Shortly after Uncharted 4 was released in May last year, developer Naughty Dog started working on the game's downloadable content.

However, Naughty Dog, known for many highly acclaimed releases, realised that the work and value of this project - called The Lost Legacy - would be so immense that it deserves to exist as a standalone game.

In this game, you play as Chloe Frazer (voiced by Claudia Black), who was seen briefly in Uncharted 2 and 3. She pairs up with Nadine Ross (voiced by Laura Bailey), who was an antagonist in Uncharted 4.

The plot is based on Chloe's personal history and has nothing to do with Nathan Drake, the staple main character of the video-game series. This angle may appeal to those who prefer playing an Uncharted game as a heroine.

Lost Legacy introduces a new element that focuses on the relationship between Chloe and Nadine.

Triggering the interaction option when the opportunity arises will build trust between the two. It's interesting to see how this bond becomes vulnerable when another familiar character appears later on.

The story campaign is filled with signature features many have come to appreciate from the series, such as beautifully rendered cutscenes, breathtaking locations and landscape, challenging puzzles and stellar animation work.

Just like previous instalments, expect a hefty amount of climbing, swinging, sliding, shooting and going through dramatic scripted events. In addition, a new lock-picking mechanic is introduced as a fresh activity.

Midway in the game, the plot slows down to allow a decent amount of free-roam exploration. This side quest requires you to explore a vast map to locate specific tokens hidden at various locations. Completing this optional mission awards you a useful accessory.

If you love driving around in the last game, you can do more of that here. During the side-quest mission, you will manoeuvre an off-road jeep across ridges and rivers, and over rocks and slippery mud.

The absence of waypoint markers makes it realistic as you have to constantly refer to an in-game map to gauge your location.

There is also a fair amount of treasure hunting that challenges you to watch out for hidden items, with old artefacts to collect, photos to capture using the mobile phone, locked boxes to pick and conversations to start - more than 100 in total.

Upon completing the story, you can replay specific chapters to pursue those that you missed.

Lost Legacy also offers a robust multiplayer feature similar to that in Uncharted 4, so you can connect with friends who are playing either game online.

It comes with a new Survival Arena mode to test your resilience in surviving waves of threats.

Photo mode is enhanced to cater to crazy snapshots. Simply pause the game at an interesting moment and make Chloe do a wink, duck-face, cross-eye, pucker and so on. You can also tweak the picture and colour settings to put together a unique screen capture.

If you find the lengthy collection of Uncharted series too overwhelming to dive into, the concise package of Lost Legacy will seem just right to acquaint new players with the series' signature over-the-top story-telling and beloved treasure hunting experience.

•Verdict: Deep within familiar game mechanics, The Lost Legacy proves there is still much to explore beyond the main lore of the Uncharted series.

•Nizam Mohd is a freelance writer