Having seen both Captain America Civil War and X-Men Apocalypse, I can completely and honestly say that the video game industry is making better action movies than Hollywood currently. Action films have seriously lost their way over the years (with few and far between exceptions), and Uncharted kind of fills that void. It's very a interesting thing to see, and something I never thought was even remotely possible.

I still think that they could have brought Chloe back as described here.

One other thing came to mind when you mentioned Nathan's Bro-ness though. I guess I never really thought of it before, but when you mention that Nate had to grow up, it really seemed to place Elena in the completely traditional role of the ball and chain. Like, you know, Nate really wants and longs for adventure but she stands in the way. That's why it's so telling they did NOT bring Chloe back, and it was a 100% dude adventure crew. Why else would he lie to her instead of just telling the truth? Maybe she'd even understand.

Nah, I think I might disagree with your interpretation. He's already outgrown Chloe by the time the game starts. He's already made a choice on that score. Your version makes him into the dude bro I always suspected he might be (and I didn't like). That he would even consider leaving Elena lessens his likeability by about 80% for me. (And if I were Elena, I'd be out--gone, screw you, loser.) As is, it's a classic and realistic dilemma. He's happy but not happy. There's not enough challenge in his life. Elena is his rock, his savior, and also his partner. His betrayal was denying the last part, and not making his problem her problem to solve, too. Your rewrite would take away one of the best scenes in the game, where Nate admits he didn't lie to protect Elena--he lied to protect himself. That's the kind of truth that adults have to discover and lay bare to each other before they can move forward. Your rewrite places Nate in the predictable role of the manchild who can't decide between the whore or the virgin, so to speak. I find that much less interesting. What left me in a puddle at the end was happiness for Nate and Elena--that they found their happy ending, but they got there in the only way real people get there, through compromise, flexibility, and work. Another meta-aspect of it for me was just being proud and happy for gaming, that games with such depth are being made.

Your "ideal" story sounds pretty terrible and amateurish (love triangle! Forced to choose between the life he loves versus the life of normality!).

While I would have loved to see Chloe and Cutter again, I like that they presented a more grown-up story. Drake does love the life of adventure, but he willingly set it aside for a quiet non-illegal-activity life with Elena years ago, and it's not what motivates him anymore (the look Elena gives him as he talks about the Founders speaks volumes about how she understands him, and probably feels like she took that from him).

Chloe willingly stood aside for Elena six years prior to this game. It wouldn't make any sense for her character to suddenly want to seduce Drake, especially considering that we see her still working with him years after he got married. It would butcher two characters, and kill most of Drake's likeability and maturity.

It was bad enough that he hid the truth from Elena, who we know would have likely understood him, or at least supported him (for better or worse), and ALL of the characters chewed him out for it, and told him to drop out, but he refused, up until the truth about Sam came to light, then he flat-out wanted to stop the search. He had grown up. Sam then showed what path Nate would have been down if he hadn't grown up, which Nathan acknowledged.

Having seen both Captain America Civil War and X-Men Apocalypse, I can completely and honestly say that the video game industry is making better action movies than Hollywood currently. Action films have seriously lost their way over the years (with few and far between exceptions)

I'm genuinely curious about which movies from the last few years you'd recommend. I can enjoy action movies as a genre with inherent quirks that annoy me, but I like a finely crafted film and your instincts tend to be good.