Uncharted 4 - Chapter Summaries
Prologue
"I am a Man of Fortune, and I must seek my Fortune." - Henry Avery, 1694. In the prologue, we're on our way to an island in the distance, full speed in a boat as enemies chase our tail. Rain pounds the ocean hard. We're immediately introduced to Nathan Drake, an explorer, and his brother Sam, as they attempt to hold off their pursuers. We don't yet learn what the island has in store for us.
The prologue ends with us being thrown overboard, lost at sea.
Chapter 1 - The Lure of Adventure
Flashback time. Nathan is a young boy again, around 13 years of age, receiving a lecture from a nun in a home for orphans. After her message falls short of being received, she leaves the young boy alone. Nathan is quickly lured to the outside roof after seeing a flashlight signal from what he assumes has to be his brother.
After playing catch-up, Nathan reunites with his brother, who's likely 18 years of age at this time. He tells Nathan he has a surprise in store for him. In this chapter we use the rope, a new mechanic to the series, for the very first time. After a long trek over rooftops, we see a sweet motorcycle was the surprise, along with some news - Sam is taking a job that will require him to leave for a year. On the bright side though, Sam has also tracked down the location of some of their deceased mother's belongings. They set off to steal them back.
Now, as that scene fades, let's advance the clock ahead a little. Not to when the brothers were on the boat, but 15 years prior to then. Nathan's an adult, in prison, and in a fight with a feisty opponent. The fight ends with the guards pulling the two men off of each other. Nathan is lead one way, his opponent the other.
Chapter 2 - Infernal Place
Handcuffed Nathan is lead around the prison until he eventually comes back out into the light. We learn that the fight was an excuse for him to be taken through the depths of the prison and the guard guiding him, Vargas, has actually been bribed to get Drake in.
Of course, the treasure hunter is after treasure, or perhaps a clue that might lead to it, that just so happens to be on the prison grounds. Vargas tells Drake he wants to be payed more for getting him to this point before he lets Drake go.
Drake says he'll have to talk about it later. He sets off for a tower in the distance. Inside, a Zodiac puzzle awaits, and some kind of cross artifact is the reward for solving it. Once back, Drake tells Vargas he found nothing, hoping to cut him out of any kind of deal. Vargas believes him.
In secrecy, Nathan reveals to Rafe, the one who got him the lead on the prison artifact, as well as Sam, his find. They're both with him inside the prison walls, acting as undercover treasure hunters.
The artifact shows Saint Dismas, tied to a cross... they assume it's a clue leading them to the Cathedral of Saint Dismas in Scotland, the last sighting of Henry Avery. Time to leave prison... but not before a fight, as the opponent from the courtyard has returned for a rematch, and this time, he has backup.
The guards once again have to break up a fight and Nathan's artifact is found in the process. Vargas isn't happy to find this out, as he lets them know in his office. That's when Rafe makes his move, killing Vargas and taking him out of the deal entirely.
Sam, Nathan, & Rafe have just become wanted men who need to make their way out of the prison, immediately. The guards are shooting on sight. Escape is near when, suddenly, Sam doesn't make it. Nathan watches what looks like Sam being shot and killed right in front of his eyes. He has no choice but to accept his brother's death and leave with Rafe.
CUE: Beginning Credits
Chapter 3 - The Malaysia Job
15 years later.
The events of the first three games have taken place.
Nathan has acquired a "normal" working position. At work, he's offered the Malaysia job from his co-worker. It involves recovering what's left from a shipwreck. Without permits to be in the area, that would be illegal, so Nathan declines the offer. - We learn he's left that life behind.
Chapter 4 - A Normal Life
Drake's at home, (happily?) married to Elena, the journalist present in the first three games. It's clear that Nathan still has a thirst for adventure as he gets lost in an image on the wall.
Nathan returns to work. That's when Sam shows up, back in his life, a complete surprise. Nathan can't believe it. They catch up till morning comes. After a long talk, that's when Sam breaks the news. He's in a lot of trouble and has tracked his brother down for help.
Chapter 5 - Hector Alcazar
This is the only chapter that makes Sam a playable character. Sam explains that after being shot 15 years ago, he was patched up by a doctor, and thrown right back behind bars. He details his escape from prison. Hector Alcazar, a drug lord, helped him to escape with one exception. Now that he's free, he wants Sam to bring him the hidden treasure of Henry Avery, a near impossible task that Sam claimed was possible during his prison stay. If he can't get him the treasure within three months, Alcazar promises his life will be taken.
With his brother's life on the line, Nathan makes a call. He lies to Elena, telling her the permits have come in and he's taking the Malaysia job. In reality, the next piece that will lead them to the treasure is soon going up for auction. They plan on getting it... by any means necessary.
Chapter 6 - Once A Thief
Nathan & Sam sneak into the auction they weren't invited to. Here, they meet up with Sully, an old friend who's going to help them with the mission. The plan is to cut the lights and steal the artifact while the room is dark. Nathan will cut the power, Sam will steal a waiter's uniform so it won't look suspicious with him standing right next to it, while Sully will be there for backup.
As it turns out, Rafe is also at the auction and is going to outbid anyone for the artifact, suspecting it also holds the next key he needs. He's remained hot on the trail of the treasure all these years, along with his new sidekick Nadine Ross, a woman who owns an army-for-hire called Shoreline. They've both been taking apart the land around the previously mentioned Cathedral, but have come up short.
The plan works out to a degree... Sam takes the piece while the power is cut, but Rafe & Nadine know Sully and Nathan are to blame for the chaos. Time to escape the auction, but not without a few fights ...
Chapter 7 - Lights Out
The trio barely escape with their lives. Nathan has a showdown with Nadine, where we learn she can put up one hell of a fistfight.
Once safe, the artifact is examined. It further leads them to the Cathedral, but more specifically the graveyard part of the land. Off to Scotland, to find the grave of Henry Avery.
Chapter 8 - The Grave Of Henry Avery
Sully waits in his plane while the brothers maneuver the land, trying their best to avoid Shoreline soldiers. Upon finding the grave site, they open a secret passage. Beyond a puzzle lies a point of interest - a cave on the land that will require them to pass more of Shoreline's finest.
Chapter 9 - Those Who Prove Worthy
Sam & Nathan make their way through the cave. At the end lies a test for them... Nathan realizes the path they've been following was meant for pirates that Henry wanted to see prove trustworthy to join his crew. By making the right decision during the test, they grab a coin and reveal a map to their next location - King's Bay, Madagascar.
Nadine and her crew of soldiers suddenly crash the party... And also discover the next location on this treasure hunt as well. When the boys create a diversion and the situation gets sticky, Nathan and Sam split from Nadine and her men, escaping to Sully's plane. They inspect the coin they retrieved further... One side reveals an image of a volcano. Guess what, there's one in King's Bay.
Chapter 10 - The Twelve Towers
The boys are in Madagascar, and so is Shoreline. When they get to their point-of-interest, near the volcano, there's no treasure, just more clues. The next step involves inspecting twelve towers, one of which will lead them in the next direction.
On the other side of that coin they received is another symbol. It's a bit worn down, but it clearly points them to two of the twelve towers that could possibly hold the next piece of the puzzle. They decide to split. Sam will go to one tower, Nathan & Sully will venture to the other.
Chapter 11 - Hidden In Plain Sight
A puzzle in Nathan & Sully's tower clearly shows they are on the right path, while Sam is obviously looking at a decoy. They inform him over the phone to make his way to their tower. With another puzzle solved, comes another clue.
Nathan attempts to express his excitement with Sam, when he realizes Rafe has hacked their phones. He now knows the next location as well and he can pin-point where the Drake brothers currently are. With this knowledge, Sam is going to be in some trouble.
After a high-speed pursuit, Nathan rescues Sam from Shoreline's grasp.
At a motel, the brothers inform Sully of what's going on. The boys are being lead to Libertalia, a legendary pirate colony that's likely full of treasure.
Inside their room, Nathan realizes Elena has caught up with him. She knows he's lied, hears of Nathan's brother for the first time, and takes off, unable to handle all of Nathan's lies. However, the treasure hunter doesn't go after her. Instead, he sticks with his plan, unable to let his brother down and leaves it to Sully to comfort her as he and Sam gear up to leave.
Chapter 12 - At Sea
Back to King's Bay. A series of pirate-left clues lead the brothers on a scavenger hunt on the outskirts of an island surrounded by crystal clear water. A statue risen from the ground shows the next waypoint... They must venture to the island seen in the prologue. And, they better hurry. Shoreline is in sight...
Chapter 13 - Marooned
Finally, we see the results of Nathan being thrown overboard. He's washed up on shore with his brother nowhere to be found. Nathan makes his way through the jungle, finds a piton to aid his success climbing forth, and after another run-in with enemies, finally finds his brother.
At this time, Nathan starts to question what the motivation to continue is... Something that is usually left up to Sully to do. At the same time that an army is out for them, Sam insists on pushing forward while Nathan feels they need to take a much safer route. A nearby marking in a stone, likely made by a pirate, encourages them to push on and continue their search for Libertalia.
Chapter 14 - Join Me In Paradise
There it is. After a climb, the city of Libertalia is in sight. Not hidden underground or in a mountain - right out in the open within the jungles of the island. A building with a massive guard tower draws their attention... That must be the one with all the treasure. They go forth, proceeding to take on Shoreline with what little they have.
Chapter 15 - The Thieves of Libertalia
We've made it to the building. Sure enough, no treasure in sight. They start to question whether they'll find any treasure at all. A look around draws them to a conclusion. Around the dusty room are paintings of the founders of Libertalia, all marked in giant letters with the word "THIEF" on them.
It's Nathan who realizes that the pirates must have taken the treasure away from the colonists for themselves. A map on the ceiling reveals where to go next - New Devon, where pirate Avery was from.
They decide to climb the local watch tower for a better view of the surrounding area. After a long climb, New Devon comes in sight, just beyond the river. Time to move back down the watch tower. This is when Shoreline notices the pair on the building and decides to bring it down with their RPGs. The brothers make a daring escape that leads them right into Nadine's grasp where the two attempt to gang up on her in a fight.
When the building they're fighting in falls through, the opportunity presents itself for Sam to take Nadine hostage using her own weapon, just as Rafe and gunmen attempt to come to her aid.
Rafe pushes Sam to his breaking point so hard, that he actually considers killing Nadine. However, Nathan quickly grabs the gun and throws it to the ground before Sam can actually make the move.
It's here that we learn the truth, while the Drake brothers attempt to bargain with Rafe. Samuel never escaped from prison; Rafe got him out after discovering he was still alive. New clues put him on the right track to Avery's treasure, but he still needed Sam's expertise to get to it. Sam has actually been out of prison for two years helping Rafe. When they finally got a solid lead, Sam no longer wanted to work with Rafe. He felt he spent too much time tracking it with Nathan for it to end up in Rafe's hands.
Rafe reveals all this because he plans on simply killing Nathan and continuing on with Sam as his hostage. Just as Rafe pulls the trigger, ready to end Nathan's life, Sam hops in front of the bullet, accidentally pushing Nathan off of the cliff behind them in the process, but taking the impact.
Nathan lays unconscious on shore, just as Elena arrives to help him. He remains knocked out from the fall as we fade to...
Chapter 16 - The Brothers Drake
The brothers are now young again. They've taken the motorcycle to a dark mansion. Apparently, no one is home and their mother's belongings lie somewhere within the artifact-filled home.
After breaking and entering, beyond a locked room lies their mother's journal. They look it over for verification. Sure enough, their mother's handwriting lines the pages. "Put up your hands," an Old Woman says as she turns on a nearby light. She's got a gun in her hands and has already called the police. The empty house turns out to be not so empty after all.
At gunpoint, the Drake brothers reveal they just came to reclaim what belonged to their mother. The Old Woman is caught off guard, relieved to see the sons of who she calls "one of the most brilliant historians she's ever met."
She gives the boys what belonged to their mother before meeting an untimely death of her own. With the police now on the property the Drake brothers take off and escape from serving jail time or questioning. After a drive to a spot with a great nighttime view of the city, they decide to go about their lives in a whole new direction from that day forth. They decide to start off fresh. If their mother was great, so are they. They decide to follow in her footsteps and achieve greatness...
We now jump back to the jungle scene. Nathan has been narrating all of this backstory for Elena to hear. Finally, the truth comes out of his mouth. It turns out she found Nathan with Sully's help, and by following the sounds of gunfire.
Sully's flying around the island in a plane, their escape transportation for when they catch up with Sam on the northern side of the island. As far as the treasure goes, Nathan says to forget about it after hearing the truth from Rafe. ...Let's go get Sam.
Chapter 17 - For Better Or Worse
With Elena now by his side, Nathan gets a partner in crime and a bit of time to talk to her about their marriage. Nathan apologizes for getting back into this lifestyle of murder, thievery, and treasure expeditions.
Chapter 18 - New Devon
Elena & Drake make it to Avery's neighborhood. Through binoculars, they spot Avery's palace and Sam and Rafe heading towards it as well.
Inside a manor along the way to Avery's, they find a dining hall. The remains of the pirate leaders rest at the table - poisoned to death by the drinks they shared. Avery had a party for his fellow pirate leaders - so he could kill them. This way, both Henry Avery and Thomas Tew, his pirate right-hand man, get to escape with all the treasure for themselves. It was likely transferred onto Avery's ship.
At Avery's place, they find a hidden passage that leads to a cave beneath the manor.
Chapter 19 - Avery's Descent
Nathan and Elena barely make it out of the booby-trapped cave alive. It's clear Avery didn't want anyone to possibly follow behind him and get to his treasure.
Chapter 20 - No Escape
The cave leads them to a ship graveyard, where Avery's ship could be anywhere. After a shootout between our heroes and Shoreline, Nathan and Sam are reunited. Best of all, Sam knows where Avery's ship is. Apparently, it more than definitely holds the treasure they seek, just beneath a nearby mountain.
Although they feel closer to the treasure than ever at this point, Nathan doesn't feel it's worth it. Not this time. Sully, Elena, Sam - Their lives are more important than some treasure. After trying his best to get his point across to Sam, he gets his brother to see things his way.
They start to head for Sully's plane just down the cliff, but Sam's lust for riches causes him to split from the group and head into likely danger. Nathan refuses to see his brother get killed by Rafe and heads for the treasure himself. Without a path to come along too, Elena & Sully are forced to stay behind.
Chapter 21 - Brother's Keeper
Nathan treks up the cliffs, spotting his brother's tracks along the way, until... inside the mountain, he sees what he's been searching for all this time - Avery's ship, a long way down. For Nathan, getting there may take some time, but it's manageable.
Once down to the water, Nathan takes cover under a dock. He sees Sam pull away in a speedboat towards Avery's ship. He stole it from Rafe's group, who are also there, gold in their hands, but not from Avery's ship.
After barely making it out of the booby-trapped cave herself, Nadine isn't too keen about entering what could be a rigged ship. With a gun pointed at her head, Rafe makes it clear that they'll be getting on that ship. And she's coming too.
Drake follows their speedboat.
Chapter 22 - A Thief's End
As Nathan approaches the ship, an explosion blows an entry point for him to climb through. He falls below the deck to discover... all the treasure, littered throughout the room. His attention barely goes to it, as his mind stays on Sam's safety.
Through another room, he finds him, unconscious with a piece of the ship weighing him down. Beside him, are Avery and Tew. The pirates each lay with a sword in their chests. Greed for the treasure caused them to kill each other.
Rafe isn't going to let Nathan get to Sam. He has a plan to let the Drake brothers die and go on his way with the treasure. He soon learns that Nadine has a plan of her own. Her plan requires those currently alive to die just like the pirates, full of so much greed that it gets them killed.
She closes them into the room where an escape route is nowhere to be found. With so much anger in him that his partner turned on him, Rafe forces Nathan into a sword-fight rather than try to look for a way out with him.
He's however no match for the fortune hunter. Rafe gets what he deserves when he's crushed to death by a pile of Avery's gold belongings hanging above his head.
After taking out Rafe, Nathan's focus switches back to helping his brother. Although Sam, who's now awake, tells him to save himself, Nathan can't leave him behind. Instead, he comes up with a bright idea to blow another hole in the side of the ship using a nearby cannon, creating an escape route and allowing for water to rush in and lift the piece of the ship off of his brother.
As the cave crumbles around them, Nathan and Sam escape and swim for the daylight in the distance.
Outside the cave, Elena waits to help them out of the water and take them home.
In the end, Elena and Nathan saved their marriage and they end up buying the company that Nathan works for, and it's all thanks to Sam, who somehow managed to grab some treasure during their expedition.
As for Sam & Sully, they set off on their next grand adventure together.
Epilogue
In the final piece of the Uncharted series, we're put into the shoes of Cassie Drake, Nathan & Elena's daughter, as she explores their beach house, awaiting her parents arrival back home.
Her curiosity leads her to their storage room, a place she's not supposed to be snooping around in, where she finds all sorts of memorabilia from her parents' past adventures. When Nathan and Elena return home to find what she's been up to, they decide to finally discuss their adventures with their daughter, something that's remained a secret for too long.
Nathan begins with the story of his trip to El Dorado as we FADE OUT and the credits begin to roll...
THE END.
