A Thief's End was Naughty Dog's first game developed specifically for the PlayStation 4; the team took advantage of the hardware to process larger dynamic environments.

A Thief's End was released in May 2016 to acclaim for its gameplay, narrative, emotional depth, visuals, and multiplayer, with several reviewers finding the game a worthy conclusion to Nathan's story.

For most of the game, players control Nathan Drake—a treasure hunter who is physically adept and can jump, sprint, climb, swim, scale narrow ledges and walls, swing with a rope, use a grappling hook and perform other acrobatic actions.

[3] In combat, players can use long-ranged weapons, such as rifles and shotguns, and short-barreled guns such as pistols and revolvers; handheld explosives such as grenades and dynamite are also available.

[9][c] The game features an artificial intelligence system in which hostile enemies react to any combat situation they are placed in; they respond to players' actions, coordinate tactics, and cooperate with each other.

Their journey to find and recover the long-lost treasure of pirate Henry Avery brings them into conflict with wealthy and dangerous businessman and treasure hunter Rafe Adler (Warren Kole), his partner Nadine Ross (Laura Bailey) who runs the private military company Shoreline, and drug lord Hector Alcazar (Robin Atkin Downes).

Alongside Rafe, the Drake brothers infiltrate a Panamanian jail to access the former cell of Avery's first mate, where Nate discovers a hollow St. Dismas idol.

Aided by Sully, the Drakes steal a duplicate Dismas idol from an illegal auction in Italy, bringing them into conflict with Nadine and her employer, Rafe, who is still searching for Avery's treasure.

They find evidence of a civil war; the founders stole the city's treasure and moved it across the island to New Devon, an extravagant and well-fortified town built for them.

Elena rescues Nate, who reveals his past: as teenagers, he and Sam discovered that their mother, a historian named Cassandra Morgan, was researching Libertalia.

[28] Initial reports claimed that Hennig was "forced out" of Naughty Dog by Druckmann and Straley, though co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra later denied this.

[31] An extended crunch schedule of 12-hour and up working days toward the end of development of Uncharted 4 caused significant attrition at Naughty Dog, according to a report by Kotaku's Jason Schreier.

Schreier suggested that development of Naughty Dog's next project, The Last of Us Part II (2020), was adversely affected and slowed due to the enormous turnover of employees, with few veterans left on the team.

[36] Throughout development, Straley regularly worked with the designers to create the architecture of the environments, and the concept art department for the coloring and shapes of the game world.

[38] Nolan North and Emily Rose portrayed Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher, respectively, in Uncharted 4, reprising their roles from previous entries in the series.

[30] Druckmann felt that the story questioned the possibility to "balance passion versus settling down", referencing the effects of crunch on the developers' lives.

[45] North recalled difficulty in portraying the frequent animosity between Nathan and Sam, due to his close relationship with Baker, though found the "brotherly love" easy to play.

[46] The announcement of Laura Bailey, a white actress, portraying the character of Nadine Ross, who is of Black South African descent, led to some backlash.

Among the influences of Sarkeesian were switching the gender of Drake's child (originally a son) to be female and changing the outcome of conflicts so women would win more frequently to be seen as powerful and independent.

[46] The team found that the fidelity of the technology allowed close-up shots of the characters' faces to show emotion during cutscenes,[37] demonstrating subtleties such as wrinkles and skin pores.

He feels that open world games often lack tension because players possess the freedom to lose focus on the main objective; Druckmann prefers to "control the pacing".

[30] The game's original score was written by Henry Jackman, with additional music by Alex Belcher, replacing former series composer Greg Edmonson.

[62] Later in September 2015, Naughty Dog announced that Uncharted 4 would miss its intended release date of late 2015, delaying it until March 18, 2016, to allow further polishing for the game's ending.

[86] A trailer titled "Man Behind the Treasure" was shown before select screenings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and published online on December 21; it features a piano version of the Pixies song "Where Is My Mind?".

[90] A trailer titled "Heads or Tails", depicting Nathan contemplating his choices, was released on March 25; it was shown before select screenings of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and 10 Cloverfield Lane (both 2016).

[102] The Escapist's Liz Finnegan described the game as "painfully beautiful",[111] and Sam Loveridge of Digital Spy lauded Naughty Dog's ability to create "cleverly crafted stunning vistas".

[100] Game Informer's Reiner particularly appreciated the writing for Henry Avery, lauding the writers for turning his secrets into "tantalizing story material";[101] conversely, Ars Technica's Kyle Orland found that the enthusiasm of the characters "fails to be infectious for the player".

[112] Hurley of GamesRadar praised the improved gameplay, but felt that some nonlinear moments such as optional interactions and dialogue were "a little overcooked" in comparison to previous entries.

[102] O'Brien of IGN wrote that the multiplayer game types "embody the series' most enjoyable qualities",[105] while Hurley of GamesRadar felt that it benefited from the new mechanics introduced in the single-player story.

[128][129] After its release, the game garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with particular praise for its gameplay mechanics, narrative, emotional depth, visual design, and multiplayer.