.

We were passed the following pictures by Kyanu of BluPlay.net. They are taken from the Art of Naughty Dog book which formally releases this month. However, some lucky people already have their copies, having had the opportunity to hang out with The Dogs at their recent birthday exhibition. These images are never before seen pieces of concept art for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. As you can see, they hark back to the sunken city of the first Uncharted. Some people have even suggested that maybe Nate is returning there. It is possible, but as all signs point to Madagascar, I personally believe this is a new location.

This first image is especially evocative of the Spanish colony destroyed by Sir Francis Drake in Drake’s Fortune. That colony would have been in ruins about a hundred years before the time of Henry Every (still our number one pick for the central historical character). And look – there’s Nate in a boat with his Ottsel wetsuit on. To me the two other occupants in the boat look like Sully and Elena. Elena hasn’t yet been confirmed as appearing in A Thief’s End, but this looks hopeful. Of course, as concept art, anything may have changed since the brief was given to the artist. I would also like to note that if that *is* Elena, the idea that she is kidnapped and helpless looks thankfully even less likely than it already was.

And then there is this one. Unless fish have taken to flying in neat rows, this clearly shows that there was at least initially an intention to set some of A Thief’s End underwater. Look at that lovely shipwreck, too. The other noticeable thing about this image is the quality of the structures. If this is Henry Every’s hideout on Madagascar it shows Naughty Dog see him as having lived there for a while. That said, Every certainly wasn’t the only person to have taken up residence in the jungles of Madagascar. But the buildings show a level of determination. We are not just talking about a camp on a beach, but a society with walls and windows.

Poor Nathan. Should’ve packed a raincoat.

So there you have it. These are the only verified bits of concept art to surface so far (other than a couple of others on BluPlay.net). We would also like to bring your attention to this image, which has divided fans. Is Nate too old? Does he even look like Nate? We think he does. That jawline, the brow and cheekbones are alllll Nate. As a slightly blurry photo of a screen it isn’t the greatest quality image in the world, but it clearly shows our Nathan Drake, albeit slightly older (time passes) and slightly… knackered.