This Valentine’s Day got me thinking of some of my favorite video game couples. Specifically, Nate and Elena from the Uncharted Series. They didn’t have a steamy buildup or a storybook romantic relationship. As Sully states in the first game, they have a very funny idea of romantic – bonding over adventure, danger, and discovery.
Through clever design and gameplay, Naughty Dog created a real relationship that is plagued by the most common of relationship issues: Communication.
How Nate & Elena Navigated Their Relationship In Uncharted 4
Safe Beginnings
Nate and Elena’s relationship, leading up to the end of Uncharted 3, is rocky. They get together in game 1, after an initial snarky, antagonistic start, by bonding under pressure.
But Nate’s obsession with adventures and treasure hunting, even when it places everyone around him in danger, leads them to break up twice. At the end of 3, Nate realizes that he cares for Elena more than the adventure and agrees to leave it behind. He settles for a life with her that doesn’t endanger him or others.
Thus, when we meet them again in Uncharted 4, they are happy enough, living a normal life. Nate doesn’t vocalize it, but he misses the thrill of discovery, of solving mysteries, and peeling back the history. He doesn’t get that anymore as a Marine Salvager, stuck with salvaging from accidents.
However, Nate stays true to his promise, to stay with legal, safe jobs, even if it is depressing to him. Even when Elena notices it and asks him if he is happy, he lies, determined to protect his marriage rather than risk it.
Until Samuel Drake returns.
Failing The Test
Nathan has lived the past 15 years believing that he escaped while his brother died. Now, after serving a sentence that Nate should have shared, he is out only because a drug lord wants him to hunt down the treasure of Henry Avery. He needs Nate’s help. And just like that, he has a good reason to go on this adventure.
However, fear pushes Nate to instantly lie to Elena.
Nate is terrified that she will say no, not just because it is a potentially dangerous adventure but because she doesn’t even know about Sam. His guilt about Sam’s ‘death’ kept him from talking about it. He doesn’t want to fail her, and he doesn’t want to fail his brother either.
So even though Sully reprimands him, Nate cooks up a false story that he is off to Malaysia on a legal job.
The Confrontation
Elena is a great journalist, having spent some time as an international correspondent too. It doesn’t take her too long to suspect that something is going on and find them.
It is spectacularly bad timing though. By this point, Nate has been swept up in the adventure, going from ‘I need to do this to save my brother,’ to the thrill of the hunt. They have discovered something new, something major, enough that he is buzzing despite coming back from a dangerous situation.
It is a beautifully crafted scene. Thanks to the music and the blocking of the sequence, you feel the gut-wrenching heartdrop when Nate walks into his room and sees Elena looking through their research. The betrayal and pain on her face are clear when she confronts him about what is going on. And the shock when she learns about Sam and walks out, telling Nate to stop lying to himself when he is done lying to her… woof.
This is his Nate’s worst fear realized.
The Reflection
This is where the game changes from a simple adventure with some relationship and character building to a beautiful exercise in self-reflection. Nate now struggles to find the thrill in discoveries because it’s overshadowed by the possibility of losing the most important relationship in his life. Realizing that those joys are fleeting shakes him and, by extension, us.
Then things go south. He gets caught in a storm and shipwrecked. In the process, he loses Sam and doesn’t know if he is alive. The level here is brilliantly designed to make us feel that depression.
As Nate, we struggle through the rain, barely able to see, unable to move quickly or even jump without slipping. Then we have to crouch through small caves and paths. It is a reflection of Nate’s mental state.
It only gets better as we find small snippets of hope. First realizing Sam is alive, then finding him, then finding Liberatalia. All to have it crash down again when he realizes that Sam is a true mirror of him. So desperate for the treasure on his terms, that he manipulated Nate.
Lucky for him, Elena finds Nate and saves him from his literal fall.
Fixing It
Step 1: Taking Ownership And Verbalizing Their Issues & Expectations
Chapter 18 is called ‘For Better or Worse.’ Throughout this entire chapter, we spend time with Nate as he considers his relationship with Elena. Considers how much he messed up because even though she is angry with him, she comes to help, worried that he is in over his head. After finally telling her everything about his past, about Sam and him, she simply nods and tells Sully that they need to save Sam.
This chapter has you on a constant upward climb. We have to literally and figuratively work uphill to get to our goal. We fix elevators and keep driving upwards to New Devon, collaborating with Elena to solve these puzzles.
As we do this, Nate and Elena take the most important step in fixing their relationship. Nate takes ownership of what he did and admits why he did it. That it wasn’t to protect her like he claimed, but to protect himself. Likewise, Elena tells him why she was so upset, that they are partners, and he made the decision for her, to lock her out. She tells Nate that he doesn’t have the right.
All of these little conversations and observations happen in between gameplay rather than explicit cutscenes. How she came for him because she vowed to stay with him for better or worse, and that she almost didn’t come for him.
It builds up to a very pensive moment where first there is a beautiful, sad orchestral punch of music when you get into the car. Then you drive up the hill in near-silence for a few minutes before reaching the next section. A collaborative moment where they have to save each other and have a little fright for each other.
Step 2: Analyzing Their Mistakes
After this is a set of realizations for Elena. It starts with Nate pointing out that she is just as good as him, at figuring out these mysteries. Then, as they slowly get more comfortable, accidentally bantering and joking with each other, she sees him come alive with the discovery.
Elena realizes that she misses watching him uncover history, helping Nate problem-solve, and more than that, capturing it. She realizes how important it is to him. She even loves the adventure as much as him; she only hates the danger.
As we go through chapters 19 and 20, we solve the mystery with Elena and bear witness as Nate remembers why he chose Elena over adventure. He loves and needs her. After seeing Sam’s obsessive behavior, he finally understands her concerns. With each room, fight, and dangerous set piece, we see them in a silent conversation, making these observations.
At the end of it, Elena shows him that she forgives him by pranking him, pretending she is dead or unconscious after a fall where he protects her with his own body. To confirm this, even through danger, the music is happier, as is he.
Step 3: Creating A New Compromise To Protect Their Relationship
When they finish this adventure, Elena realizes they need a new compromise- one where they can live true to themselves and their love for adventure. She knows that Nate won’t force it, so she sets it up, to give them what they both need to be happy. A legal recourse to historical discovery rather than the dangers of treasure hunting.
Living The Intervention
The last few chapters of this game are a very real approach to fixing a relationship. One that is shown and demonstrated not only with story and dialogue but also through gameplay. The game makes you, as Nate, work for your forgiveness with Elena. It makes them both work together to find common solutions and interests.
With every high and discovery, you are rewarded with small things. A moment of flirtation, a beautiful sequence, a joke, Elena’s laughter. You get to actively see them stitch their relationship back together and acknowledge where they went wrong. In the end, we are rewarded with Cassie and a glimpse into a life formed through balance and communication.
As Elena herself says, when Nate points out that creating their new legal life of adventure won’t be easy:
“Nothing worthwhile is easy.”
