Is *Uncharted* coming back? This time I'll choose them as the protagonists

The first time I heard there might be something new happening with Uncharted was when I saw that photo with the word “Research” on it. A cannon on a mountaintop pointed at a bay city, the sunlight a bit dazzling, yet what came to my mind first were the already concluded fates of those characters—like old friends you haven’t seen for years suddenly sending you a “I’m on a business trip lately” message, making you both happy and a little cautious.

In terms of characters, what I care about is: if there really is a new game, who should stand in the spotlight this time? Uncharted 4 already wrapped Nathan Drake’s life up at a relatively complete endpoint. His “retirement” doesn’t feel like a setup that can be overturned at any moment, but more like a very serious farewell. So dragging him back as a tool again—even if the story is thrilling—I’d still feel it disrespects the weight of that earlier goodbye.

What struck me is that the candidates people discuss the most actually represent completely different emotional possibilities. When media and players bring up names like Cassie, Chloe, Nadine, and Sam, what appears in my mind are emotional lines heading in different directions: continuing the family bond, continuing the adventures of adult women, dealing with that ambiguous trust between partners, or returning to the familiar “middle‑aged man back on the road.” Any of these paths could make for a blockbuster, but the level of empathy they require is totally different.

From the perspective of a female player, I’d be more excited about a “Chloe route” or a “Cassie route.” Uncharted: The Lost Legacy has already proven that Chloe and Nadine are characters strong enough to carry an entire game. Their dialogue isn’t there to queerbait, nor to create cheap laughs by bickering. It’s that kind of relationship between adult women that is both guarded and reliant—like two people who are both bad at asking for help, forcibly bound together by fate, who can only keep talking tough while slowly learning to trust each other with their backs.

Cassie’s route, to me, feels more like an emotional experiment from an “heir’s perspective.” If the new game really makes her the protagonist, what I’d most look forward to isn’t how well she can climb or how many tombs she raids, but how she understands the choices of her parents’ generation. Will she hold some resentment over having the truth kept from her throughout her childhood? How will she deal with the tug‑of‑war between “ordinary life” and an “adventurous bloodline”? If written with enough nuance, these things can easily remind people of their own generational conflicts with their parents, instead of turning her into a “female Nathan” just to be consumed.

What pulls me out of it is that, when the industry creates female protagonists, it always seems to slide toward two extremes: either a one‑note tragic figure whose pain is endlessly milked, or an empty person wrapped in the shell of a flawless strong woman. As for those vase‑type characters who can only scream and wait to be rescued in dangerous situations, I genuinely don’t want to see even one more of them. So if Naughty Dog really returns to Uncharted, I’ll be paying more attention to whether they can preserve space for female characters to have “flaws” and “reckless moments,” rather than just giving them a pretty, tough exterior and calling that progress.

Looking at the trend, that photo from Fort George in Trinidad and Tobago with the word “Research” on it feels more like a long‑term teaser. It’s been almost nine years since The Lost Legacy, and Naughty Dog has never officially admitted they’re making a sequel—only that there is one unannounced project, and Shaun Escayg did return in 2021. Pieced together, this information feels like a story for which only the outline has just been written, and what we’re seeing now is only the first line of the setting. If it really is coming back, what I’d most like to see is this: that the new game isn’t just there to cash in on nostalgia one more time, but instead lets the next generation of characters have emotions real enough to catch the adventure passed down from the previous generation.

As for whether we should “start getting hyped right now,” my suggestion is actually to relax a little. At this point, even whether this project is an Uncharted sequel hasn’t been officially confirmed, so the day when we really need to think about “to buy or not to buy” is still quite far off. What suits the moment more might be to look back at the characters you care about the most and think about which line of dialogue or which choice moved you back then. Then, in the comments, pick who you most hope will be the new protagonist and explain why. When the day comes that Naughty Dog finally makes an official announcement, we can look back together and see whether this time, they truly heard what kind of story players wanted.