Created by Naughty Dog, one of Sony’s leading first party developers, the Uncharted series got its start back in 2007 with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which became one of the PlayStation 3’s earliest “must-have” games. However, it wasn’t until Uncharted 2: Among Thieves that the industry as a whole really took notice, as that title significantly improved upon the first in almost every category, and was widely considered to be 2009’s Game of the Year. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, another surefire hit, came out in late 2011, with the PS Vita spin-off Uncharted: Golden Abyss following in 2012 (development duties were handled by SCE Bend Studios on that one). With Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End for the PS4 reportedly closing out Nathan Drake’s story next year, there’s really no better time to get into the Uncharted series or replay them all for the tenth time. As a tribute to the imminent release of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection on PS4, we thought we’d take a look back at the ten moments that best define the series as a whole and have helped make it one of the best action-adventure experiences in all of gaming.
10. Zombie Spaniards Attack
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone whose favorite Uncharted game is Drake’s Fortune, but that doesn’t mean that the first in the franchise isn’t without merit or thrilling moments. While it’s not exactly the most fun section to play, the cursed Spaniard enemies that appear late in the game throw a totally unexpected tinge of the supernatural into the proceedings that has been carried throughout the series. Uncharted is not a scary game by any stretch of the imagination, but Drake’s encounter with these vicious corpses gets the heart rate up as well as any of the more explosive sequences seen in later sequels. While Uncharted 2 and 3 both tried to match Drake’s Fortune in terms of terrifying creatures with the late-game introduction of the mutilated guardians of Shangri-La and fire-headed Djinn, respectively, they just didn’t have the surprise factor (or creepiness) of the cursed Spaniards. Now let us never speak of them again.