Naughty Dog is Bringing Back Uncharted 5 With a Secret Game in Development

PlayStation could be preparing another return to the Uncharted series, and this time, Naughty Dog may be involved. The studio already has Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet in development, and The Last of Us Part 3 is expected to be in its early stages. 

However, reports suggest Naughty Dog may also have another unannounced project in development alongside those games, and its connection to Uncharted has begun to attract attention. The project has reportedly been in development for several years, which makes it even more intriguing given the studio's history with the franchise. 

The report comes from GamePost and claims Naughty Dog has been working on an unannounced game for around three years. 

More importantly, the project is reportedly being led by Shaun Escayg, who previously served as creative director and writer on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Escayg later moved to Crystal Dynamics, where he directed Marvel's Avengers, before returning to Naughty Dog in April 2021. His history with Uncharted naturally makes the mystery project particularly compelling.

The information reportedly comes from insider Daniel RPK, who shared details through his Patreon. According to the report, Naughty Dog has a second project in development that is not The Last of Us Part 3. The project is said to have been in development for approximately three years and is being directed by Escayg. 

Escayg's history with the franchise is one of the biggest reasons the speculation has started. He was heavily involved with Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, which was one of the most recent major entries in the series. After returning to Naughty Dog, he would seemingly be in a position to lead another project if the studio wanted to revisit the franchise. 

The possibility becomes even more compelling when you look at what Naughty Dog's leadership has said about its current projects. Neil Druckmann has previously indicated that another game is being developed alongside Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, with his role reportedly being more focused on producing, mentoring, and providing feedback rather than directing the project himself. 

That leaves plenty of room for speculation about what this mystery game could actually be. 

The Uncharted franchise has been inactive as a major new game series since Uncharted 4: A Thief's End launched in 2016. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy followed a year later as a standalone expansion, but since then, PlayStation fans have mainly received remasters and collections rather than an entirely new entry.

One possibility that has circulated is that a new Uncharted could move the story beyond Nathan Drake. There have been rumors that Nathan's daughter, Cassie, could eventually become the new protagonist.

A PlayStation advertisement from several years ago was also interpreted by some fans as a possible tease for an Uncharted game featuring a younger female character believed to be Cassie. None of these rumors confirms that Cassie is actually involved, but it provides one possible direction for a future sequel.

The success of the Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland also gave the franchise another presence outside gaming, with a sequel reportedly in development. Keeping the games going would therefore allow Sony to continue using one of its established names across multiple forms of entertainment.

Naughty Dog is not the only PlayStation studio that could potentially return to Uncharted, either. 

Sony Bend Studio, the developer behind Days Gone, previously worked on Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the PlayStation Vita. The studio is now reportedly developing a high-profile AAA single-player game after Sony canceled its live-service military project. 

There is some history behind that possibility. Back in 2021, Sony reportedly asked Bend Studio to work on an Uncharted spin-off. The studio apparently created concepts and early work for what could have become a reboot or prequel. 

The concern was that successfully creating an Uncharted game could have resulted in Sony treating Bend as its dedicated Uncharted studio. That would have potentially limited the team's ability to create new intellectual properties and work on the types of games it wanted to make. These concerns apparently led to Bend dropping the project, and the studio was free to pursue its own.

Things are different now, though. Bend's latest live-service project has been canceled, and Sony has been scaling back several of its live-service plans. That leaves the studio working on a new narrative single-player AAA project, although its identity remains unknown. 

Bend also has experience with other PlayStation franchises, including Resistance and Siphon Filter. The studio could potentially reshape ideas and assets from its canceled live-service project into a single-player game, giving it another possible route for its next release. 

All of this comes at a time when PlayStation is reportedly looking more closely at its older franchises. 

Sony originally planned to release a large number of live-service games during the PlayStation 5 generation, but it has since canceled many of those projects. This has forced some first-party studios to rethink their plans and go back to making traditional single-player games.

This could make franchises like Uncharted appealing again. Sony has more stable ground as it tries to build new IP with established franchises that have already established characters, worlds, and fan bases. With many of the company's current projects likely to arrive later in the PlayStation 5 generation or even during the PlayStation 6 era, there is also plenty of time for an Uncharted project to take shape.

For now, though, you should treat the idea of Uncharted 5 as speculation. The strongest part of the current report is that Naughty Dog reportedly has another game in development that is not The Last of Us Part 3 and that Shaun Escayg is allegedly leading it. 

If Naughty Dog is bringing the series back, however, moving beyond Nathan Drake could be the logical next step. A game centered on Cassie could allow the studio to continue the franchise without undoing Nathan's ending while still giving longtime fans a familiar connection to the original games.