Uncharted 5 has already proven it doesn't need Nathan Drake

It’s been a while since we’ve had a new Uncharted game. Believe it or not, but before The Last of Us, before Horizon, before Spider-Man, this series was the reason to get a PlayStation console.

And while PlayStation’s upcoming first-party release schedule looks to include some bangers like Ghost of Yōtei and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, what I really want is a new Uncharted.

While unconfirmed, we’ve had rumours regarding Uncharted 5 for a few years now. Naughty Dog may be busy with Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and remastering The Last of Us, but it seems like a matter of when—not if, Uncharted will return.

Whether that’s under Naughty Dog’s command or handed over to a different developer will remain to be seen.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy gave us an easy way to continue the franchise. We got a fun standalone adventure with fan favourite characters Chloe and Nadine, and it proved that Uncharted didn’t necessarily need Nathan Drake to continue.

There are countless ways to continue the series if you wanted. Another Chloe and Nadine game, a Sam and Sully team-up, or even a brand new protagonist.

But I’m a stickler for fan service, and I reckon there’s a way to bring back the Drakes for Uncharted 5 without it feeling shoehorned, or undoing any character development from the previous games.

For those who got through to the credits of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, the game ends with Nate officially retiring from treasure hunting to start a family with Elena.

In the game’s epilogue, we jump forward a few years to play as Cassie, their adolescent daughter who seems to share a similar thirst for adventure as her parents do.

From the small playable section we get with her, it seems like Cassie embodies all the characteristics of what goes into a good Uncharted protagonist: curiosity, intelligence, and a craving for exciting adventures.

This seems like a natural way to continue the Uncharted series without featuring Nate as a protagonist, but leaving room for him and Elena to cameo.

Picture this: a decade or so after the ending of Uncharted 4, Cassie goes travelling in Europe or Asia after she graduates from college. While away from home, she becomes involved with a group of people who are hunting for a mystical treasure. Their adventure takes them across the globe, and she has to keep calling home and lying to her parents so they don’t try to stop her.

Maybe it reaches a point where Cassie realises she’s in way over her head, and needs to find a way out. She picks up the phone, calls her parents, and at the climax of the story we see Nate and Elena show up to get her out of trouble.

When this has been discussed in the past, there have been comments from critics of the idea that this kind of sequel would “ruin the ending of Uncharted 4” and “undo all the character development of Nate and Elena” – to which I say that’s wrong.

Nate and Elena showing up to get their daughter home safe actually feels like the most natural way to bring back the characters and build off the character development from A Thief’s End. They already know the risks of treasure hunting, and don’t want that for their kid. They’d tear the world apart just to get her home safe.

And are we supposed to believe that this couple, who got into at least four different dangerous adventures in the pursuit of fortune and glory, would never face this kind of situation in the future? Especially after raising a daughter with a desire for similar adventures?

It could be this fantastic story about growing up and accepting responsibility for your actions, exploring themes regarding the cyclical nature of generational behaviour, all wrapped up in a fun adventure story with some light fan service.

It would also be a way to bring back Kaitlyn Dever, who played Cassie in the Uncharted 4 epilogue and has been slaying it as Abby in HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2. Dever and Naughty Dog seem to have a good relationship, and so it’d be fantastic to get her back on board, and maybe even give her a chance to use some of that Abby physical training for the motion capture.

Anyway, the ball is in your court, Sony. Uncharted 4 was one of the biggest best-selling games on the PS4, selling over 18 million copies overall. While it may not be as big as The Last of Us, there's certainly still an appetite for these games.

And it’d be interesting to see what an Uncharted game built with the PlayStation 5 in mind (or even PS6, as we edge closer to the next-generation) could be like.