We have since reverted back to the 10-point system so the review score shown below accurately reflects this.