Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Changed Video Game Blockbusters Forever

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Naughty Dog changed everything with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Drake’s Fortune ended up an entertaining yet undeniably janky take on Indiana Jones that was largely confined to the jungles of Pan🎉ama and South America. It was a test drive of 🐻the action adventure formula that every title to follow in its footsteps would expand upon.

But back in 2009, I don’t think anybody expected Among Thieves to blow the doors off quite so con𒊎fidently. The second you saw protagonist Nathan Drake awaken in an overturned train car in the mountains of Nepal, clutching a bullet wound just minutes until the busted car plunges into oblivion, you knew this game was going to be something special.

Greatness From Small Beginnings

Everything that follows is a rollercoaster ride without equal, even if so much of it is wrought with tried-and-true clichés we’d seen in blockbuster films for years. In video games, though, an actioꦑn hero travelling across the world to hunt down an ancient treasure had never been done this well before. Uncharted combined the exploits of Lara Croft with the charm of Indy and created something better than it had any right to be.

There are countless character moments and set pieces in Among Thieves I can point to as top of the class, even if 15 years later certain elements feel distinctly dated in the face of Naughty Dog’s newer experiences, like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us Part 2. This type of game had its start here as Naughty D🍷og constructed the♏ foundations it would build upon for decades.

Uncharted 2 - Chloe Frazer talking with Nathan Nate Drake

Here are just a couple of set pieces from Among Thieves that will be imprinted into my memories for🐲ever: the museum heist, the Nepal armoured truck chase, every single part of the train sequence, and the destruction of Shambhala.

When I first played Among Thieves as a spritely teenager, it was a glimpse at what the future of gaming might look like. This was a new era for PlayStation, where its focus turned to cinematic epics that pushed the boundaries of visuals, player interaction, and motion capture. Back then, we were still years away from Sony settling into the comfort of prestige gaming, where the st𒀰eps forward taken by Nathan Drake would eventually settle into a place of harmful complacency.

To some, this might have turned Among Thieves into an experience to be despised, since if Naughty Dog hadn’t taken such a leap we’d still be playing mascot platformers and original exclusives instead of needless🧜 remasters and remakes. But its primitive nature allows me to appreciate it all the more, and I’m still bowled over how well this game has aged because it predicted the future as much as it captured what gamers wanted from the present back in 2009.

It’s A Crime To Sit On Something That Pretty

Nathan Drake hanging onto a collapsing train from Uncharted 2 Among Thieves

Combat was relatively simple, and many of the puzzles would solve themselves if you stared at them for long enough, but everything was presented from the perspective of such beloved characters and polished gam🌱eplay mechanics that you couldn’t help falling under its spell.

It’s also hard to believe that the development period for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was only 22 months꧂. This sort of turnaround is unfathomable in 2025, and speaks to exactly how unnecessarily bloated triple-A games have become.

When this formula was combined with a constantly changing roster of globe-trotting locales, it was enough to keep things fresh for several more games, with each title upping the narrative complexity until A Thief’s End felt like Indiana Jones having a therapy session. Naughty Dog was keen to keep creating these swashbꦆuckling adventures while simultaneously building on the success of The Last of Us, which itself wouldn’t have existed in Uncharted 2 hadn’t done so well in the first place. Everything in J🐲oel and Ellie’s post-apocalyptic journey began here.

Not to mention how countless games from other developers would seek to replicate all that Uncharted did so well in the years to come. When 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tomb Raider was reboot𝔉ed in 2013 with the first entry of the Survivor Trilogy, it was꧙ hard to separate how that game played with the brilliance of Uncharted, partly because it felt worse and replaced the whimsical charm with an overly dour take on Lara Croft trying to cement herself as a survivor. A great game, but it wasn’t until Rise of the Tomb Raider that the trilogy would finally find its footing, before losing it again with Shadow.

But𝄹 despite where its success has taken us and the future it continues to pave, I can’t help but look back💞 on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves with unparalleled fondness. It’s become the game I will happily replay at the drop of a hat, a flawless example of blockbuster design in its characters, pacing, narrative, and gameplay. Naughty Dog captured lightning in a bottle that it continues to capitalise on to this day.