The past decade in PlayStation's history has seen Nathan Drake take up the mantle to become one of the brand's greatest mascots as the face of Uncharted. Since 2007, series developer Naughty Dog has delivered a handful of adventures for fans of the franchise that take heavy inspiration from the likes of Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. With a multitude of moments that can leave players on the end of their seats, Uncharted has stuck with fans by creating a clever combination of daring moments, but also presenting a strong cast of characters that we've come to familiarize ourselves with in Nate, Sully, and Elena.

Even though Uncharted has been a predominantly linear experience that can seems to pull the curtain off of everything, there are numerous ways in which players can make the Uncharted experience fell different and new. Some of these explored avenues can be included in-game, while a number them may not necessarily discovered within the game. The mantra of Nathan Drake is his obsession for discovery, and it's pleasing to see that players can uncover their own discoveries whether by finding a treasure in the, or shaking up the experience that their liking.

For the series that's all about discovery, here are twenty five awesome things you had NO idea you could do in Uncharted:

Note: Article includes discussion from the two most recent games, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Includes Spoilers!!!

25 Be Rewarded For Using Donut Drake Character Skin

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The first three Uncharted games saw Naughty Dog's team crack a joke with us and make an obese-sized version of the adventurous Nathan Drake to play as in the game once you beat it for the first time. When Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection eventually released for the PlayStation 4 back in fall 2015, the Donut Drake skin was there for the taking, with a little added incentive as well. Within each game's trophy list was a separate category listed as "extended trophies". Looking through the list, it shows that you can earn a trophy for completing a speed-run of each of the respective games while using the supersized Drake skin. Whether or not trophy hunting is your thing, the irony behind the extra accolades is worth a chuckle.

24 An Old School Easter Egg

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Gone are the days of D-pad movement, now replaced by the much more precise dual analog sticks. Though times have changed, Naughty Dog had sure that arguably one of the best Easter Eggs in recent memory got that authenticity that it deserved. Early on in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Nate tries to take out Elena's high score in her favorite game, Crash Bandicoot. Now if you want a real blast from the past, you can abandon the now- familiar analog style in exchange to be able to play Crash the way it was meant to be. Even if you can shake off the rust and complete a perfect run however, you won't be able to beat Elena's high score in the game...

23 ...Until Later On!

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So it turns out that the game intentionally won't let you beat Elena's high score in the early stages of the game (makes sense, prevents the team from having shoot additional scenes). Hardcore Crash fans probably wanted nothing more than to snag their own high score one more time, on the notorious boulder level as well. *Spoilers Incoming!* Once you reach the game's epilogue chapter, you'll have one more chance to stake your claim as the "Crash Bandicoot Champion" of Uncharted 4. Whether or not you do actually get the high score, you'll probably have noticed by then that you're not in Nate and Elena's living room anymore. Where are you? And who's playing?!

22 Play Uncharted... On The Vita!

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While the mainline games have been exclusive to the console family, Sony Bend took a stab at the series with a spin off story for the PlayStation Vita, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. The game was received well for a studio that doesn't exactly make Uncharted game regularly, scoring a respectable 80 on Metacritc. Set before the events of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Bend's take on the adventures of Nathan Drake put more focus on the elements of exploration rather than gunplay, seeing as the limitations of Sony's handheld could become cumbersome if characters were forced into fire fights the way a standard Uncharted would have been. The craftsmanship behind the Vita's touch and motion functions were cleverly and respectable implemented by allowing, by not forcing, the use of the proprietary handhelds features.

21 Paying Tribute To The Developers

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Uncharted: Drake's Fortune showed the world that Naughty Dog would certainly find success by launching a brand new franchise on PlayStation. What it also did was become one of the very first games that players could earn a platinum trophy, an award for completing all of the game's predetermined challenges. One of the more notable collectibles in the games that periodically rewarded you with trophies were the treasures scattered in the most ludicrous locations. With each game having nearly, if not more than 100 separate treasures to find, it made sense that some of these hidden gems would contain some Easter Eggs as well. One of these treasures came in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End in a pendant imprinted with the firefly symbol from another Naughty Dog game, The Last Of Us. If you rotate the pendant to check out the other side, you'll notice the name "Druckley" on the back. This is a reference to The Last of Us co-directors, Bruce Straley and Neal Druckman, who also co-directed Uncharted 4.

20 The Early Days Of Joel And Ellie

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There's much debate on where Uncharted: Drake's Deception should rank in the series. Regardless on if you think it may be the best Uncharted game, there's no denying that it did the best job of teasing the company's next big IP right under our noses. Towards the latter stages of the game's opening bar fight scene, Nate and Sully try to run out the back door to try and escape. Instead of immediately running into the back kitchen area, head to the end of the bar and you'll fight a local newspaper headlined, "Scientists are still struggling to understand deadly fungus." At the time of Uncharted 3's release, The Last of Us hadn't been officially announced yet. Considering the post-apocalyptic story of TLOU is based off the effects of a fungal virus that has transmitted to humans, it's a clear reference to the team's next big project before anyone else had known about it.

19 Marco Polo

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Who didn't love a good game of Marco Polo with your friends growing up on a warm summer day?! Don't worry, because Nathan Drake certainly did to the point that the game is referenced in the Uncharted games on four different occasions. Between Uncharted: Among Thieves and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, each game depicts the childhood backyard pool game in some way. Whether it be with fan favorite Chloe reluctantly playing along to Nathan sarcastically calling it out on a sabotaged cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, Marco Polo is just as much a part of the franchise as anything else, to the point where Chloe's recent adventures in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy saw her attempt to get companion Nadine Ross to play along. Unfortunately, she didn't bite.

18 Reference The Terminator

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Even though Uncharted pulls from the popular Indiana Jones treasure hunting movie franchise, Naughty Dog rarely pulls its punches when they have the chance to make pop culture and historical references in their games (see the last entry for Marco Polo). The most recent release, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy gave a tip of the cap to Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator movies during one of the larger combat areas in the latter half of the game. Once you've taken out one of the heavily armed guards, he'll drop his oversized machine gun. If you can find your way over to the weapon and pick it up, Chloe will shout out her own version of one of the movie's most famous lines, "SAY HELLO TO MY VERY LARGE FRIEND!" Yes, they tweaked the wording a little bit. But that's what makes the small quips of Uncharted special.

17 What'd You Say?

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Throughout Nathan's adventures, you'll alongside a ton of companions in one and done deals. Whether it be Charlie Cutter or a brief truce with Eddie Raja in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Tenzin from the series' second installment Among Thieves may take the cake considering he doesn't speak a lick of English in the entire game. If you were ever curious as to what your Tibetan friend kept ordering you to do, you can head over to YouTube and find a closed caption version of all of his and Nate's conversation dialog. It's clear there that not only could Tenzin not speak any English, but he could barely comprehend anything Nate was ever saying.

16 Make It Easy On The Hands

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A lot of times when you're opening door or trying to solve one of Uncharted's many puzzles, you'll get stuck in a button mashing frenzy. While the games do occasionally trick you into button mashing moments that technically can't be executed (based on the way the story plays out), it can begin to feel like a redundant task of slamming down on the triangle button just to watch a door slowly open in front of you. Thankfully since Uncharted Among Thieves, Naughty Dog gave players the option to swap out the button mashing mechanic in exchange for just holding down the respective button for whatever you may be doing. Originally, the update was requested as an accessible option for players who physically can't press buttons fast enough in order to move on with the game. But for those of us who replay the Uncharted game's campaign multiple times, it's a nice way to ease off of what feels like an unnecessary function.

Based on the list of accessibility options shown in the image above, Naughty Dog deserves a pat on the back when it comes to making their games available to as many players as possible.

15 Break The Trend

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Even though the Uncharted franchise has been a linear experience first, the last two games have seen the series take new, smaller directions by giving players an "open-world" chapter to explore. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End gave us Madagascar, while The Lost Legacy took players to The Western Ghats of India. With the standalone adventures of Chloe and Nadine, you're more than likely to come across either the large map that's displayed above, or a number of tokens hidden throughout the environment. Here's what may be the considered the first side quest ever in the Uncharted series. The free roaming environment contains twelve tokens for you to find, either by blowing out broken walls or solving optional puzzles. Doing so rewards you with a nice little bracelet that causes your controller to chime in whenever you're near one of the game's more familiar treasures. The opportunity to let players explore the world of Uncharted at their own pace is a nice palette cleanser for what has always been a straight forward experience.

14 The Bigger They Are....

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Even though gunfights take up the bulk of the combat, it should be noted how well the series' fight sequences are executed in Uncharted. It hits the tropes that you'd expect out of a B-Action movie: one man vs. impossible odds in hand-to-hand combat. In Drake's Deception, the game introduced a more difficult opponent for Drake to go toe-to-toe with. Though all they really did was take one of the normal character models and enlarge it, these oversized brutes can be a pain to deal with, especially on crushing difficulty. Take note however, as even though the game purposely places these larger bad guys in a way that you'll have to punch your way through them, you can still take them out with whatever guns you may have in your arsenal at the time. Just make sure if you do that you've got some distance between the two of you. Not surprisingly, brutes in the game have a far reach, so you've really got to keep your distance.

13 Find Spin Off References In A Thief's End

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The beginning of Uncharted 4's story sees Nathan back at home, living his normal life with his now normal job. While the attic scene offers one of the more touching and hilarious moments in the series that see Nate hitting targets with a toy gun, you can examine at your leisure copious amounts of artifacts he's found throughout his adventures in the previous games. Included within the artifacts that you can check out is a golden skull from Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Even though Naughty Dog didn't make the spin off game that launched on the PlayStation Vita, they did oversee production on the game that Sony Bend made for the handheld.

12 You Don't Have To Make A Choice

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Fans were excited when it was revealed the Uncharted 4 would contain dialog options. This was one of the first times that the series gave players some sense of agency, and letting them choose whether to respond to events in one may or another. Even though it may be tough to choose between one of the three options that the game will give you whenever these narrative branches pop up, it ultimately doesn't change how the story will unfold, unlike a Telltale game where almost everything you say will matter to some capacity. If putting yourself in Nate's shoes isn't appealing to you, don't sweat it, you can refrain from choosing to pick what he should say. Eventually, the game will choose an option for you, so not only could you consider Uncharted 4's dialog options pointless, they're also avoidable.

11 Uncover The History Of Naughty Dog

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There're more nods to the past of Naughty Dog in Uncharted than just Druckman and Straley. But for those who have gone through each of the games collecting all of the respective treasures, there are even more chances to find relics that pay tribute to past games in the studios history. We've already discuss the tribute to The Last of Us co-directors (pictured left), with the famous firefly logo from the game. The other two pay tribute through the Jak & Daxter series with a precurssor orb, and Crash Bandicoot with the wumpa fruit.

10 Take Down Rocks With The Car Winch

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The mountains of Madagascar saw the first time that Naughty Dog took a shot at handing players an open world experience in Uncharted. Littered throughout the area, of course, were treasures and hidden caves to explore to your heart's content. Adding on to the newly acquired jeep you'll be riding around in with Sully and Sam, Nate's brother, is a car winch that will allow you to hook up and around most debris in the game. This new winch also gives players the chance to partake in a mini-activity in the free roam area, where you can wrap the car winch around carved out rock formations and pull them down. There are quite a bit of these rocks scattered around the area, and pulling them all down successfully will award players with a shiny new trophy to add to their collection.

9 You Can Spawn Any Weapon Once You Beat The Game...

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Once you've completed any of the Uncharted games, you're free to either replay the entire single player story, or choose whatever chapter you'd like to start off with. Once you've boot the game back up, you can then go into the rewards menu to check some of the nice little trinkets that Naughty Dog has left you for completing the game. We'll get to the second of their two reward systems in a little bit, but it's worth noting that depending on the difficulty you've previously beaten the game on, you can spawn in weapons of your choosing. So whether you want to blast everyone away with an RPG or Grenade Launcher, or pick them off with a sniper rifle, Uncharted becomes your own virtual playground once you've conquered it.

8 ...And Tweak The Game To Your Liking

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But who says that your virtual playground has to look or feel the way it used to?! Onto the second batch of rewards that you'll receive for beating the game, there are numerous amounts of visual, audio, and gameplay mods you can activate the next time you hop into the shoes of Nathan Drake. Visual mods primarily are used to modify the game's color schematics, much like the rainbow aesthetic shown above. You can also tamper with the audio into an 8 or 16 bit format, or slow down/speed up the gameplay. Naughty Dog hands players all the tools in the shed, and it's up to you what you want to build out of it.

7 If At First You Don't Succeed

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Visually and mechanically, Uncharted can be considered an achievement on multiple fronts of the medium. The way that developers have been able execute the transition from motion capture in a studio to the virtual world is near perfect, along with the attention to detail of the environments to run around and climb. However the final product surely didn't just work on the first take, as it rarely ever does when making a game. In order to give themselves (and their fans) a brief glimpse into what types of problems can occur in game development, Naughty Dog added a "bloopers and outtakes" section for each of their first three Uncharted games in the remastered PS4 trilogy. Most of the still shots that you may find in there may come as a surprise considering how well the final product turn out. Yet to think, this was what the game looked like a one point. Good thing it didn't ultimately turn out that way.

6 Squeeze The Trigger

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Seeing as how the series has been morphed into the exceptional combination of gameplay and cinematics, it should come as no surprise that many moments in Uncharted are staged to make you feel the suspense of the moment. For example, there may be moments where you need to mash a button in order to escape a chokehold, but in reality you can't escape. The same goes for specific combat areas, like while fighting the supernatural beings in Uncharted: Among Thieves. Once you've regrouped with Tenzin and are waiting for the ceiling elevator to drop, a few of these unknown creatures will climb down to attack you. You can run around a try to grab ammo that's laying around (MP40 ammo mind you, which adds to the authenticity of the area that you're in), but the reality is that you'll replenish whatever bullets you've been spraying around the room. This also happens in the latter stages of the story while with your old pal Flynn. As I mentioned previously, the way that Uncharted can create suspense is done well, yet the behind the scenes workings actually make things much safer than they're presumed to be.