Remasters have changed with the widespread availability of backward compatibility. Many games that would have likely seen some sort of boost either see some sort of patch that unlocks the frame rate or a free upgrade that does slightly more than an update. Sony, however, has resisted this practice in some cases, opting to sell these upgrades on PlayStation 5. It’s particularly egregious in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, which further points out this unnecessary and more expensive upgrade strategy.
The Legacy of Thieves Collection may be unnecessary, but it isn’t without value because of the sheer quality of the games it holds. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy are two of the best PS4 games and have both aged remarkably well since their releases in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
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The pair showcase a more mature, post-The Last of Us Naughty Dog that was able to more carefully craft character arcs and engaging mysteries without losing sight of the pulpy, blockbuster nature of its earlier games. The suite of new technology even allowed the team to better achieve its goals as more realistic animation, denser environments, and seamless transitions between gameplay and cinematics meant that they were even more immersive than ever. Combat was more open, fluid, and bombastic, as were the stunning set pieces that made the series so influential. Puzzles and traversal were both more involved and intuitive, mostly thanks to the handy grappling hook.
With all of these genre-defining or otherwise fantastic components, these games were at the top of the heap back around their respective releases and are still almost unmatched in the gaming landscape a few years later. Uncharted 4‘s beautiful sendoff and Lost Legacy‘s tightly paced narrative have even aged more gracefully in the time since, given the medium’s continued knack for poor finales and overstuffed games.
Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy are masterpieces and it’s impossible to overlook that. But it feels as though Sony is cynically weaponizing the classic status of both games to charge a premium for these upgrades to coincide with the upcoming film. The Legacy of Thieves Collection doesn’t contain any new content and only has the most basic PS5 features most games have. There’s haptic feedback that ranges from subtle raindrops to big explosions and adaptive trigger support for the weapons, both of which are small but used relatively well. It also has three different modes that run at native 4K at 30 frames per second, 1440p at 60 frames per second, or 1080p at 120 frames per second, all of which are an increase from 1440p and 30 frames per second that the game hits on a PS4 Pro and PS5. But those are more routine tech upgrades and not new material.
Bumping up the resolution and frame rate and slightly touching up some of the textures makes it an objectively stronger technical package, but Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy already looked stunningly gorgeous on the PS5 when running through backward compatibility and ran at a steady 30 frames per second. The initial load times are significantly shorter — levels that took around 25 seconds to boot now take around two seconds — but Naughty Dog already ensured that, outside of skipping cutscenes and starting the game from the dashboard, visible load times were never an issue. Naughty Dog’s technical wizardry on the PS4 means that a collection like this isn’t as big of a step up on the PS5, a step that is even smaller considering the PS4 Pro support each title has. Something similar happened with God of War III as its overpriced PS4 remaster didn’t offer many visual advancements since the base visuals on the PS3 were already so far ahead of their time.
Charging for these small boosts is puzzling because similar upgrades are free elsewhere. Microsoft has made an effort to revisit a few of its titles for no extra fee. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice now has ray tracing and a slew of graphical options. Gears 5 has better textures, a more fluid campaign frame rate, and can even run at 120 frames per second in multiplayer. These two examples sit alongside Xbox’s FPS Boost feature that currently cranks up the frame rate for 134 older titles. Some games like Prey and Dishonored also saw dramatic improvements in other areas, too, like load times and input latency.
Sony has even updated a few of its first-party games to run better on PS5. Ratchet & Clank, Days Gone, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Blood & Truth, and Naughty Dog’s own The Last of Us Part II all saw a patch that juiced the frame rate while also keeping a higher resolution. And while Nioh owners were left without any way to upgrade to its remastered port, Nioh 2 got its own free PS5 upgrade, as well. Ghost of Tsushima also ran in a boosted state when the PS5 was released so bringing in PS5-ready improvements in PS4 games for free is something Sony has shown some willingness to do.
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Ghost of Tsushima did later get a native PS5 version in Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut as did Death Stranding, but they were not free. Although these weren’t only costly upgrades as those games justified their prices with new content. The Iki Island expansion was excellent and deepened the whole Ghost of Tsushima experience. The new items changed how to play Death Stranding and the redesigned introduction took out some of the tedium of the original.
Uncharted doesn’t have that luxury and that $10 upgrade charge is harder to rationalize when almost all of its advancements are complimentary in most other games. The $50 bundle may seem great for those who missed these the first time around, but all PS5 owners with PlayStation Plus already have access to the PS4 version of Uncharted 4 as do those who subscribed to the service in April 2020. And while not essential, this bundle doesn’t even include the co-op or competitive multiplayer from both original releases or Lost Legacy‘s platinum trophy, meaning it also has fewer features in some instances.
Uncharted’s last remaster, the Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, was substantial enough to earn its price tag. Bluepoint Games went into the first game and streamlined the controls and updated the textures to bring it more in line with its sequels, which also saw their fair share of upgrades. Uncharted 2 had some visual tweaks and Uncharted 3 finally got some better aiming controls, too. Bluepoint didn’t bring over the multiplayer but did add two new difficulties, a speedrunning mode, more trophies, leaderboards, and a photo mode that all sit on top of an array of noticeable graphical improvements and a higher frame rate. Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy didn’t have as much room to grow as they are the two best and smoothest entries in the series, yet there are almost no extras to entice the many that have already played these classics.
And Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy are still must-play classics and this collection makes that clear. Naughty Dog’s craft for creating memorable characters and explosive set pieces that prioritize interactivity with some of the most detailed visuals around is at an all-time high here, even all these years later. But selling these enhancements that many other games get for free is a little arrogant and reminiscent of Spider-Man Remastered, another premium, Sony-published remaster that didn’t quite deserve its asking price. At $10, the Legacy of Thieves Collection upgrade fee isn’t too steep, but, given its competition, it’s needlessly frustrating and only opens the door for an expensive Bloodborne remaster down the line.
