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Sarah loves RPGs, sandboxes, and sims. She's played every expansion of World of Warcraft and WoW Classic and spent hundreds of hours modding and playing Bethesda games.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
The Uncharted franchise has been around for fifteen years, and after eight games and a feature film, Naughty Dog claims to be done with the series. But although Nathan Drake’s adventures have come to an end, that doesn’t mean yours have to. We’ve got the 8 best games like Uncharted right here.
8 Best Games like Uncharted
Here are some other story and exploration driven action-adventure games like Uncharted, listed in no particular order. Many of these are also series, which should keep you satisfied for a while.
1. Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider and Uncharted share a similar Indiana Jones vibe, as well as a lot of the same gameplay features. Both Nathan Drake and Lara Croft are treasure hunters exploring ancient ruins. Both characters encounter a little more than they bargained for when it turns out the myths and legends they’re chasing after are real. They each navigate overgrown temples and musty tombs with a combination of climbing, puzzle solving, and third-person gunplay.
The Tomb Raider games go way back, with the original game being released for Sega Saturn, PlayStation One, and MS-DOS in 1996. Now you can play that first game on iOS and Android as well. But the best entries in the series are the Legend trilogy and the Survivor trilogy.
The Legend trilogy — Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and Tomb Raider: Underworld — were made by Crystal Dynamics. They came out around the same time as the original Uncharted game, Drake’s Fortune, and have a similar feel, albeit a slightly more cartoonish look.
The Survivor trilogy — Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider — are the most recent entries in the series. This trilogy was made by Square Enix, who absorbed Crystal Dynamics. They portray a darker, grittier story of Lara Croft’s transformation from traumatized survivor to action heroine. As newer games, they feature much more photorealistic graphics and animations, but keep much of the same core gameplay.
2. The Last of Us
If you’re looking for games similar to Uncharted, maybe you should go straight to the source.
After Uncharted, Naughty Dog created another iconic franchise in The Last of Us. The Last of Us Part One is now ten years old, and was followed up with The Last of Us Part Two, both PlayStation exclusives at the time. Now the series has seen further success as a television show, and a remastered version of the original game has been released for PC.
The Last of Us is darker and more serious than Uncharted, but it does have its moments of humor and catharsis. Gameplay will feel familiar, with Naughty Dog leaning into what they learned from the Uncharted games in terms of combat and pacing.
But there’s enough new elements to make it feel fresh and not like a post-apocalyptic reskin of the Uncharted games. Where these games shine above all is in their story, which is about the bond that forms between Joel and Ellie, the game’s dual protagonists, as they navigate a bleak and unforgiving world.
3. Horizon
There’s an element of discovery in Horizon: Zero Dawn and its sequel, Horizon: Forbidden West, that will feel familiar to Uncharted fans. Both stories revolve around uncovering the mysteries of the past — including the main character’s own personal history — by exploring ancient ruins in beautifully detailed settings. You’ll climb, jump, zipline, and sneak around as you solve puzzles and defeat enemies.
In the Horizon games, you control the character Aloy as she navigates a primitive future world where humans live in tribes and robots roam the fields and forests like wild animals.
The landscapes in the games are absolutely breathtaking, and the voice acting is also top notch, making for a very cinematic experience. Forbidden West adds underwater exploration to the mix, increasing the diversity of locations and gameplay.
4. Assassin’s Creed
No list of action-adventure games is complete without the Assassin’s Creed series. There are a dozen installments now, with a new entry right around the corner (Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is due to release this year).
The series evolved right alongside Uncharted, with the first game in each franchise releasing in the same year. They share a focus on fictionalized versions of history and exploration, with the Assassins diving into that history in a much more literal fashion. Each entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise places you in a different place and time, from Ancient Greece to Victorian London.
The games are all connected, but they also work as standalone experiences — you don’t need to start at the beginning. The “Ezio trilogy” is generally considered to be the definitive Assassin’s Creed story, spanning Assassin’s Creed II, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.
But some of the newer installments are just as good, and have their own strengths. Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag lets you take to the high seas for a more swashbuckling take on treasure hunting. Most recently, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla added a settlement building element to the series.
Whichever game you choose, you’ll do a lot of climbing and parkour as you explore, just like in Uncharted. You’ll also be immersed in a compelling story in a realistic and beautifully rendered historical setting.
5. Prince of Persia
We can’t talk about Assassin’s Creed without talking about Prince of Persia. The former is considered to be a spiritual successor to the latter, with both series being made by Ubisoft. But the Prince of Persia games have a lot in common with Uncharted in particular.
For one thing, the protagonist Prince is a likeable, wisecracking rogue just like Nathan Drake. They even share a voice actor in Nolan North, who voiced the Prince in the 2008 reboot.
This series goes back more than three decades, with the first game having been released for Apple II computers in 1989. Since then, it’s been rebooted a couple of times. The best games of the series are the 2008 Prince of Persia and the Sands of Time trilogy: The Sands of Time, Warrior Within, and The Two Thrones.
The Sands of Time trilogy is older, but still holds up well thanks to its solid gameplay. Prince of Persia 2008 is from the same era as Uncharted, and still looks good with is stylized cell-shaded graphics. All of the games have a heavy emphasis on platforming and parkour, as well as solid third-person swordplay.
6. God of War
Like Uncharted, the God of War series is made up of action-adventure games with a heavy emphasis on story and a fascination with history and mythology. They also combine platforming and puzzle-solving with combat and cinematics in a similar way. God of War’s most recent installments also introduce sidekick characters who function a lot like Sully or Chloe in the Uncharted games.
In this series, you play Kratos, a former Spartan soldier who rises to serve a much higher calling. The original trilogy — God of War I, II, and III — sees him fighting his way through creatures of myth in ancient Greece. The newest installments, God of War (2018) and God of War: Ragnarok, shift to Norse mythology, with Kratos raising his son, Atreus, in ancient Norway.
Both eras are exceptional in their own right, and both are hailed for their satisfying combat. The newer games have a more satisfying narrative and stunning visuals, and will probably appeal the most to Uncharted fans.
7. Batman: Arkham
The Batman: Arkham games are heavily focused on platforming, with some unique mechanics enabled by Batman’s many gadgets. Like in the Uncharted games, parkour-heavy exploration is interspersed with third-person combat and story cinematics.
The first game in the series, Batman: Arkham Asylum, came out just a couple of years after the first Uncharted game. The gameplay still holds up well — even the graphics don’t feel that dated despite being fourteen years old.
Although the later games added some new and interesting gameplay features, such as a driveable Batmobile, the first two are considered to be the best of the bunch. There haven’t been any new Batman: Arkham games in a while, but the recent game Gotham Knights is set in the same universe, as is the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
8. The Legend of Zelda
At first, this series may seem out of place in this list of games similar to Uncharted. It’s less gritty and adult-oriented than the others, and the graphics are more stylized and cartoonish. But in terms of gameplay and story, the Legend of Zelda series has a lot in common with Uncharted. The Zelda games are quintessential action-adventure, and many games have drawn inspiration from them — including our favorite Naughty Dog franchise.
This series has been around since the ’80s, and there aren’t any real flops in it. Nintendo has been very consistent and careful with the franchise, often waiting years between releases to get them just right. Ocarina of Time is widely considered to be one of the best games ever made.
The Wind Waker was also very well-received, but its cell-shaded graphics give it a very different look than the other games. The most recent game, Breath of the Wild, has also seen immense success, with some ranking it as the best of the series. A direct sequel — Tears of the Kingdom — is due later this year.
Each Zelda game works as a standalone, and you won’t be missing much by skipping ahead in the series. Each version of Link is a unique incarnation of the same mythical hero, exploring a different fantastical realm (often a version of the kingdom of Hyrule, but not always).
You’ll parkour your way through temples and dungeons, solving puzzles using the many tools you’ll pick up along the way and piecing together the lore of the world and your place in it. Those should all be very familiar experiences for Uncharted fans.
Join the High Ground
Thanks for reading our suggestions for games like Uncharted! We hope we’ve helped you find some games to satisfy your Uncharted cravings. If you have any questions, leave a comment below, and be sure to subscribe to High Ground for more useful guides!
Happy gaming!
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