Back in 2009, the release of PlayStation’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves marked a pivotal point for the gaming platform. Nathan Drake’s second big game achieved critical acclaim not only during its prime, but Uncharted 2 has also been consistently brought up in discussions about the best games of all time ever since its original launch. This prompted Sony to create exclusives less about platformers or racing, and instead make more games like Uncharted. PlayStation created games like The Last of Us and Marvel’s Spider-Man, trying to capture that Uncharted magic, but to varying degrees of success.

16 years later, Uncharted 2 remains not only one of the best games of all time, but a game that players need to play at least once. Everything about this sequel takes all the good from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and amplifies it by a couple of notches. On top of that, the previous game’s cons are reworked into pros, making this sequel stand out and overshadow its already iconic predecessor. If any player missed out on Uncharted 2 more than a decade ago, they must rectify this immediately.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ Opening Sequence Is Unparalleled

The Game’s Thrilling Tutorial Sets up the Rest of the Sequel

Uncharted 2 starts with an injured Nathan waking up to see he’s sitting on a train in the middle of snowy terrain. Immediately, this raises a lot of questions for the player. First off, why is Nathan injured? Secondly, where is he? In Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, players have only seen him in the tropical jungles of Panama. Now, he’s in the complete opposite location, specifically that a snowy mountain. Uncharted 2’s opening brilliantly sets up what’s happening and shows how much the stakes have changed, but gets even better from there.

Before Nathan can figure out why he’s injured, the train is revealed to be hanging over the cliff and starts to fall. By Drake’s luck, he manages to hold up and starts climbing up the hanging train. It’s such a fun tutorial on how climbing works in this game. Instead of making a tutorial boring, Uncharted 2 turns this otherwise perfunctory introduction to its mechanics into something that players don’t want to skip. The stress of the situation is tense and adds a lot of intrigue. On top of that, players get flashbacks of Nathan getting approached for a new mission.

This adds more questions to the equation: how did this mission end up so wrong for Nathan to end up like this? The hanging train has everything players would want in a game and remains one of the best moments in the Uncharted franchise. Any opening needs to establish a hook and why the audience should care. To say the hanging train did that would be an understatement, as games are still trying to capture this energy. This tutorial and prologue offer a taste of what’s to come, as Uncharted 2 doesn’t slow down with the set-pieces from this moment going forward.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Turned Uncharted Into a Globe-Trotting Action Epic

The Game Boasted More Diverse and Memorable Locations

Uncharted 2 does what any great sequel sets out to do: It takes what’s already good about the series and amps it up. The story has Nathan on a quest with former associate Flynn and a former lover, Chloe, to find a treasure for a client. This sounds fairly routine for an action hero like Nathan, but things devolve into chaos thanks to a slew of betrayals and the client turning out to be the vicious war criminal, Zoran Lazarević. The story has a lot more beats and surprises sprinkled throughout than the first game did. The twists and turns are never too out of left field, making sure that the player is completely immersed and invested in what’s happening.

Additionally, one of the major criticisms of the first Uncharted is how the locations felt too similar. Nathan was either in a jungle, an old building, a temple, or some combination of the three. The fact that all these locations were set in the same tropical country didn’t help the game’s lack of variety. But in Uncharted 2, the franchise goes global as Nathan and the company fly around the world to achieve their mission. Locations like Borneo, Istanbul, Tibet, and more are visited. These new places offer more variety in terms of the levels’ looks and action, with different environments complementing the plot’s global scope.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ Cast Is a Great Mix of Old & New Faces

The Game’s New Characters Overshadow the Original Crew

Nathan is back, and he’s still the same protagonist that gamers love. It’s his equal parts of self-deprecating humor mixed in with an abundance of charm that make him so badass yet endearing. That said, he’s not alone in Uncharted 2, as new faces from his past join him on his latest adventure. His former accomplice, Harry Flynn, backstabs him early on and becomes something of a dark reflection. He’s a treasure hunter like Nathan, but one who’s more willing to do whatever it takes for the treasure and money — including teaming up with a war criminal. Flynn is what Eddy Raja should have been in the first game. Even though Flynn dies at the end, he’s a top-notch antagonist who has a chilling death scene, where he commits suicide with a grenade in an attempt to take Nathan and his friends with him to the grave.

Meanwhile, Chloe, one of Nathan’s old flames, joins Flynn. Chloe plays both sides effectively, as players will constantly question who her true allegiance belongs to. Claudia Black portrays Chloe effectively as someone jaded by the world, but one who still likes to have fun and enjoys teasing and verbally sparring with Nathan. Thankfully, unlike Flynn, Chloe survives the events of Uncharted 2. She’s such a great character that seeing her return in future installments and even become the main character for Uncharted: Lost Legacy was a treat.

The returning supporting cast consists of Sully and Elena. Players don’t get that much Sully here, but he steals the show whenever he’s onscreen. Elena shows up later, but has a more prominent role from the second act onward. Nathan and Elena’s chemistry was excellent in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, but here, it’s magnetic. Elena is one of the few who can match Nathan in terms of wit but still appeals to his heart.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ Gameplay Remains Mostly the Same as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

The Game’s New Additions and Tweaks Spice Things Up

If Uncharted 2 changed a lot in terms of its settings and characters, its gameplay remains the same as what was seen in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, except for a few modulations. For one, there are now stealth sections sprinkled throughout the game. What’s enjoyable is that stealth are mostly entirely optional. The ones that Nathan has to do are quick and easy to accomplish. The objective is more about thinning the herd before going in and blasting Nathan’s enemies.

Uncharted 2’s cover and shooting mechanics are also the same for Nathan, but what’s interesting is there are more formidable and varied enemies this time around. Instead of generic enemies armed with standard weapons like guns and blades, deadly mercenaries with Gatling guns, sniper rifles, heavy body armor and more are now after Nathan’s (read: the player’s) head. It’s thrilling to run around and duck for cover while trying to take down waves of enemies. The enemies’ different choices of firearms also force the player to adjust accordingly, making combat less obvious and more exciting. ​​​​​​

Besides shooting, players will spend most of their time with Nathan climbing around but, this time, scaling up walls feels much better to control. Scaling up and across walls is more enjoyable in Uncharted 2 because of the smoother and improved controls. Hitting the wrong button in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune could send Nathan flying to his death, but this has thankfully been tweaked and resolved in the sequel. The controls are more responsive this time, making platforming actually fun instead of tedious. Because of the amount of climbing done here, there’s newfound comfort in knowing that Uncharted 2 won’t glitch out on the player and unfairly kill Nathan, as was frustratingly common in the first game.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Is One of the Best Sequels & Games of All Time

The Game Is Everything a Great Sequel Should Be and More

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of the best video game sequels ever. The second Uncharted entry achieves something that every game sequel wants to do, but few succeed in: improving on the problems from the previous entry while turning up the positives. The gameplay is better and much less stressful, thanks to tighter controls. This is on top of astonishing set-pieces, new characters, and the dangling train showcase in Chapter 1 makes the whole experience worth revisiting even after all these years. If this masterpiece somehow slipped any gamer’s radar, they must now play it now.