Attila the Professor said:
Someone in the comments there wonders if they're going to do Atlantis now, but there's no real reason to think that. Now, some version of the Lemuria concept could fit right in with Madagascar as a locale.
I have no mouth and I must scream.
Sorry, Harlan.
I know reading comprehension is suffering amongst younger generations, but that's astounding. The first three games were sly adaptations of...well, traditional mythological places including Atlantis. If the references to "an ancient city swallowed by the sands" were too oblique, then Drake & Co. refer to Iram of the Pillars as the "Atlantis of the Sands" a couple of different times.
Naughty Dog won't be doing Atlantis.
Attila the Professor said:
Here are some other musings on what the trailer might mean, leaning rather more heavily on the Drake angle than Le Sab does above.
It can't be Sir Francis. De Gama was the first to round The Cape in 1488; Sir Francis didn't pass through until 1580, about the time the Portuguese were finishing their mapping of the area. So, they could theoretically pull "why did it take an expert navigator six months to travel through here" again, but the likely clue is "Every betrayed us all". Like Attila's article mentioned, it's probably a reference to pirate Henry Every. He didn't make his bones until ~1690, 94 years after Sir Francis met his maker off the coast of Panama.
Plus, I believe the French had a significant presence in the region. It's doubtful that Sir Francis would hang around his mortal enemy's bailiwick for very long.
So, that leaves us with Every. Which makes sense; he betrayed much of his crew after they raided a small fleet sailing under the flag of the Mughal Empire on their annual pilgrimage to Mecca. It's been reported that the ultimate take from the raid was $188,000,000 circa 2000 making it the biggest haul in pirate history. Apparently, it wasn't enough because Every convinced his confederates to place the entire haul onto his ship (because it was the fastest) and sailed off with it one night. Which is right around the time he disappeared from the history books.
There has been some speculation about the importance of Ile Ste. Marie (that's the island at the Northern end of Madagascar), but I don't see the importance. Yes, Avery was reported to have lived there, but you'll note that the location isn't signaled out until we're quite close. When we do get close, the island gets circled, then x-ed out like the location was a bust. That wasn't an "X-marks the spot," but rather, "it" was so obviously not going to be there why did I waste my time?
It could, of course, end up being an anagram of sort. Why? If you freeze the video the at the twenty-three-second mark you'll note some odd looking shapes/symbols/whatever. It took some time flipping through my library (two-thousand titles and counting) as to why it looked familiar. Turns out those shapes are a part of the pigpen/Freemason/whatever cipher.
Once translated you get "ANQS QLRESE". Which means... absolutely nothing.* I had initially speculated that it was Enochian script, but it wasn't ornate enough.
*-- I considered that somebody else on the 'net might have found a solution, and while looking around some guy claims that it translates to "Memento Mori", or "Remember that you will die". I don't see it. The ciphers don't match up unless there's another layer on it.
Anyway, there's some obvious subterfuge going on. The fade in onto the map starts at a funny angle, and there are very clear English additions -- "said" and "end" for example -- that you can't quite make out in their entirety. Plus, there's a reference to the Cochoqua tribe that you can just make out if you're looking for it.
re: The Narration
I believe that there's one very important fact that's being overlooked. Not only is it not an English accent, but it's a very modern American one. A 17th Century pirate would speak quite differently. Also, I believe the chains that can't be broken refer to memory & ancestry. I was immediately reminded of Rimbaud's
A Season in Hell, but that's probably a bridge too far.
Attila the Professor said:
Getting into some sub-Saharan history culture would be deeply exciting, as that doesn't seem to happen much in games or, y'know, anywhere in pop culture.
Definitely. There have been a couple of recent stabs, but it's quite deliberately overlooked.
Finn said:
For a game named Uncharted, that was a particularly well charted trailer.
Yeah, I don't know why I bother. I should quit while I'm ahead.
Stoo said:
I've never played an "Uncharted" video game but am intrigued by the series.
Well, until I get off my duff it's the closest you'll get to a modern day Indiana Jones. It's worth a playthrough for that aspect alone.
Forgot to mention: The Cape is, of course, the traditional home of the Flying Dutchman.