The Uncharted games have a knack for taking us to exotic and mythological places, sometimes beyond the realm of possibility. We’ve been to Shangri-La, found El Dorado, and explored Shambala, but where do we go next? With the long theorized announcement of Uncharted 4 hanging in the air, I thought I’d take the time to flesh out the top 5 places we’d like to go in Uncharted 4, and why.
5. The Garden of Eden
The bible tells us that the origin of the human species occurred in the Garden of Eden. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were banished by God from this veritable paradise when they ate from the apple tree. Apples symbolized knowledge and in the bible this knowledge is self awareness, shame, the fear of death, and more. The garden itself is believed to have existed somewhere near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq and it’s meant to be a great lost paradise.
You might be asking, “why would we want to go there in Uncharted 4?” Well, the idea that there is “knowledge” to be found there would fit in perfectly with an Uncharted narrative. The villain could be in search of the knowledge of God or something along those lines. The state of mankind before the original sin is also a theme in the Garden of Eden; maybe the villain of our hypothetical story is after redemption from original sin, to become a perfect human, a killing machine as it were. Uncharted has had its fair share of super natural twists and I feel like playing with the idea of the Garden of Eden would make for a great story.
4. Agartha (aka The Hollow Earth)
Agartha is a city believed to reside underneath the earth’s crust and is linked to the Hollow Earth Theory. For those of you that have never heard of the Hollow Earth Theory, it suggests that beneath the Earth’s crust is not thousands of miles of stone and liquid magma, but an entire other world. The theory suggests everything from the original tribe of Israelites, to dinosaurs, extraterrestrials, and even time travelers live inside this world. The Greeks believed there was land far north called “Hyperborea” that some suggest is another name for the Hollow Earth, and many legends of visitors from Hyperborea can be found today.
The belief first spawned after a pilot named Admiral Bird was flying over the Antarctic continent when he (supposedly) saw a giant hole in the earth. Upon flying into this hole he discovered he had entered an entirely different world. Other people have claimed to have flown into the Hollow Earth but no evidence has ever been presented to suggest that’s the case.
Admiral Byrd, the man who visited the hollow earth
Nevertheless Uncharted has had a history of incorporating supernatural monsters, mutants, and other whacky things into its plot, and the city of Agartha sounds like a perfect place to go next.
3. Solomon’s Temple (and the search for his treasure)
Solomon’s Temple is one of the most sought after locations in biblical archeology. It was the first holy temple built by the Israelites and it was home to Solomon, the wise king. Solomon is said to have housed many treasures of unimaginable wealth within the temple, this treasure was ultimately taken by conquers, and legend says that it has made it way around the world ever since. One such theory is that the Knights Templar themselves got a hold of it and much of their grand wealth came from that acquisition. More theories suggest that Freemasons brought much of it to the United States during the revolution, and that the founding fathers had something to do with it.
The Knights Templar
I understand this whole story has already been done, mainly in the movie National Treasure, but there’s something about this legend that resonates today. It might be cool to have Nate and Sully globetrotting searching for the temple or the actual treasure itself.
2. Camelot (and/or Avalon)
In Arthurian lore, Camelot was the great city that King Arthur ruled while he was alive. Camelot was first mentioned in a poem titled “Lancelot, The Knight of the Cart”. The location of Camelot is unknown as well, due to the fact that the Arthurian poems never describe its surrounding geography. The castle, while referred to, is never described; this leaves the door wide open for Naughty Dog to get creative with its appearance, features, and even some of the lore. King Arthur and his knights have a long list of epic poems, myths, legends, and real life history to back up the tales. If King Arthur was in fact real, wouldn’t he have collected many of the lost treasures of Christianity, or at least searched for those fabled artifacts?
Nathan Drake could also travel to the fabled Island of Avalon where King Arthur is said to be buried. Sounds like a good place to look for legendary swords. This seems like a great premise for the Uncharted series. Pick up the trail of Percival the knight in search of the Holy Grail, the resting place of King Arthur himself, or search for his lost sword Excalibur. There’s enough grail myth and Arthurian legend out there to craft an awesome tale in the Uncharted universe.
1. Atlantis
Atlantis is arguably one of the most written about subjects on Earth. It was first written about by Plato in his book Timaeus and Critias during the fourth century. Atlantis was supposedly a powerful island that rested somewhere beyond the pillar of Hercules. During ancient times Atlantis was thought only to be myth, but in the last century or so people are starting to find evidence that Atlantis might not be a myth after all. Some people say that Atlantis was the first city created on earth, that it housed extraterrestrials, that the Atlantians had access to technology, that the people there fled to Egypt when it sank, and all sorts of other strange tales.
This would be a perfect setting for the Uncharted series, and the myth of Atlantis is so crazy that Naughty Dog could paste over whatever mythology they wanted and make it work. This is why it’s our top pick for where we’d like to go in Uncharted 4.
Where would you like to see Nathan Drake go in Uncharted 4? Let us know in the comments!