Uncharted 4 single-player review - a rollicking, globetrotting adventure

Nathan Drake returns for one last treasure hunt, resulting in a beautiful and exciting gaming experience that transcends it flaws

There have been very few video game characters as well conceived as Nathan Drake. Exuding charm and determination, strength and vulnerability, he is the sort of male lead great Hollywood screenwriters aspire to create, but that video games have tended to bypass in favour of gritty, cynical sociopaths on mindless quests for retribution. Nathan is a character you care for and want to protect, even when he makes awful decisions that will hurt the people he loves. That is great writing.

In Uncharted 4 he gets the conclusion he and his fans deserve - a rollicking, globe-trotting adventure that manages to be funny and exciting, yet also touched with sadness. We soon begin to realise that Nathan's quest to discover Libertalia, the fabled anarchist utopia set up by pirate Henry Avery, is symbolic of his whole career as a treasure hunter. This is a story about hubris, obsession and self-denial, and gradually, throughout the game, we discover that these are personality quirks shared between Nathan and Henry, as well as generations of other adventurers who set out to find Avery's haul and died in the trying.