Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is a 2011 action-adventure third-person shooter platform video game developed by Naughty Dog, with a story written by script-writer Amy Hennig. It is the sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed video games of 2009, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,[1] and is the third game in the Uncharted series. The game was published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3, in North America on November 1, 2011, Europe on November 2, 2011, and Australia on November 3, 2011. A Game of the Year Edition, containing all additional content that was a part of the Fortune Hunters’ Club deal, was released on September 19, 2012, for Europe.

Uncharted 3 sees protagonist Nathan Drake and mentor Victor Sullivan traveling around the world to places such as the Rub’ al Khali desert, in search of the legendary lost city the Iram of the Pillars, which is mentioned in the Quran.[2] Elena Fisher and Chloe Frazer also return in Uncharted 3. The plot draws from the archaeology days of T. E. Lawrence.[1] Arne Meyer, Naughty Dog’s community strategist stated that the “main theme of Uncharted 3 is ‘finding the way'”.[3]

Uncharted 3 received critical acclaim, averaging 92% on review aggregate website Metacritic and 91.76% on GameRankings, making it one of the best reviewed video games of 2011.[4] It won several “Game of the Year” awards, with reviewers praising the writing, voice acting, graphics, cinematic quality and story, but criticizing the lack of single-player unlockables, technical issues and overall failure to live up to its more critically successful predecessor. The game shipped 3.8 million copies worldwide on launch day. A sequel and the final installment of the series, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was released on May 10, 2016 exclusively for the PlayStation 4. On October 7, 2015, the game was released on the PS4 along with its two predecessors as part of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection.