Uncharted 4 Glitch Guide: Mastering Essential Exploits for Faster Speedruns
So, you've decided to take the plunge and speedrun Naughty Dog's masterpiece, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. You know the story of Nathan Drake's final adventure by heart, but now you're looking to break it. You want to shave off minutes, even seconds, by bending the game's rules to your will. Welcome to the thrilling world of sequence breaks, out-of-bounds exploration, and time-saving tricks. This guide is your comprehensive companion, designed to walk you through the most useful Uncharted 4 speedrun glitches and essential A Thief's End exploits that form the backbone of any competitive run.
We'll cover everything from foundational techniques for beginners to advanced skips that will elevate your time. Our goal is to solve all your glitch-related questions in one place, providing clear, step-by-step instructions to make your speedrunning journey smoother and significantly faster.
The Foundation: Core Movement and Mechanics Glitches
Before you attempt any major sequence breaks, you must master the basic movement glitches. These are the building blocks, the essential Uncharted 4 speedrun tricks you'll use repeatedly throughout the entire game.
1. The Crouch Jump (C-Jump)
This is arguably the most important technique in your arsenal. The Crouch Jump allows you to reach ledges and platforms that are normally just out of reach, enabling early access to new areas.
- How it works: While standing still, press and hold the crouch button (Circle on PlayStation). Immediately after Nate begins his crouch animation, press and hold the jump button (X). If performed correctly, Nate will perform a higher, more vertical jump than normal.
- Why it's useful: This glitch is the key to countless smaller skips. It's used to get over fences, onto specific rocks, and to bypass intended climbing paths. Mastering the consistent timing of the Crouch Jump is your first and most critical step.
- Pro Tip: Practice this on a flat surface until you can do it ten times in a row without failing. Muscle memory is key.
2. Infinite Swing Glitch
In sections where you're swinging on a rope, particularly in the Madagascar city chase sequence, you can perform the Infinite Swing Glitch to build massive momentum and launch yourself incredible distances, often skipping large chunks of combat or navigation.
- How it works: While swinging on a rope, hold the left analog stick in the direction you want to go (e.g., forward). Rapidly, but rhythmically, tap the jump button (X). Do not press it frantically; find a steady tempo. You'll see Nate's swing arc become wider and wider.
- Why it's useful: This is a cornerstone of the Madagascar speedrun skip, allowing you to leap over entire blocks of the city, avoiding the need to find a new rope or engage with enemies. A perfectly executed infinite swing can save over a minute in this chapter alone.
Chapter-Specific Game-Breaking Exploits
Now, let's get into the juicy stuff—the skips that truly define a modern Uncharted 4 speedrun.
1. The Auction House Door Clip (Scotland)
This skip allows you to bypass the entire puzzle and combat section inside the auction house, one of the most significant time saves in the entire run.
- The Problem: Normally, you need to solve a light-and-mirror puzzle to open a secret door.
- The Glitch Solution: Using a precise Crouch Jump against a specific part of the door frame, you can "clip" through the geometry and enter the next area directly. This requires precise positioning and a bit of practice.
- Step-by-Step:
- After entering the auction house and triggering the cutscene, proceed to the large, ornate door at the back.
- Stand against the left side of the door frame. There's a specific sweet spot you'll need to find through practice.
- Perform a perfect Crouch Jump into the corner of the frame. You may need to wiggle the left analog stick as you jump.
- If done correctly, you'll phase through the door and emerge on the other side, ready to proceed to the next chapter.
- Keywords for research: "Uncharted 4 auction house skip," "Scotland door clip glitch."
2. The Ship Graveyard OOB (King's Bay)
This is a classic Out-of-Bounds (OOB) exploit that lets you skip a lengthy traversal and climbing section in the pirate colony of King's Bay.
- The Problem: The intended path has you swinging, climbing, and shimmying for several minutes to reach the tower.
- The Glitch Solution: By jumping onto a specific, seemingly invisible ledge on a rock face, you can walk OOB and navigate the "void" to drop directly onto the tower, triggering the next story checkpoint.
- Step-by-Step:
- After the chapter begins, follow the normal path until you reach the first wide-open area with several ruined ship hulls.
- Instead of following Sam, turn right and head towards a large, sloped rock face near the water.
- Using a series of precise jumps and Crouch Jumps, ascend the rock face. You are looking for a specific collision that is not visible. Video guides are extremely helpful for visualizing this path.
- Once you are stable on the "invisible" geometry, you can run along the edge of the map (you'll see the world floating beside you) until you are aligned with the tower.
- Simply drop down, and you'll land right where you need to be.
- Keywords for research: "King's Bay OOB skip," "Ship Graveyard out of bounds glitch."
3. New Devon Prison Skip (Chapter 22)
This skip allows you to bypass a significant combat encounter and a slow elevator sequence, getting you to the final chapters much faster.
- The Problem: A large prison area filled with Shoreline soldiers, followed by a waiting period for an elevator.
- The Glitch Solution: By performing a difficult "corner climb" using Crouch Jumps, you can scale a wall in the initial prison courtyard and jump over the entire complex.
- Step-by-Step:
- As you enter the main prison courtyard (the first large open area with cells), head to the left-side wall.
- Find a corner where two walls meet. This glitch involves "catching" tiny, unintended ledges.
- Through a series of repeated, pixel-perfect Crouch Jumps, you can slowly ascend the corner. This is one of the most technically challenging glitches and requires immense patience to master.
- Once at the top, you can run along the top of the prison and drop down directly at the exit, completely avoiding all enemies and the elevator.
Weapon and Combat Skips for Efficient Playthroughs
Speedruns aren't just about movement; it's also about minimizing combat.
- Weapon Drag Glitch: This allows you to acquire high-powered weapons much earlier than intended. By aiming down sights at a weapon on the ground and simultaneously interacting with it and a lower-tier weapon, you can "drag" the stats of the powerful weapon onto the model of the weak one. This is crucial for optimizing Uncharted 4 any% speedrun routes as it gives you a fighting chance in unavoidable combat scenarios with a pea-shooter.
- Enemy Aggro Reset: In many sections, you can simply run past enemies. Their aggro range is limited, and if you can get far enough away quickly enough (often using slides and rolls), they will de-agro, saving you the time of a fight. Learning the specific sprinting paths through combat zones is a fundamental speedrun strategy for A Thief's End.
Putting It All Together: A Speedrunner's Mindset
Knowing the glitches is only half the battle. A successful speedrun is about execution under pressure.
- Practice in Segments: Don't try to run the whole game at once. Practice each chapter skip individually until it becomes reliable. Then, practice chapter-to-chapter transitions.
- Have Backup Plans: Glitches can be inconsistent. Know what the "safe" route is if a crucial skip fails. A slow completion is better than a reset 90% of the way through.
- Watch the Pros: The Uncharted 4 speedrunning community is active and incredibly skilled. Watching world record runs on platforms like YouTube is the best way to learn new routes, optimizations, and the precise timing for every trick mentioned in this guide.
Embrace the chaos. The beauty of speedrunning Uncharted 4 is that it turns a cinematic, linear adventure into a dynamic playground of broken rules. With these useful Uncharted 4 speedrun glitches in your pocket, from the basic Crouch Jump to the complex New Devon skip, you are well on your way to posting a personal best time. Now go forth, break the game, and see how fast you can truly bring Nathan Drake's story to a thief's end. Happy running
