The game begins with Nathan Drake and his elder brother Sam out in the middle of the Indian Ocean during a storm, being chased by armed thugs. Despite their best efforts to fend off their attackers, their boat is rammed by a larger vessel, sending the Drake brothers overboard.
The story then flashes back to a teenage Nathan, growing up in a Catholic orphanage (his mother committed suicide when he was an infant, and his father gave up him and Sam for adoption). Nate is a troubled child, forever getting in fights with the other boys and being disciplined by the nuns. Despite being in isolation for another fight, Nate sneaks out of the orphanage to meet up with Sam, who having left the orphanage years before, has come to see him. Sam confesses he has to leave town for a while, as he's gotten a job that requires him to move away, but will pay enough for the brothers to strike out on their own. To cheer his kid brother up, Sam reveals he's tracked down the buyer of their mother's effects and suggests he and Nate go reclaim them.
The game then skips to some years before Nate's pursuit of El Dorado, where Nate and Sam are presently incarcerated in a Panamanian jail. After a brief period in solitary confinement for fighting with another inmate, Nate is taken to a older part of the prison by the warden, Vargas. It turns out that Nate, Sam and their financier, Rafe Adler, a wealthy amateur archaeologist have bribed Vargas to get them into the prison, which adjoins onto the ruins of an older prison built by the Spanish. The trio are tracking down the trail of Henry Avery, a 17th century pirate who became infamous for plundering $400 million worth in gold and jewels when he attacked a Mughal treasure ship, the Gunsway. The old prison was where one of Avery's crew from that heist was imprisoned before his execution, and Nate and Sam hope to find clues that will lead them on. Nate enters the old prison and upon reaching the cell, finds a broken crucifix. After throwing Vargas (who's trying to extort a bigger cut of the treasure) off the scent, Nate meets up with Sam and Rafe.
Sam and Nate explain to Rafe that the cross is actually a depiction of St. Dismas, the penitent thief who was crucified alongside Jesus and that there is a cathedral dedicated to St. Dismas in Scotland, which was also the last place Avery was seen alive. Unfortunately, the inmate Nate got into a fight with shows up with a few friends and a brawl erupts; fortunately, Vargas and the guards arrive to break it up, but not before Vargas discovers the cross. Taking the trio to his office, Vargas extorts them into giving him twenty five percent of the Avery haul for his assistance. Rafe seemingly agrees to this, only to then fatally stab Vargas when his guard is down. When the alarm is raised, the trio are forced to flee; Sam is seemingly fatally shot during their escape and Nate is forced to abandon his older brother to flee with Rafe.
Fifteen years later, three years after his escapades in Iram of the Pillars, Nate is retired from adventuring. He's happily married to Elena and working for a salvage company, though it's clear a part of him misses the treasure hunting life. One morning while doing work at the office, Nate is stunned when a very much alive Sam knocks on the door; Sam explains that the prison doctors patched him up, then threw him back in jail and hid all existence of his survival, intending him to rot in prison for Vargas' murder. Nate is overjoyed to see his big brother alive and well, but Sam explains he's in deep trouble; he was busted out of jail by his cellmate, the Panamanian drug baron Hector Alcazar, on the proviso he find Avery's treasure within three months to repay Alcazar for his freedom. Nate insists that he has nothing to go on; apparently, he and Rafe spent a long time trawling through St. Dismas's cathedral in Scotland and turned up nothing. However, Sam reveals he has found a cross identical to the one they found in Panama, but intact, which is going up for auction at a private estate in Italy in three days time. Driven by the instinct to help his brother, Nate calls Elena and tells her he's taken a salvage job in Malaysia.
With the help of Victor Sullivan, Nate and Sam get into the estate where the auction is being held. Unfortunately, by the time they do, the crucifix is the next item up for auction. The trio quickly come up with a plan: Nate will find a way to cut the power to the building and kill the lights, and Sam will procure a waiter's uniform so he can get close enough to the crucifix to swipe it before the backup power comes on. While on route to the power breakersover their radios, Nate overhears Sully talking to two old acquaintances; namely Rafe, who is still tracking down Avery's treasure, and his partner/hired muscle, Nadine Ross, head of the South African mercenary company Shoreline. With the cross on the auction block, Sully engages in a bidding war with Rafe to buy Nate more time to cut the power and Sam is able to snatch the cross. Nate attempts to slip away, but ends up being intercepted by Nadine, who easily hands him his ass in the ensuing fight, before getting carried away and kicking him through a window. He survives though, and manages to meet up with Sam; after getting into a firefight with the estate's guards, the two brothers make it to Sully's getaway car, and the three of them escape.
Back at their hotel, the trio examine the cross and discover it contains a scrap of parchment bearing the dates of Avery's birth and death. They realise their next clue will be at Avery's grave at St. Dismas Cathedral in Scotland; while Rafe has been tearing the cathedral apart for years, he never thought to examine the cemetery. While the Drake brothers are ecstatic, Sully is unsure, knowing that Rafe will be prepared for them coming even if the cemetery is far from the cathedral, thanks to Nadine and her army. Nate counters that they're about to get the biggest pirate treasure in history. "I thought this was about saving Sam," says Sully, "How is Elena cool with all this?"
Nate's silence speaks volumes, exasperating Sully. With all they've been through, Nate claiming she wouldn't understand is not giving her enough credit. Sam agrees, believing Rafe's involvement means trouble, and he doesn't mind going on his own. Nate leaves to call Elena, giving half-truths that the job will take longer. Sully stops Sam from pouring more drinks, understanding that Sam must've gone through hell those past fifteen years in jail, and warns him to not make it Nate's fault. "I never said that it was," is Sam's tense response. Sully points out that it took Nate a long time to get out of the game.
"You see a gun to his head? He chose this. Okay. He's meant for this life." Sully is skeptical, finding that Sam's just trying to bring his brother under a negative influence. Sam simply asks why Sully is even there, to which Sully tells him that somebody has to be there for Nate. Nate returns to the room, and Sully reluctantly agrees to go to Scotland.
The Drake brothers are later standing on a snowy hill overlooking the Saint Dismas Cathedral, where smoke is billowing out. They keep in radio contact with Sully, who has parked his plane in the bay. As they trek towards the cemetery, explosions can be heard in the distance. Along the way, they come across various patrols of Shoreline mercenaries, making a perimeter around the cathedral. Getting past these patrols, they make it to the cemetery, and using the scroll, they find a matching gravestone under the name Benjamin Bridgeman (an alias Avery used) with a hidden mechanism that opens up a hidden stairway. Inside is a crypt with statues of Jesus, Dismas, and Gestas, the three crucified men with lamps behind each one. Chainsmoker Sam lights the lamps with his lighter, and they create lights that Nate has to line up with glass circles that make the Libra constellation. Switching a handle reveals a gigantic series of spy glasses that shows a trio of crosses around a cave near the cathedral. Both men groan at the prospect of entering the hornet's nest, but do what they must. Back outside, the cemetery is crawling with Shoreline mercenaries. Getting past them, ruined pirate ships, and other patrols throwing dynamite left and right, they make it to the cave with Dismas statues and carved-in stairs. Getting past an intricate door leads to a room with two cages dangling in the air with skeletons in them.
"For those who prove worthy, paradise awaits. To those who prove false, behold your grim fate." These words are written on a plaque hanging from the cages, but what Nate finds unusual is that the sigil is not the sideways skull and crossbones associated with Avery, but of an arm wielding a sword, the sigil of Thomas Tew, the Rhode Island Pirate who apparently died in the Gunsway Heist. The brothers continue on putting their questions on hold. Deeper within, they find test after test pertaining to the Saint Dismas legend in between a vast cave falling apart from the years and dynamite Shoreline is throwing around wantonly. The brothers also overhear Rafe and Nadine argue over how to go about finding the treasure, Nadine wanting to get it done as quickly as possible due to how much resources are being lost, and Rafe dismayed that the fast approach is destroying any possible finds. The heated debate devolves into an argument about how they went about getting (And failing) the secret of the Dismas Cross and how now the Drake brothers are against them. Nadine leaves a frustrated Rafe by wondering if he wanted to draw "him" out on purpose because they need help. Sam thinks they're talking about Nate, but he couldn't care less.
Finally the Drakes make it to a colossal room with a set of scales in the center, with a golden Dismas cross on one panel and a dozen worn out coins on the other. Sam reaches for the gold cross, but Nate realizes it's the only thing worth anything they've seen all day, meaning it's another test in regards to greed. They take one of the coins instead, causing the floor to light up Madagascar, specifically King's Bay pointed out by a star on the map. Sam is frustrated, believing Avery is screwing with them. Nate looks around, noticing that this is too elaborate for a treasure hunt, making him think Avery was actually recruiting for something. "For those who prove worthy, Paradise awaits."
The door gets blasted open and Nadine strides in with a squad of Shoreline soldiers. She contacts Rafe on a radio, who just realized the duo were in the cathedral, and is surprised to hear Nadine say she already found them. While talking, Nadine notices King's Bay and Sam tells her she'll need the boobytrapped gold cross. She tells one of her men to get the crucifix, but Nate slyly warns, "It's not a crucifix," as they back away. She understands that she's been duped, but the trap is sprung and the floor collapses under them, The brothers flee from a crumbling cathedral, dodging bullets from Shoreline before leaping off a cliff and escaping aboard Sully's sea plane.
Warming up in the plane, with nothing but a coin to lead them to Madagascar, Nate explains his theory: Avery was recruiting people - the crosses an invitation, the caves an initiation - to form with Thomas Tew and other wealthy pirates a cabal to pool all the gold they had into one massive fortune, making the Gunsway Heist chump change compared to this. While trying to figure out where to go in King's Bay, Nate notices that the coin - the only thing anybody could really bring back from the trip - has an engravement: A volcano, which Sully recognizes as close to King's Bay.
Upon landing, Nate calls Elena. She admits to being worried because of flooding in Malaysia due to monsoon season. Nate lies that all it did was sabotage their equipment and cause the trip to take ten more days. Elena suggests buying a ticket, but Nate tells her she doesn't need to come, unknowingly breaking her heart. Now the trio are in the highlands of Madagascar with a rental jeep driving through various ruins, some with use (Such as a tower with the dragon sigil of Christopher Condent) and some without as they drive towards the extinct volcano. Eventually, they spot an explosion in the distance and recognize the Shoreline forces pillaging the colony ruins all the way to the volcano. Further in, Nate wonders if he can bribe Nadine with a bigger cut, but Sully brushes off the idea as she's a money upfront kind of girl, which Rafe has an advantage. Sam meanwhile, worries that they found the treasure, but Nate assures that they wouldn't still be looking if they already found it.
Eventually, they enter the largest tower that is slowly being buried away by the land, where they find a massive stone mural with a Saint Dismas statue at the forefront, surrounded by the sigils of Avery and his fellow pirate captains. Sam identifies some of the others, such as Adam Baldridge, Joseph Farrell and Richard Want. The Drake brothers investigate the Dismas Statue for a hidden button, but Sully tells them to step back, making them realize that the mural is a map of King's Bay, and the sigils are towers. Sam believes the treasure has to be in one of the towers, but Sully counts twelve towers. The older Drake spots smoke, and realizes somebody had been smoking cigarettes. Sam didn't light it and Sully hasn't quit his cigars, meaning Shoreline did beat them to it.
And that is when Shoreline throws grenades at them, leading to a massive firefight. When the mercenaries lose, Sam finds a map of King's Bay with twelve marks on one of the bodies, showing that Nadine and Rafe figured out the towers. But Nate is optimistic they can find the tower first: the other side of the Avery coin has a worn-down engraving that he suspects to be a set of scales, making it a reference to one of the towers. Sam is skeptical, thinking the engraving could be a reference to a tower represented by a trident sigil. "Still, two beats the hell out of twelve." Sully notes.
With the two towers on opposite ends of King's Bay, Sam takes a Shoreline jeep to head to one tower to save time. Nate and Sully find the other tower in the middle of a massive market, both noting the Refuge in Audacity. Passing through a lively street of apple sellers and lemurs, they find the tower locked from the inside, necessitating their sneaking in through a broken window. Inside the tower of the scale sigil of Captain Edward England, they look around until spotting a dais under the clock tower with a mechanic to place the Avery coin. Popping out of the wall are statues of zodiac constellations as bells start to ring further up the tower. Stairs also rise up, but the wooden planks are rotten and fall apart as soon as they appear. Between collapsing lumber and a fully functioning clock tower, Nate rings the four bells to lock away the statues, releasing a lock on the floor that forms Avery's sigil. Climbing higher to the main bell, Nate rings it.
And promptly comes loose from its wooden holding, falling through the tower and taking all the gears with it. Barely surviving the fall by holding onto whatever he can before swinging down to the floor, he discovers the bell had dropped on the sigil, revealing the hidden room underneath. Heading down they finally hear back from Sam, who realized finally he was at the wrong tower. At the bottom of the stairs is a room of statues of Avery and Tew, with a wheel of the twelve pirate captains' sigils that has the word "Founders" on the center. Turning them reveals rooms of portraits of the other pirates. First, Anne Bonny, Adam Baldridge, and Christopher Condent. The next set Nate doesn't really know, but refuses to admit it, texting the sigils to Sam, but the portraits reveal the names of William Mayes, Richard Want, and Joseph Farrell. The next room opens up to reveal that a fire had broken out years ago, removing the name of one of the founders (Who even Sam doesn't know), but Sam texts the others are Edward England, Tariq bin Malik, and Yazid al-Basra. With the trial completed, the wheel folds into itself, becoming a table with three engravings around it. Taking photos to send to Sam, Nate takes out several of his journal pages and transfer traces the engravings. Combining the pages together, an island is revealed with trade winds, latitudes and longitudes, and Avery's sigil surrounded by "Pro Deus Quod Licentia."
Nate starts to freak out at this, believing it should've been obvious earlier what he'd missed, but refuses to say why. Having gone through this for years, Sully just groans "Jesus, enough with the 'beautiful mind' shit. What the hell are you talking about?" before a phone rings. Nate answers who he thinks is Sam, only to find himself talking to Rafe. The billionaire makes it clear that he does enjoy the game, even wanting to make a bet on who gets to Avery's treasure first, but he also warns Nadine wants to remove risk. So, he makes an offer to let Nate drop everything and return home, no consequences. Nate brushes him off since they're in the lead.
Rafe chuckles, "Okay. Pro Deus Quod Licentia. For God And Liberty. These are nice pictures, Nate. Good composition." This leads to Nate realizing that their phones were hacked. Rafe continues to push the offer, but Nate is about to hang up and answer another line, but Rafe warns that their phones have GPS. Nate answers Sam's call with worry, who is just as freaking out about "For God And Liberty." Nate warns him about Rafe, but the call ends on guns firing on Sam. Nate quickly smashes Sully's phone and they leave the clock tower. Looking over the plaza, they spot Sam's tower as it lights on fire. Unfortunately, they don't get far before Shoreline starts firing on them, civilians fleeing at the sudden carnage. While fleeing from an armored car, the duo manage to steal a Shoreline jeep, leading to a car chase that wrecks the city. But eventually, Sam's tower is reached, which he is fleeing on a motorcycle chased by Shoreline. Running out of road, Nate uses the grappling hook on a crane in the convoy chasing Sam, hanging on for dear life as he's dragged through earth and water. Hopping from car to car, Nate is able to catch up with his older brother until the armored car from before flips Nate's jeep over.
Dragging himself out of the burning jeep, Sam gets him on the motorcycle as they flee the armored car, shooting at the engine until it finally explodes at the docks. Fleeing, they meet up with Sully at the motel, where Sam explains why "For God And Liberty" is so important: It's the motto of Libertalia, the lost pirate utopia where thousands of pirates pooled all their money, including Founder Captain Avery. Nate skims through a map of Madagascar and finds the island north of King's Bay. The trio are celebrating...Until Nate spots Elena in the room. Elena knows about Henry Avery and Shoreline, wanting to know why she was lied to. Nate starts by introducing Sam, the brother he never mentioned.
Nate tries to explain that he thought his brother was dead, but is only free because he owes a debt, making Elena stop him, wondering if there was ever even a job in Malaysia. Lacking an answer, Elena leaves, calling Nate out on keeping secrets and not having the nerve to tell her, instead opting to lie to her for weeks. If Nate had died, Elena wouldn't even know. Nate swears it's not about the treasure, but Elena points out how happy he was, and that if he's done lying to her, he should stop lying to himself. She leaves to catch the next flight home, leaving the trio to stew. Sully tells Nate that he should try to save his marriage and that it'd be easier to put Sam in hiding, or at least let him and Sam take care of it while Nate returns home. Nate brushes him off, calling him Sullivan, and tells him that if he wants to help, to keep an eye on Elena. Sully leaves in frustration.
The next day, the Drake brothers are on a boat heading straight for the Libertalia island. Spotting the island, the two brothers share a beer as Sam assures his brother that everything will be fine in regards to Elena, though Nate knows that he crossed this line one too many times. At the island, they find it surprisingly small, making the brothers joke that maybe Avery spent all his treasure on the puzzles. On the island they spot a ruined tower with an arrow engraving at the top. Clicking it, the walls pop open to show that on the beach is a floor tile with the same arrow. Hopping back on the boat, they drive from arrow to arrow to a cave that leads to ruins amounting to nothing but walls reminiscent of the Saint Dismas cathedral.
Further in, they find another trial that causes statues of the founders to pop up out of the ground, save for Avery's own statue. But some stairs have popped up as well, leading to an elevator. Back outside, they spot a massive Avery statue with a spyglass. Concluding the man was a narcissist with the massive statue, Nate and Sam climb the statue to find the spyglass points to another island as thunderstorms start to roll in. Sam is ecstatic, but Nate is starting to become cynical about the whole thing, only caring about getting Alcazar off his brother's back. The two are close to arguing until the older Drake brother spots dozens of boats on the horizon, Rafe and Nadine's boys.
And thus we return to the beginning of the story, right after their boat is flipped.
Washing up on the shore, Nate drags himself through the rain calling out for Sam. While trying to climb some rocks, he slips and falls, passing out until the storm finally ends. However, in the jungle near a mountain he spots a flashing light spelling out Sic Parvis Magna in morse code. Sneaking through a cave he finds his way into the forest, where he spots the skeletal remains of several pirates seeking Libertalia (Among them the grandson of the prisoner from the beginning of the game Nate got the Dismas cross from), and trigger happy Shoreline mercs. After climbing a cliff, he is reunited with Sam, who is ready to keep searching.
"What are we doing?" Asks the younger Drake. The supplies are at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, the only supplies left belong to an army, and marooned in the middle of nowhere. All Nate wants to do is at least secure a boat, then go look for the treasure. "The boats can wait. You want to know what we're doing here? We're buying my life back. Okay? And we're doing that by stepping into that jungle and finding Libertalia."
Frustrated Nate snaps, demanding if they've seen any lost pirate colony because he sure hasn't. He is now wondering if Avery's pirate colony was a failure and that they're just wasting what time they do have. Sam is unconvinced, swearing that he'll find the treasure no matter what, and if Nate wants to, he can go home. This pisses him off, who calls out the older brother for being ungrateful of what he's sacrificed. Sam responds with what he's put in, the fifteen years in jail, his bitterness finally boiling over. With peripheral vision, Nate spots a pillar with Avery's sigil. Venturing further in, the brothers find proper ruins. Crawling through they find the town square of Libertalia. Looking around, Nate spots a massive building with a guard tower, so they ponder what it was guarding.
Along the way, they investigate the district, finding forges and stables where the skeletal remains of horses still tied to their post, hinting at the possibility something really bad happened, not helped by strange sigils graffiti'd on an Avery statue. Traversing a crumbling cliffside of the Libertalia swarming with Shoreline, they make it to the guarded building, littered with the dead bodies of the colonists in a barricaded warzone. The building is an opulant treasury, emptied of all the gold. However, they do spot the portraits of the founders with one word graffiti'd on them.
Thief
That means one thing: The founders didn't make Libertalia to be a pirate haven, it was one massive con to steal from the colonists. They weren't marked as Murderers or Tyrants, after all. "Pirates will be pirates," muses Nate. Looking up, Sam spots that a mural was painted on the ceiling, a map of Libertalia, with the northern part a dozen mansions making up the town of New Devon (Named after Avery's hometown of Devon). Climbing the top of the guard tower they spot New Devon across from a river. As they climb down, Shoreline shoots RPGs at the tower, sending it crumbling around the Drake brothers. Escaping through the district in a colossal firefight, ending with Nate bumping into Nadine, vengeful due to all the men she had lost. However, she does congratulate him and his brother for being a far superior treasure hunter to her boss, lamenting they couldn't be partners. Nate promises there is a chance, but she cryptically warns she doesn't trust Drake's anymore.
Sam saves his little brother from being shot, but the two now have to fight a really pissed off Nadine, to their frustration. Once again, Nadine is a far superior fighter. But when Nate does a Superman punch, the floorboards give way and the trio fall near a ledge, but Sam ends the fight by grabbing hold of Nadine's gun she had dropped earlier. Before the siblings could even leave, Rafe arrives with reinforcements. Sam tries to take Nadine hostage, but seeing his older brother on edge made Nate stop him from shooting Nadine. Nadine is even more pissed with Rafe for trying to egg him on, thinking he wouldn't do it. Rafe walks over to Sam and pistol whips him. Nate tries to make a deal: They help him, they get the money to save Sam from Hector Alcazar.
This confuses Rafe to no end. "Whoa. What the hell are you talking about, Nate? Hector Alcazar died in a shootout in Argentina like six months ago? I'm the one that got Samuel out."
Realizing that Sam lied to his younger brother, Rafe explains that while everyone knows he never stopped looking for Avery's treasure, he had found out Sam was alive and bribed the new warden to release Sam two years ago to help him find the Saint Dismas cross. Finding his brother unable to deny this, even calling him Nate for the first time, Nate pushes him away, fuming. "I left my life for you!" He accuses Sam. Rafe offers condescending condolences, pointing out Sam left as soon as they found the Rossi cross and roped him and Sully in. An impatient Nadine tells him to finish up his spiel or she will. Rafe prepares to shoot them, but Nate points out he spent fifteen years hitting dead ends, and he needs them. Rafe agrees...that he needs Sam, not Nate. He goes to take a shot, but Sam pushes Nate off the cliff when he takes the bullet. The fall knocks him out and sends him into a river, where he's miraculously found by Elena.
In the past, the young Drake brothers arrive at a mansion on Sam's dirt bike to find their mother's belongings. Sneaking inside thanks to an open window, they find dozens, maybe hundreds of dozens, of relics that would normally be found in a museum, travel and camping gear, as well as letters to and from the homeowner, Evelyn, between her ex-husband and son, ranging from when the couple first met to the son disowning her after missing his father's funeral. Having fun with a polaroid along the way, they find the main office, with dozens of journals sprawled around. Under the desk, Nate finds a bin full of their mother's journals, written across the cover her name Cassandra. Peaking inside, he sees that his mother and Evelyn worked together to discover the Gunsway fortune.
The lights are suddenly turned on, by an elderly and sickly Evelyn with a revolver in her hands. She warns them that the police are on their way, but Sam begs that his brother be released, he only wanted to show him their mother's stuff. This makes the woman relax, recognizing them as the sons of Cassandra Morgan. Thrown a loop that this woman knows their mom, who lights up a cigarette. Evelyn explains that Cassandra worked for her in helping her amass her collection, describing her as the most brilliant historian cut down in her youth by her mental illness. Flipping through the book, Evelyn points to Cassandra's theory of Sir Francis Drake potentially having an heir. She laments that not discovering that truth is another regret in her life. She gives Nate the book as the police sirens blare.
But with a gasp, Evelyn suddenly collapses, possibly dead, forcing the brothers to flee the police all the way to the outskirts of the city. Being a child, Nate is unnerved by what happened, with Sam consoling him that she was old and sick, so what happened was out of their hands. Nate worries that they can't go back to the orphanage or Sam's job. But Sam perks up, what if they didn't go back? What if Nathan and Samuel Morgan disappeared forever? What if they had new names? Pulling out the white journal, he talks about finishing their mother's work with new identities. Knowing someone that can forge papers, Sam suggests they become the Drakes.
Present day Nate finishes telling this story to Elena, finally revealing most, if not all, of his secrets to his wife as she tends to his wounds. Afterwards, he solemnly admits that he didn't reveal to Elena that he had a brother earlier because he did not want to explain he had a dead brother. It would still hurt, even years later from briefly looking at the polaroid picture during peaceful days at home. Now Nate's curious about how she even got onto the island, with the engine of Sully's plane being the answer. On Elena's radio, Nate explains how Rafe has Sam and that Sam had lied, flabbergasting Sully. Husband and wife head back to her jeep, the tension palpable since Elena admits she almost didn't come to save him.
Driving up the river and riding the occasional elevator left by Avery, the drive is remedied by Elena's question: Why would a man as rich as Rafe Adler be so obsessed with Avery's treasure? Nate has had that answer pegged for years, the simple glory of doing something that he earned, not given to him by his parents. Walking away is not an option in his mind, which makes Elena point out Nadine is no different. She inherited Shoreline from her father, who had costed the company much with poorly chosen civil wars they were involved in, so she needs a huge payout to make the mercenary company top tier mercenary company.
Elena is also curious that if Sam was free for so long, why didn't he come to Nate. He figures that he was probably trying to dig up all he could about Avery before bailing, and coming up with the Alcazar story, making Nate lament that he could've looked the man up to fact check. Elena ponders that with all the architecture and engineering if it'll mean there's even any treasure, with Nate admitting he had the same doubts. On an elevator ride, Nate feels the need to ask why she even came back for him, and her answer is that he was clearly in over his head, and their marital vows compelled her to try to help him. Both solemnly exhale, "For better or worse."
Lifting a gate, Elena scolds that if he was trying to protect her, it's no excuse to shut her out. Nate stumbles on his words, holding the conversation as they drive until a bridge collapses under the jeeps weight, sending the two into a waterfall. Barely getting to safety, Nate explains that he wasn't really protecting Elena. He explains that he made a promise to quit the thief life, and broke that promise too much. He didn't tell her because he didn't want to lose her. So, in a way, he was protecting himself. The two walk to New Devon on foot.
Along the way, they find mass graves and skeletons in gibbets with signs that say traitor, the remains of dead colonists and former members of Avery's crew. This makes Elena wonder if the plan was always to steal from the colonists, and then kill them when they did revolt, something she finds too disturbing for even pirates to do. Eventually, the pair make it to the flooded ruins of New Devon, with Elena pointing out that a damn was blown up to cause the flooding. Nate also points out that the most likely to be Avery's mansion would have to be the only intact mansion. Looking through her binoculars, Elena spots Rafe and Nadine's men forcing Sam through the front door.
Passing through the various ruins, bodies of family and friends of the founders are found with threatening letters, making it clear the founders turned on each other after quelling the rebellion, with Nate believing that since his house is the only one intact that it must mean he was the one to flood New Devon. Stumbling upon the swampy, moss covered mansion of Thomas Tew, they find a dining hall full of a dozen or so skeletons at a table. Spotting cards with pirate sigils, Nate goes into shock that these are the founders of Libertalia.
Finding a couple had their hands around goblets, Elena guesses they may have been poisoned. Finding a letter from Tew that brought them all together to abandon animosity, and proof that Tew and Avery were not present, Nate figures out what happened: After quelling the rebellion, the founders began fighting among themselves for the treasure. So Avery had them all together in a false peace deal that lead to the treasure ending up in the hands of two men. Nate begins talking about how incredible it is that these men and women who went down in notorious history was killed so simply, Elena at first looks sad, but bores a genuine smile before commenting that it's incredible. Seeing her in a state of joy and melancholy, Nate breaks out into apologies, but Elena makes it clear that he's forgiven.
Husband and wife continue until they are at the front door of Avery's mansion. At first they are greeted with an empty home, until Shoreline starts shooting at them. Fighting through them to a barricaded room, a skeleton has a letter that Elena reads aloud: Tew had betrayed Avery and are now at war with one another for the treasure. And the letter also says Avery was in the middle of moving the treasure to his ship. Following the Shoreline footprints to a dead end with nothing but Sam's lighter and a globe with a bloody thumbprint on Libertalia. Touching it, Elena activates a hidden stairwell.
Going underground, Elena wonders if the treasure is even on the island anymore. But Nate tiredly admits it doesn't matter anymore. Now in a caved in dungeon, the flashlights start going out, and Sam's lighter's out of fuel, so they are forced to rely on matches. The sounds of explosions in the distance as they pass by a deathtrap of false floor boards. Finding torches, the pair light them and continue on. Coming across a room with rope hanging from the roof composed of nothing but skeletal hands and arms, with a sign reading "The hands that stole from me." Now seeing that Avery has gone insane, the two leave deeply disturbed.
Walking past mummified remains that light up, the pair barely survive when they blow up, a booby trap made out of unwilling victims. Elena realizes these mummies are what caused the explosion that's been shaking the cave. Now they find more hanging skeleton parts, now of rib cages with the sign reading, "The hearts that hardened against me."
As they continued forward, surviving more and more exploding mummies, they go forward, while fighting their way through Shoreline mercs; and using exploding mummies to their advantage. After fighting them off, husband and wife take some flares at the feet of hanging jaws, with a sign reading "The mouths that spoke ill of me."
Further down they find the last of Avery's and Tew's men fighting to get to the port. Among the bodies is a skeleton key and a note from Tew with symbols on the back. Passing by more exploding mummies that lead to a death trap of wooden floorboards, but the design makes Nate realize that the note was warning about this. Crossing over, they make it to the light at the end of the tunnel.
Here they find what could be what remains of Tew's men, hanging in the air from their ankles, with exploding mummies peppered through the room. Passing the inert remains they find a door that can be unlocked with the skeleton key. But when Nate puts the key in, a net hoists them in the air...right as the mummies start to explode. Spotting a sword stabbed in a hanging skeleton, Nate swings Elena to grab it, where they eventually themselves free. Running through a hall with dozens of the mummies until an explosion sends them into a chasm.
Nate becomes frantic when Elena is out cold, until she reveals she's faking it. The couple sit in the mud while Elena checks Nate's heart after commenting he almost had a heart attack, with him swearing that they are now even for everything he has ever pulled. Ever. Close together, Nate finds Elena has a funny idea of romantic, to which they both share a short yet tender kiss. Gunfire interrupts them, making them realize that there's a wrecked galleon not that far.
Moving closer, Nate is shocked that they are in a ship graveyard, Avery having scuttled every ship. Gunfire can be heard between Sam and Shoreline. Bumping into an RPG wielding Sully, our heroes manage to push back the Shoreline troops. The two brothers are awkward at first, but Nate forgives his brother when he apologizes for lying. Sully reveals he parked the plane on the beach, so all of them make their way there...Except Sam, still wanting to find Avery's treasure.
Everyone groans, too tired to care about whatever that treasure can offer, especially with Rafe involved. Sully outright calls out his Determinator Fatal Flaw, and Elena points out they came to the island for the Drake family, not the treasure. Sam points out that Avery scuttled every ship to keep the treasure. Elena points out that Avery didn't care about the cost it took to keep that treasure. Sam pulls out a map, showing a secret route to Avery's private galleon hidden in the mountain.
Sully points out that that ship may have already left and might even be at the bottom of the ocean. Sam insanely swears they can find where it was sunk, flabbergasting the old treasure hunter. Sam tries to appeal to his brother, asking him how long they've been chasing this, for their mom, claiming they don't get it. After years of treasure hunting and hurting those around him with his thirst for adventure, Nate steps back and says they are right, pointing out that him and his brother aren't kids anymore and have nothing to prove. Struggling to not have a breakdown, Sam somberly asks where the plane is.
Elena worries about a Shoreline ambush, but Sam points out that Rafe has already taken all that's left to go for the treasure. Wondering through the port town leads to a wooden skyrail, which the group uses to cross until it starts to collapse. Nate, Sully, and Elena are on one side of the drop, with Sam on the other.
Despite Nate's pleas, Sam starts heading for the mountain. Now on the other side of this for once, Nate is furious, with the original trio making their way to the mountain to save Sam from himself. Using a cart, Nate is able to climb up a wall, but the brakes snap and ruin the cart, forcing Nate to continue alone. At the mouth of a cave, he finds the body of Burns' grandson, dying just at the finish line. Inside the vast cave, Nate spots Avery's ship moored to a dock.
Making it into the water, he starts swimming. While under a dock, he hears Nadine and the last of her men loading treasure chests of gold into their boat. The three are distracted when they spot Sam steering a boat towards Avery's ship. Rafe walks up to them in a fury that Sam stole the boat, so he orders that they get to the galleon before Sam. Nadine doesn't move, "We're done," is all she says.
And Nadine has a very good reason: Most of her men are dead, the rest fled with their lives. Rafe insists that the galleon is the finish line, which Nadine counters that if Avery rigged the caves as ridiculously as he did, then she doesn't want to see what he did to his ship. Rafe tries to pressure her, saying that if she leaves then all her lost men were pointless. Pointing to the treasure chest, she tells him they already have millions (Not to mention the discovery of Libertalia).
Rafe, however, gets slimy and calls her a Dirty Coward for wanting to let Sam get the boon of the treasure. The mercenary has a perfect comeback, "If he can walk away from that ship alive...he can have it. Hell, I'd say he's earned it. God knows you didn't."
Emasculated, Rafe slaps her. She responds by punching him in the gut, knocking him to the ground, and pulling a gun on her. Unfortunately her men are pointing their guns at her. One helps Rafe up, who shrugs, "Yeah...Thing about mercenaries, Nadine...their loyalty, it's bought, it's not earned." Now with no choice, Nadine goes with them to Avery's Galleon.
While swimming to Avery's Galleon, it suddenly explodes, causing Nate to worry about his older brother. Crawling through the hole it makes, Nate spots one of the two mercenaries had tripped a booby trap. Jumping into a hole in the floorboard, he finds the lost treasure of Libertalia, masked in the shadows of the darkness and illuminated by the ever growing fire. Looking at the billions worth of gold, Nate can only ask, "Was it worth it?"
Making his way to a closed off door, he opens to a room engulfed in smoke. When it clears, he finds a disheveled Rafe pointing a gaudy gun at him with a knocked out Sam under a broken wood beam. Nate tells him he can have the treasure if he can save his brother, with Rafe surprised he's so willing to forgive and forget, but refuses. Nadine comes up behind Nate with a gun at his back, demanding his gun. Despite Nates pleads, Nadine takes them and stands behind Rafe, who begins to rant about how unlike Nate and Sam, he never screwed his partners over (despite having done that more than enough to the Drake brothers and Nadine), but gets interrupted when Nadine presses her gun to the back of his head.
As his gun is taken, Rafe tries to threaten her, but she tells him to look to her right. When he ignores her, Nadine shoots at his feet, ordering him to look. To Rafe Adler, he sees two skeletons, to Nathan Drake and the history amateur Nadine Ross it's Avery and Tew, having killed themselves. Despite this, Rafe still doesn't see the point, so Nadine spells it out: everyone who has sought this treasure gets what they deserve. Nate worries that she's leaving them to die, but she clarifies she's only locking the door behind her, whether they die or not she doesn't care.
As the door closes, Rafe impotently bangs on it while Nate struggles to free Sam while asking for help so they'll all be free. Too bad Nate doesn't realize that Rafe has just lost what's left of his sanity, taking up Avery's cutlass and pointing it at Nate. He explains, "No, I'm not going to be able to enjoy...One of these coins...Knowing that you and your worthless brother are still sucking air."
The thief backs up, telling him he's being insane, but Rafe snaps back as he swings at him, "You want to hear insane? 'Nathan Drake raced a madman and his entire army to the steps of Shambhala.' 'Nathan Drake found a lost city in the middle of the Rub' al Khali desert.' 'Nathan Drake discovered the fabled El Dorado.' 'Nathan Drake is a legend.' You know, I shot the man who told me that. You know, for all of your 'greatness,' Nate, you have nothing. You are nothing. And I warned you to get outta my way."
Nate punches him and they struggle as Rafe tries to stab him, "I have sacrificed everything to find Avery. And I'm not gonna let a couple of two bit thieves...A senile conman...And a washed up journalist take that away from me!"
Pushing him away, Nate grabs Tew's cutlass, before Rafe promises to kill everyone Nate loves. Nate just grunts, "En Garde, Dickhead." Due to never having held a sword before, all Nate can do is block Rafe's attacks, but he is able to get in punches whenever he can. Eventually Rafe knocks the thief down away from his sword and prepares to deliver the final blow, but Sam wakes up in time to toss the sword back to his brother.
Despite that he still has to fight, Rafe is ecstatic as he continues to swing at Nate. "You don't know when to give up, do you? That's good. Don't hand it to me. I've had everything handed to me...On a goddamn silver platter. Everything Except this!"
His last swing shatters Tew's blade, leaving him to boast, "I earned this. All of it."
Spotting a net full of gold hanging above him, and following the rope all the way to a tie down point right next to him, Nate shrugs, "You want the treasure, Rafe? It's all yours."
Nate cuts the rope, and the gold lands on Rafe, crushing him instantly. Now Nate can safely get his brother out, eventually setting off a cannon to flood the room, making the beam easier to lift. Swimming through the hole, they flee the collapsing cavern out to safety. Outside, Elena spots them, and fires up flare for Sully to find them.
On a dock, Nate and Elena have packed everything for a flight back to the States, wishing to use the opportunity to mend their marriage for good to Sully's offer of flying them himself. Catching up with Sam and Elena, he finds his older brother telling her about the time he tried to be a magician; "Nate the Great" was his stage name. Leaving the two brothers alone, Nate reminds his brother that he is free to stay with them, but Sam admits that despite finding Avery's Treasure, he doesn't feel satisfied. Nate gives to him An Aesop, that no matter what adventure you go on, that feeling will always stick, and that you need to find something to feel satisfied by.
Sam notes he does have a point, but his little brother has found a few more lost cities, he can't let that slide. Nate leaves to go with Elena to the taxi. Meanwhile, Sam and Sully become the new partnership, preparing for a new job.
Back at New Orleans, Elena realizes that no matter how they try living normal lives, adventures and travel will always be part of their lives. Thus, Elena decides to purchase the Jameson Marine, Inc., installing both Nate and herself as co-owners, which will help them in their funding for future adventures. Nate is initially reluctant to the idea, knowing that they cannot afford to do it but soon comes around after she reveals that Sam left Libertalian coins in her pocket while at King's Bay. Elena also shows Nate permits for the Malaysian job and states that she hopes to revive her TV show.
Epilogue
11-13 years later, Nate & Elena has renamed the company to D&F Fortunes, a new salvaging company specializing in legal exploration and archeological discovery and has settled on the beach house at Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico with their 15-year old daughter, Cassie Drake.
Cassie, plays her mother's copy of Crash Bandicoot. After beating the level and turning off the game, she wonders aloud where her parents are. The family dog, Vicky, accompanies Cassie as she searches the house.
The beach house, lived-in and full of various finds from expeditions, is empty save for the two of them. Cassie finds a letter in the kitchen, sent by Sully. In it, he tells Nate that he and Cassie's uncle Sam — who both have since retired and are currently in Havana, Cuba — have quit smoking and that they'll be visiting soon.
After exhausting every possible option in the house, Cassie ventures outside, Vicky barreling past her. The beach is all white sand and blue ocean. A small boat is moored by the dock, and Cassie investigates. She finds fishing gear, but not her parents.
She heads further up the beach, into the small cottage that Nate and Elena keep their work in. There are solved puzzles inside, more souvenirs, and a wall of framed magazine covers detailing the expeditions of "D&F Fortunes." Going into the back room, Cassie looks at a magazine where she posed for the cover. She puts it back down on the table, but then sees that her father left his keys behind.
Surprised and eager, she focuses on a locked armoire in the same room. She attempts to unlock it one key at a time, incredulous that any of them will actually work. One of them does, however, and she opens the doors. Inside is all the memorabilia Nate kept in his attic all those years ago: keepsakes from his previous adventures.
After thoroughly investigating and recognizing most of the relics, with a healthy dose of skepticism towards their validity, Cassie eventually stumbles upon her grandmother's journal. In it, she discovers Captain Henry Avery and the Gunsway heist; a photo of Nate and Sam as children; the Latin phrase "Sic Parvis Magna" meaning "greatness from small beginnings;" and a photo of Elena, Nate, and Sully posing with the treasure they found in the Amazon.
Just then, she hears her parents outside and panics, closing the armoire but fails to put the journal away. She feigns ignorance as Nate and Elena walk in, idly wondering why she's in their work shop. Cassie tells them she was looking for them. Accepting the answer, Nate and Elena say the boat's ready.
Cassie asks for a moment, immediately raising suspicion. Caught, she tells them not to be mad, then steps aside so the journal is in plain view. Appearing good-humoredly confused prior, Nate's expression flattens when he sees the journal. He checks the armoire and, finding it unlocked, sends Cassie an unimpressed look.
He asks for his keys back, and proceeds to lock the armoire again. Elena, with the photograph in her hands, reasons that they should just tell Cassie about their adventuring days. Nate declines, saying she's too young. Elena argues that both Nate and Sam were younger than Cassie when they first started, to which Nate remarks isn't the point.
Cassie, frustrated and curious, claims she's old enough for whatever they're keeping from her. Only after more wheedling do Nate and Elena acquiesce. Elena tells Cassie how she and Nate met on a treasure hunting expedition and were later attacked by Indonesian pirates. Cassie is skeptical and disbelieving, but wants to hear more. Nate mentions how good the weather is for sailing, and decides any further discussion be had on the boat.
As he and Cassie walk out of the workshop, he begins to regale her with the full story of Sir Francis Drake and El Dorado. Elena watches them go for a moment, before returning inside to place the photo back in the book alongside the one of Nate and Sam.
