Should you try out Uncharted 2 Among Thieves in 2025?

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was released on the PlayStation 3 in 2009, two years after the first game, and the developers over at Naughty Dog have already outdone themselves with this perfect sequel. Rather than a boatload of new gameplay mechanics, the sequel focused on refining what worked in the original title and paired it with a much more compelling narrative.

Sony Interactive Entertainment saw the franchise's potential and supported Naughty Dog's efforts to continue Nathan Drake's story on a much grander scale. Among Thieves is highly regarded as the best entry in the franchise. Its chaotic action set pieces, improved platforming mechanics, and better environmental puzzles are all great reasons to try the game in 2025.

Disclaimer: Some aspects of this article reflect the writer's subjective opinion about the game.

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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is something else

Nathan Drake doesn't know when to stop being a hero (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Two years after ruining Navarro's plans to sell the cursed El Dorado statue in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Harry Flynn, and Chloe Frazer recruit Nate to help them recover an old oil lamp that dates back to Marco Polo's expeditions.

Drake and Frazer are old associates and plan to double-cross Flynn to retrieve the treasure themselves. However, Flynn betrays Nate first and lets him get arrested for stealing the lamp from a museum.

Three months in a Turkish cell, Sully and Chloe bail Nate out of prison and reveal that Flynn has ties to an evil warlord called Zoran Lazarević, who is hell-bent on retrieving the Cintamani Stone from Shambala. Nate and his friends try everything to ruin Lazarević's plan by sabotaging his compound in Borneo and recovering a clue of the stone's whereabouts and how to reach Shambala.

Nate and Chloe head to Nepal to witness how Zoran is willing to tear the entire city apart to get what he wants.

Unlike the first Uncharted game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is much more challenging and has more diverse biomes. Naughty Dog didn't hold back and added more insane action set pieces, like a collapsing building being shot by a chopper as Nate and Chloe escape by the skin of their teeth.

The core gameplay mechanics remain intact, but with better environments for players to hide behind. Nate can neutralize enemies by blind firing or shooting aimlessly as players move to close the distance between them.

The franchise is renowned for fast-paced action sequences with a mix of environmental puzzles to solve and platforming.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is bigger, grander, and better in every way than the original game (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Along the way to the temple, Nate and Chloe run into Elena Fisher and her cameraman, Jeff, as they document Zoran's war crimes against humanity in Nepal.

As they enter the temple, Nate and Chloe solve a puzzle that points them in the direction of the hidden entrance to Shambala. However, they are ambushed, and Jeff is caught in the crossfire.

Nate and Elena refuse to leave Jeff behind despite Chloe's advice to abandon him for being deadweight and a liability. To avoid raising suspicions and maintaining her covert embed, Chloe double-crosses Nate and boards Zoran's train. The duo pursues the train on a stolen jeep, leading to one of the best moments in Uncharted 2.

Much of the gaming community was impressed by Naughty Dog's moving train level and staying true to real-world physics.

Once Nate's cover is blown, enemies will start firing, and players must grab onto a ledge or duck behind cover. Enemy choppers will not stop until Nate is crushed by incoming rubble and debris from the mountainside. The action and platforming are unlike any other, and tensions keep elevating as players move from one chapter to the next.

Uncharted 2 has mystical elements similar to the original game. However, these new enemies are much more challenging. As Nate and Elena enter Shambala, they are greeted by a group of enhanced soldiers guarding the land from trespassers.

Against all odds, Nate finds a way to defeat his enemies and inadvertently saves the world from Zoran's evil plans to conquer it with a special resin from the Cintamani Stone by blowing it up and destroying the fabled city along with it. This is another occasion where Nate destroyed an archaeological gold mine to prevent a greater evil from harming the world.

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Verdict

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has set the bar a little too high for Naughty Dog to reach (Image via Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Playing Among Thieves is like experiencing a cinematic action blockbuster with a compelling narrative, stellar performance, and jaw-dropping visuals. At the time of its release, this genre of storytelling rivaled Hollywood films, and the franchise started to gain more momentum as more fans were introduced to the series.

Despite being 16 years old, the game holds up incredibly well by today's standards. Players can do a complete marathon of the original trilogy through the remastered version on the PlayStation 4, which is playable on PlayStation via backward compatibility.

If you just wrapped up the first game, you might as well try out Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2025.