This week, the latest Uncharted game is being released for PlayStation 4 in what's being described as a 'reset' of the series.
After launching in 2007 with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the franchise has sold over 30 million games and racked up several awards and critical accolades.
Ten years after it began, Lost Legacy will for the first time not put players in control of Nathan Drake.
This time, it's Chloe Frazer's turn.
"She still has that sense of humour and sense of adventure that you might find similarities with Nathan Drake, but she is a master thief of sorts, a swindler, so she has a blurrier moral compass," says Scott Lowe, senior communications manager at Naughty Dog.
"She's more of a self-preservationist compared to Nathan Drake... It is a little more light-hearted as Chloe's a wise-cracking character, but there is some more serious moments as you learn about her background and origins, and some of the discoveries she makes through the story."
A large part of the appeal of the Uncharted games has been the relationship between Nathan and Sully - but neither has a large role in Lost Legacy, if they show up at all.
The central relationship in the new game is instead that of Chloe and her mercenary mate, Nadine Ross.
"Chloe is very improvisational, she doesn't ever really have a plan. Nadine is very regimented because she has this militaristic background, leading the private military corporation Shoreline that was featured in Uncharted 4," says Lowe.
"The two of them have complementary personalities in some ways, but they're also very contrasting, and that's a central theme of the conflict between them."
While still a linear action-adventure, part of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is a huge open space that can be explored by players, with objectives and side-quests that can be done in any order they like.
"One of the biggest goals the team had was make sure all the activities you can do in an open-ended space had a core narrative hook," says Lowe.
"As you complete optional tasks and core story missions, you're learning about Chloe and Nadine - their relationship and how they work together, as well as the story of the artefact they're after, The Tusk of Ganesha.
"At every corner of this open-ended environment, you're learning and advancing through the story in so many ways."
The importance of story and the characters kept being reiterated by Lowe. While it may be the big, epic set-pieces that some fans love about this franchise, for Naughty Dog it sure seems like the narrative is the most important aspect to them.
With last year's Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, there was a notable lack of supernatural elements, in a departure from the preceding three main games.
"Uncharted 4 was the final chapter of Nathan Drake's journey. It was about grounding the character in this theme of grappling with that gravitation toward adventure and ultimately, settling down and being content with the life you have," says Lowe.
"The supernatural element didn't necessarily fit well within the scope of that narrative and that theme. By extension, what we're doing with Lost Legacy is similar - it's a very humanised tale.
"It's about Chloe and Nadine as characters, their journey together as well as this larger-than-life search for this legendary artefact. So there are no supernatural elements to this game as well."
With such a strong focus on the characters - is the game at risk of losing some of its fun?
No, according to Lowe.
"Expect grand scale adventure... there's no shortage of those big, bombastic Uncharted moments," he says.
"We've been working on this franchise for 10 years and now we've had a chance to reset it in so many ways."
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is released in New Zealand today - it currently has a rating of 85 on review aggregator Metacritic.com.
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