Naughty Dog could be going back to one of its biggest PlayStation franchises. The studio is reportedly working on a new Uncharted game, and this time there may be more than one Drake involved.
The report comes from MP1st, with Video Games Chronicle saying it has partially corroborated the story through its own sources. According to the reports, the new Uncharted would be Naughty Dog's next major game after Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
That alone would be a pretty big deal. Naughty Dog hasn't released a new mainline Uncharted game since Uncharted 4: A Thief's End in 2016, while Uncharted: The Lost Legacy followed a year later. Since then, the series has largely been sitting on the sidelines.
Shaun Escayg could be leading the project
According to MP1st, the reported new game is being directed by Shaun Escayg, who previously worked as director on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Escayg later left Naughty Dog for Crystal Dynamics, where he worked as creative director on Marvel's Avengers, before eventually returning to Naughty Dog.
And there is another particularly interesting detail: Nathan Drake is reportedly involved.
MP1st says Nathan will appear in the new game in some form, although it hasn't been able to establish whether he would once again be the main character or instead play a supporting role. That distinction could be important, especially considering how Uncharted 4 ended.
Could Cassie Drake become the new protagonist?
Uncharted 4 left Nathan and Elena Fisher's daughter Cassie as the obvious next-generation connection to the series. As a teenager, she discovers some of her parents' old adventures, and Nathan eventually begins telling her about his past.
That ending certainly leaves the door open for Cassie to become the star of a future game. If Naughty Dog really is working on a new Uncharted, it would be a natural way to continue the series without simply pretending Nathan's story never ended.
For now, though, Cassie as the protagonist is still speculation. The only reported information is that Nathan Drake will appear in some form.
Naughty Dog previously said it had moved on
There's another reason this report is so interesting. In 2023, Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann said the studio had essentially “moved on” from Uncharted after giving Nathan Drake's story its final chapter.
At the time, Druckmann said Uncharted 4 allowed Naughty Dog to put its “final brushstroke” on Nathan's story and move forward.
If these latest reports are accurate, something has clearly changed. And considering the amount of love the Uncharted series still gets from PlayStation fans, a comeback would hardly come out of nowhere.
Still completely unannounced
There is one very important catch: Naughty Dog and Sony have not announced a new Uncharted game. The project remains unconfirmed, and even VGC describes its own reporting as only partially corroborating MP1st's claims.
That means there's currently no official title, release date, platforms or confirmation that Cassie will be playable. Even Nathan Drake's exact role remains unclear.
What we do know is that Naughty Dog is currently focused on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which the studio says it plans to fully reveal in 2027.
If the reports are accurate, however, Naughty Dog may already have its next big adventure lined up.
A little Naughty Dog nostalgia
There is also a bit of personal nostalgia attached to the possibility of Naughty Dog returning to Uncharted. I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped on the original PlayStation, and I'm still working my way through it to this day. I'm already at 103%, yet somehow the game still isn't finished. 
So if Naughty Dog really is heading back to Uncharted, I'm certainly not going to complain. Seeing the studio return to one of its classic PlayStation series would be pretty damn cool.
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Webmastahhh is the creator of Mastanet, a gaming and technology website where he shares news, reviews, guides and personal insights about games, hardware, software and the future of digital entertainment.
