Naughty Dog wants players to know Uncharted is bigger than Nathan Drake

It's hard to believe that two weeks away from another Uncharted game, by which I mean Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. This is the first game with the "Uncharted" name that won't feature Nathan Drake, which I'm sure many of you knew at this point, as it is a standalone DLC for Uncharted: A Thief's End which was meant to wrap up Drake's story. However, it's important to note that Naughty Dog wants you to also know that the Uncharted franchise is so much bigger than just Drake himself, which is why you're playing as two different leads this time around.

According to Shaun Escayg, the creative director on Uncharted: Lost Legacy, "We felt we wrapped that story up on Uncharted 4. [We wanted to] find a new cast of characters that could actually carry on the Uncharted legacy."

Adding to that statement, the game's director Kurt Margenau, said, "It's important fans understand that the Uncharted franchise is more than just Nathan Drake."

While this may appease some, others may not be so happy to find that Naughty Dog is essentially "milking" its franchise's name to sell more titles. Could a game with Nadine and Chloe stand on its own, without the marketing muscle behind the well-received "Uncharted" name? It's possible, but we may never know.

It's important to keep in mind that Bungie (with Halo 2) and more recently, 343 Industries, thought the same thing about the Halo franchise and its main character, Master Chief. Both studios believed that the Halo-verse was bigger than just the armor-clad Spartan, but after critical backlash from fans, especially after Halo 5 (and the sheer lack of Chief), 343 is moving away from less Chief and once again making him the primary protagonist in the upcoming Halo 6.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy will release on August 22, for just $40.