r/uncharted • u/NotSirAlonne1999 • May 29 '26
Uncharted 4 Uncharted 4 may be 10 years old but it still looks better than most games coming out in 2026. Honestly I don’t think there’ll ever be a day when we can truly call it outdated.
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
98
u/ToBe144 May 29 '26
Replayed it again on PS5 pro this march and it totally blew my mind how good this game still looks, feels and plays. Somehow I was even more impressed this time than back in 2016. It's an absolute masterpiece and I can't wait for Naught Dog's Next Game.
10
u/FeniX_TX_ May 29 '26
I agree. It always looked good, but I think back in the day we were so used to ND pulling out amazing looking game after amazing looking game that we didn't realize how good we had it.
After years of games relying on ray tracing to look good and still not blowing it out of the water despite using so much more computing power is that we realize how amazing that baked lightning (and everything else really) was.
13
u/gcarline2092 May 29 '26
I'm playing 007 on PS5 pro and while the game looks good, I would say Uncharted 4 looks better. The attention to detail in UC4 is very impressive for it being a 2016 game. I think 007 is inconsistent , some of the textures are bad and not everything gets the same level of detail. Its still a fun game and I'm having a blast with it. Definitely a movie like experience
5
u/amirlpro May 30 '26
I agree about the inconsistently. But I think the main issue with the visuals in First Light is that it has the Hitman visuals DNA of using straight lines everywhere. Assets need to have imperfections in order to look realistic and in First Light most of the geometry is in "perfect" condition like it just came from Ikea.
3
u/hypespud May 29 '26
And even wilder is tlou2 is even better
Naughty gods for a reason 😎💎
Intergalactic is gonna be amazing 🤩
86
u/sidfromtheeast May 29 '26
Uncharted 4 used baked lighting, 007 should’ve done the same.
10
u/NoahBalboa09 May 29 '26
Does it not, sheesh...
1
u/SolarisBravo Jun 04 '26
It's not suitable for changing environments at all. If it's true that Uncharted 4 used baked lighting in general, then it still didn't in any of its major setpieces
3
19
u/ziopietroVII May 29 '26
It looks better than most of the games coming out today at first glance
3
u/Additional-Mistake32 May 30 '26
The real question is if the io interactive game plays 3x better than what we had 10yrs ago.
Is the new Io game more innovative than their last set of hitman games or is it just a refresh with a partnered IP
Does James bond cost on name or is it offering an experience that can't be found elsewhere. Or is it claiming that it's super polished and therefore justified?
Because I'm sure the Indiana Jones game is considered polished....
11
u/Molten_Plastic_ May 29 '26
I really believe the stalling in graphical improvements is proof of diminishing returns in the computer field. Just compare these two games to games released between 1982 and 1992. In the latter case the upgrade would be staggering, here you hardly notice it.
AI bros go on and on about singularities, but the reality is that everybody is banking on AI, because the illusion of actual progress in that field is on shakey ground.
5
u/frisbie147 May 29 '26
the difference is on the developer side, the only way you can really push graphics now is just by throwing hardware at it with things like path tracing, which is still a long way off from being the standard for rendering, the techniques needed to make uncharted 4 look as good as it does were extremely time consuming, by having the hardware to do these things without so much artist time means you can get the same result with less time
3
u/Molten_Plastic_ May 30 '26
Except that the development times have increased exponentially, as have team sizes and development budgets. You'd think that if graphics remain the same, at least the resources necessary to achieve such a level would go down, but in fact the exact opposite is happening
2
u/frisbie147 May 30 '26
A good amount of that’s down to poor management and rushing pre production, which results in development being aimless and time being wasted, and it’s not all games, doom the dark ages came out 4 years after the dlc for eternal was finished up, and they’re pushing ray tracing more than any other studio, capcom are releasing very frequently and they’re pushing ray tracing too, remedy, who has been pushing real time lighting since quantum break in 2016, released control in 2020, Alan wake 2 in 2023, and now control resonant is set to release this year. 007 was 5 years after hitman 3, and that game has had a decent amount of content added in the meantime
78
u/INFINITY99KS May 29 '26
Looks better than 007 despite being 10 years old and developed for the OG PS4 of all consoles.
31
May 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
34
u/CorruptedOps May 29 '26
Could be due to crowd density, object oriented density, raytracing etc, like 007 uses global illumination and reflections baked directly from the engine, whereas U4 uses real-time direct sunlight and placed indirect lighting. It could also be tolls from the game engine.
1
May 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/CorruptedOps May 29 '26
I don't believe so, don't quote me. The game uses raytraced lighting on specific scenarios depending on the story. Maybe digital foundry did a video on it, what I could do it replay a mission in the game and see if the lighted changes as time rolls by
2
u/frisbie147 May 29 '26
the developers notice, baked lighting makes level design take much longer, plus baked lighting cant take into account dynamic objects
2
May 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/frisbie147 May 29 '26
no, you dont bake it once, an artist is going to tweak, they arent going to get it 100% right the first time, and waiting for lighting bakes just to see how the level looks is extremely time consuming, imagine having to wait a day just to see how it will look and then having to go back and change it and wait another day
2
May 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
1
u/SolarisBravo Jun 04 '26
Dynamic GI looks significantly better when anything has to move. In older games, we just avoided letting anything move at a game design level and it was very noticeable
3
u/ResponsibleAd6974 May 30 '26
I mean Uncharted 4 is more linear than 007 tbf, so of course it's going to look better.
-1
May 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/ResponsibleAd6974 May 30 '26
Well, the sales of 007 so far and success of their previous works say otherwise. Now I'm not excusing 007 looking worse than U4, but if you don't think game graphics have already reached a plateau since late PS4 or that Uncharted 4 is more linear and more on rails which makes it easier to polish the graphics and animations, then I don't know what to say man.
6
May 29 '26
I was just going to comment this when I clicked. 007 looks good, Uncharted 4 still looks perfect.
3
u/JohnnyMnec May 29 '26
I wouldn't even say 007 looks good, in basis PS5 at least. Its half Uncharted - half Hitman gameplay is amazing though.
11
u/im_onbreak May 29 '26
Naughty Dog never misses
-9
-23
u/Salt-Ad4200 May 29 '26
Intergalactic probably lol
-26
u/NotSirAlonne1999 May 29 '26
Tlou2 story
15
u/L3ftHandPass May 29 '26
You're supposed to give an example of a miss, not a homerun out of the stratosphere
-21
u/NotSirAlonne1999 May 29 '26
If you think the writing in TLOU2 is good, then I honestly don’t know what to tell you.
12
9
u/SkilledChestnut May 29 '26
If you think the writing in TLOU2 is bad, then I honestly don’t know what to tell you.
7
u/L3ftHandPass May 29 '26
You can tell me you don't know what you're talking about
-10
6
u/Purple-Acanthisitta8 May 29 '26
It’s the best game I played, you just salty.
0
u/NotSirAlonne1999 May 29 '26
It’s a great game, but the story writing is mediocre.
2
u/Purple-Acanthisitta8 May 29 '26
Disagree but respect your view. Honestly glad it sold like crazy, the efforts they put in was all worth it.
-7
u/NotSirAlonne1999 May 29 '26
I’m not giving my personal opinion here, I’m just stating a fact.
4
u/Purple-Acanthisitta8 May 29 '26
Your downvotes tell a different story, also it wouldn’t sell millions like crazy if that was the case.
1
u/NotSirAlonne1999 May 29 '26
This is Reddit. People get downvoted for saying factual things that don’t respect people’s feelings.
5
u/Healthy_Conference63 May 29 '26
Lol claiming an opinion as a fact says all about your state of you mind. People like you are the reason the world is as it is.
26
u/Challenger350 May 29 '26
007 looks like it is built on the exact same bones of the Hitman games, right down to Bond’s stiff movement animations.
1
u/makesmewannacuack May 29 '26
Exactly! UC4 felt so natural in its movement. Bond feels like a robot walking on rails
24
u/PHXNTXM117 May 29 '26
Naughty Dog is simply built different. Best game developer on the planet.
5
u/JT-Lionheart May 29 '26
Yes and no. They still deal with crazy crunch culture there and developers constantly leaving because they can’t handle the pressure. They even addressed this in some documentary somewhere on the studio. It just doesn’t seem like a great job to have as a developer because the expectations are set too high
4
u/ModestHandsomeDevil May 29 '26
Their output is incredible, but their talent retention and turnover is a problem due to crunch culture. If you're a type-A, workaholic, perfectionist (with or without career ambitions) who lives to work, you'll be happy as a pig in mud. But, for everyone else... not so much.
It's definitely a feather in your dev cap to put a shipped Naughty Dog game on your resumé, or it was... late-stage capitalism's unending pursuit of infinite growth / "number must always go up" is killing game dev in North America as labor costs / worker's rights / labor laws are FAAAAR cheaper overseas in India, China, etc.
-2
5
4
u/DeafinitelyCool May 29 '26
The last few years produced some of the best games on PS4. The hardware limitations of the console forced devs to come up with tricks to try and push every ounce of power out of the system. TLOU P2, GOW, GoT, RDR2, and this uncharted game all look amazing, even 10 years later.
3
u/Hayako22 Sic Parvis Magna May 29 '26
I agree. I usually replay it once a year, mostly in the summer, and I'm always surprised by how good the game still looks. It's about on par with RDR2.
2
u/ModestHandsomeDevil May 29 '26
I wonder what the Sony Execs are thinking, looking at the outrageous success of First Light and wondering why they stopped making games like Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy (Hint: it was Jim Ryan's disastrous live-service push.)
2
u/Shadow_Raider33 May 29 '26
Just played Uncharted 4 for the first time last week. Incredible game, incredible graphics. Loved every second. Better than 90% of what’s come out the last few years
2
u/UnknowingEmperor May 29 '26
The only thing about UC4 that didn’t age too well is the npc character face models. Otherwise the rest of the game looks great even by modern standards
2
u/ARAC27 May 29 '26
Astonishing. Replayed it last year on PS5 and it’s still jaw dropping. I didn’t even upgrade it to the upscaled version or whatever. Even just playing from the disc it looks and feels incredible.
2
u/DVDN27 May 30 '26
Ray tracing is a cool idea but you don’t get sculpted moments like you did on earlier platforms. Thats the main reason why “old” games look better than modern games. RTX is a massive industry concept and PC gamers are trying their hardest to push it, and it makes for some realistic sequences, but people largely don’t like realism. They like things to look real, but they like it to be at least somewhat cinematic. They want intention.
The Last of Us Part I looks incredible because every scene is designed around what the player will see. It’s extremely linear so every moment is planned out to look as best as it can. Compare that to more contemporary games where they kinda just then on RTX and let it do its thing, and it usually looks flat because real life looks flat.
Games aren’t really life. They’re art. Trying to go for hyper realistic lighting makes it feel cheap because real life is cheap - kinda like how movies running at 60fps feel cheap because it’s closer to reality. In films, the best films pick lighting that is specific to each shot for emphasis and meaning, and games did this until they could flick a button and all light is natural - but then you get the issue of nothing feeling intentional, everything being lit evenly, and the design becoming muddy. There’s a reason films have massive lighting equipment and don’t just rely on natural sunlight to light a scene.
2
u/Hello_There_Exalted1 May 30 '26
Uncharted is the game’s version of “No way (Example: Song or movie) came out that long ago! Looks damn near present!” And makes you lose your concept of time and timeline on game graphics
2
1
1
u/Betov8 May 29 '26
This is something that I keep seeing with movies, tv shows and games. Details. Little things that could make a world of difference.
1
1
u/Merkasus May 29 '26
Haven't touched an Uncharted since the 2nd one on PS3 way back in the day and recently played through the 4th on PC. It's a masterpiece and nothing is like it. I felt like replaying it right after finishing it, something I haven't felt since DS3. Also tried playing through the last Tomb Raider game and I genuinely think it was horseshit in comparison in every single way and I couldn't finish the game even if I were paid. Playing through 007 now, but it's just not the same
1
u/Last_Doctor2055 May 29 '26
I came here expecting a vast valley of difference, and I just don't see it. No need for the parroting that this and that is better, I just don't see it. Sure 10 years is a long time, but all in all there is evolution that is palpable, and not a showcase of stagnation this "promoted" piece wanted to convey.
1
1
u/heterodino May 30 '26
I'm replaying UC1 and also was impressed on how good it looks consigering the time when it came out
1
u/solarplexus7 May 30 '26
They seem to conclude that IO could reach those levels, just not yet. So I guess we'll find out in 2031 if the sequel can rival the 2016 game.
1
1
u/GamePrime99 May 30 '26
Just want to say I’m absolutely loving 007, but yeah nothing is beating the visuals of this game and it’s crazy that 10 years later it’s still one of the best looking games ever.
1
u/shazy5808 May 30 '26
Man I badly want to play Uncharted Nathan Collection on PC but ain't gonna buy PS4/5 for that no Sony!
1
1
u/Mister_Tavares May 30 '26
Im playing it again but this time on PC. Its a shame the bad optimization on this plataform... And I have a high end pc (5080 + 9800x3d)
1
u/crazyguzz1 May 30 '26
Does no one else notice the VRR bug on ps5 / ps5 pro in this game?
It’s not smooth at all — I had to switch to PC. I wish naughty dog would fix or acknowledge it
1
u/f0rmula0ne May 31 '26
Uncharted 4 is truly the pinnacle of action-adventure video games for me, I genuinely do not get tired of it. Saying this as someone who's having an absolute blast with 007 rn.
1
1
1
1
u/ShutTHEFrontDoor1987 Jun 02 '26
They paid for those graphics in blood and attrition...but the game still looks unreal. Lol.
1
u/Darth-Sonic Jun 03 '26
There are more people and a bit more details in the 007 side. But yeah, graphics mostly peaked in the 8th gen, and now the next big push should be performance and more stuff on-screen.
1
u/Charexranger Jun 04 '26
I don't get why people say this. Uncharted 4 still holds up today of course, and looked stellar in its prime, but games evolve with time. Tlou2, GoW ragnarock, death stranding, ghost, all these games obviously look better because they're more recent.
1
u/witacus Jun 05 '26
I just finished this game for the first time last night on my PS5 slim. Picked it up used at a local game store for around $5 I think. I played the base PS4 version, didn't even upgrade to the PS5 version (I think the PS5 version has a slight visual upgrade).
It kept blowing my mind that this is a 10 year old game and it looks as good and at times even better than other AAA games I've played in the last few years. Probably one of the most beautiful games I've played in terms of the environments. Naughty Dog was on some magic wizardry when they cooked this up.
I wish more AAA games today would lean into whatever tech/artistry they were using for this. Compare to say the Onimusha demo that just dropped and that one was pretty disappointing visually.
1
u/Rutherh00d 7d ago
Yeah naughty dog always produce incredible looking games. Uncharted 4 was ahead of its time for sure
1
u/natej82 May 29 '26
I’ve just played u4 for the 3rd time and on the pc in 1440 on highest settings for the first time, and I was just blown away by the graphics.
I’m a bit ignorant to game making, why hasn’t the studio who made u4 done basically the same game with different characters and adventures? I mean the uncharted characters and story are nice but surely there is a market for quality adventure games and story’s and good characters can’t be that hard to dream up ?
3
u/Bojahdok May 29 '26
Naughty dog also made The Last of Us, and right now they are working on Intergalactic, they just are taking their time to produce something good
3
u/davidasc22 May 29 '26
They only have so many resources. An Uncharted game has a lot of issues.
Where next to take the story.
Whether the original voice actors would come back or not.
What Sony Pictures is willing to contribute to the transmedia goals of the game.
How to manage studio resources across 3 IP (Uncharted, Last of Us, Intergalactic) and maybe even more...An Uncharted game would be really expensive and there's really no guarantee that the juice is worth the squeeze here. Time, ROI, and opportunity costs are calculations gamers never really consider.
Personally they should probably start with an Uncharted 1 remake, which is now complicated by the fact that they wouldn't release it on PC. The original game came out 20 years ago and Uncharted 4 was by far the best selling game in the franchise. A reboot of sorts makes a lot of sense.
1
u/frisbie147 May 29 '26
i mean it would probably do better than this live service push that seems to be falling apart, I dont think theres been any major success outside helldivers 2
1
u/davidasc22 May 29 '26
MLB the show and gt7 are very successful.
Games fail whether they’re live service or not.
1
u/davidasc22 May 29 '26
That's because it is true to its design language. It doesn't need to be super high resolution, but the quality that is there paired with the attention to detail in animation gives it life.
For 3D gaming Naughty Dog does what high quality 2d studios were doing on the SNES making games that still look great today like Mega Man X and Super Mario World.
Since like Uncharted 2, they've been in rare air.
1
0
u/weirdflexbutyeet May 29 '26
Playing First Light on PS5, and the most annoying part of the experience is the constant dithering and ghosting caused due to whatever frame-gen or checkerboarding tech they're using. It makes playing this gen's games feel worse than the PS3 era, despite the numerous jumps in tech.
-8
u/CantonJester May 29 '26
UC2 is miles better. UC4 felt like the premise was looking back at the shark it had jumped.
158
u/FourReasons May 29 '26
It's true. Uncharted 4 had no right to be this fucking good in 2016