Friv5Online is a great studio. Uncharted is a great series of Poki games. I am infinitely in love with the last part of the saga in absentia, even though the press screening of Uncharted 4 on Igromir turned out to be a blatant deception. A man with a gamepad was pretending to be playing while a video from E3 was shown on the screen. Perhaps he played the episode in a new way? Not. You can't fool me - the evening before, preparing for the meetings, I had already examined every frame of the car chase.

The information blockade around Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is nowhere stricter. On the same day, I had an interview with a Friv5Online rep., and, no matter how subtly I formulated the questions, from whatever angle I entered, it was not possible to obtain more than the permissible minimum of information. But from what was said it became clear: this time it will not work to call the game "kinets".

Over and over again in numerous interviews, developers emphasize: the word "end" is not in vain included in the title. The story of Nathan Drake is waiting for a final and irrevocable ending, and they promise to furnish it in such a way that it will not seem to anyone.

The story begins three years after the events of Drake's Deception . The adventurer has tied up with the past, settled down and lives a peaceful family life with Elena Fisher. This imposes certain obligations: to return home no later than ten, not to revel in, not to get involved in adventures.

And then, as always in the series, something out of the ordinary happens: out of nowhere (to the fourth part!) Sam Drake, Nathan's brother, appears. For ten years he was considered dead, but in a critical situation he remembered his family and returned for help. Now the road of heroes lies in the mythical pirate country of Libertalia for untold treasures. If the wife lets go, of course.

In general, the plot outline is not going to break tradition - this is typical Uncharted , which starts with problems and ends with a grandiose archaeological discovery. And in between - the most perky and unrealistic action, genocide of bad guys and jokes in the spirit of John McClane. But in the new part there will be something else: the experience of The Last of Usdid not pass without a trace, so the new game will become more dramatic and will take on harder research into the characters of the heroes.

First of all, the lion's share of the attention will be paid to Sam. This is a complete stranger to both the player and the sibling: in ten years, too much has happened to both of them to be able to simply say, "Hello, let's go looking for adventure." And nevertheless they remain brothers, which is superbly played in one of the cut-scenes: the heroes race parallel to each other on a motorcycle and a jeep; Having caught up and exchanged glances, Drakes shout in chorus: “Jump to me! - No, you jump!"

And everything would be fine if Elena was not categorically against dangerous adventures: she pulls Nathan home and presents him with a difficult choice: family or ... family. This conflict will become the basis for character development: the developers meaningfully and pathetically promise soul-searching. Since this is Nathan's last appearance on the stage, they are not going to leave hidden corners in his personality.

Looking at what graphic wonders Naughty Dog did on an old PS3, you expect a breakthrough from their work with PS4. And he is. The game looks stunning: the slow and gray Victorian The Order: 1886 , for all its photorealism, is not able to evoke as much emotion as the riot of colors and dynamics of Uncharted 4.

The gameplay has also undergone a serious "upgrade". Yes, this is still a cover shooter, but enhanced with fundamentally new mechanics, evenly distributed throughout the playthrough. So far, three are known: rope, climbing tools and vehicles. Smiling slyly, the developer I interviewed promised that there was more to come.

The biggest innovation is, of course, the ability to drive. The staging of racing episodes promises the best races of your life: the road makes you twist in narrow alleys, jump on rooftops, knock down scaffolding and push motorcycles along the side of the road.

And you can do all this relatively freely. Of course, the game is linear, and there is always a certain "golden path", but the levels are built so that the gamer does not feel trapped in a narrow corridor: there will always be two, three, four options for passing the same stage, and each route will be its insane and unique.

But the authors are not yet sure about quieter and more peaceful trips: “The main thing is that the game is fun. We are still testing some points: if giving you an open space to explore is a good enough idea, then that opportunity will remain. In most cases, you cannot just get out of the car and walk around the neighborhood - the situation and the plot will not allow it."

But if automotive research is in question, then the authors have decided on walking: Uncharted 4 has completely changed the approach to the structure of levels. They are now characterized as wide-linear. For example, if the scene begins in the market, then it will be possible to leave it in three or four ways altogether from different sides. Spacious locations will hide more than one secret, a cut-scene and an episode that you can accidentally skip. But in the end, the gamer will still be accurately directed to the desired point.

Considering that most of the game is set on a tropical island, parallels can be drawn with Tomb Raider (2013): there the open world also consisted, in fact, of the interweaving of quite definite paths. In addition, Drake finally "caught up" with Lara in terms of mobility: with a rope and pocket "ice axes", he can freely jump between rocks and climb steep walls.

Of course, this had a serious impact on the combat mechanics: the firefights became many times more active. In cities, you will have to constantly use stairs, climb onto roofs and fall on your enemies' heads from the cornices. In rocky terrain, the rope will allow you to fly between islets of land, fleeing from enemies who are trying to surround, shoot from above and below.

If you go into more details, then the action has become much more dependent on the context - Drake now knows how to lie down behind cover and crawl on all fours. And he intercepted several hand-to-hand techniques from Joel. Each blow tries to use the environment in one way or another: smear your head on a table with tomatoes, press it against the wall under a waterfall, throw it down a cliff. During a car chase, absolutely amazing things happen: you can throw the enemy out of the body, while knocking down the side and being open to enemy fire.

The basis of the fourth movement is rhythm. The "wow" effect arises not just from the fact that Drake is dragging behind the truck on a rope, but from how smoothly he gets into the back, fights, shoots, gets behind the wheel, breaks several fences, throws the car and again gets involved in a shootout. This is nowhere else today.

It is useless to draw any conclusions: there is no doubt that Uncharted 4 will be one of the main Poki games of 2016. Naughty Dog has never let anyone down, she creates absolutely incredible things, and her talent for telling stories is getting brighter with each new project. I would like to believe that A Thief's End will become not just a final chord, but loud fanfare in honor of the series that has spent the entire past generation with us.