Co-op Shade Survival

Desert Drake taking cover from Fire Spirits

Co-Op Shade Survival is a multiplayer gamemode in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. It became available on the PS store on Tuesday, March 13.

Overview

Shade Survival was introduced as a new game type for Co-op in a DLC package included with the Fortune Hunters' Club and consists of players combating shade versions of enemies found within the standard Co-op Arena. This game type is playable on all of the maps compatible with Co-op Arena.

Past their appearance, covered in flames, shades are different from enemies seen in other Co-op modes in four ways:

1. Shades have much more health than normal enemies, and the flames surrounding a shade will turn blue to indicate that it's at low health.
2. Rather than throw grenades, shades throw flame bombs which explode on contact, though if their throw is interrupted, they will drop a normal grenade.
3. Shades can instantly teleport to a different location, which they will do either to avoid explosive weapons such as grenades, or if their health decreases to certain levels to get away from combat.
4. Lastly, Shades cannot be killed by melee attacks. The only exception is Choker Shades, which can be melee attacked to get them off of a teammate.

Shade Survival is played in rounds, much like Co-op Arena. The only difference is that Shade Survival only lasts 8 rounds, while Arena lasts 10 rounds. Survival and Siege rounds return from Co-op Arena, but Gold Rush is replaced by a new objective: Marked Shade. In Marked Shade rounds, players face enemies in five distinct waves where one enemy in each wave is marked. When the marked shade is killed, all remaining enemies in the wave despawn and the next wave and a new marked shade spawn in.

While round objectives in Co-op Arena are semi-random, the sequence of objectives in Shade Survival is always the same. Rounds 1, 4 and 8 are Survival rounds requiring 12 kills each, rounds 2, 5 and 7 are Marked Shade rounds requiring 5 kills each, and rounds 3 and 6 are Siege rounds requiring 12 kills each.

Difficulties

As in other Co-op game modes in Uncharted 3, Shade Survival offers four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard and Crushing. As the difficulty increases, tougher enemies spawn and they are much more accurate, and thus are able to kill you quicker. Some examples of these differences are:

• In Easy and Normal, all Choker Shades will not have armor. In Hard, all Choker Shades from Round 7 on will have armor. In Crushing, all Choker Shades through the entire game, the first of which spawn in Round 2, will have armor.
• In Easy and Normal, the marked shades in Round 2 will be Armored Shades using M9s. In Round 5, they will be Armored Shades with SAS - 12s, and in Round 7, they will be Armored Shades with Dragon Snipers. In Hard, all marked shades in all Marked Shade rounds will be Armored Shades using M9s. In Crushing, all marked shades will be Kickback Bosses, mostly Militia Man bosses, except for the first three in Round 5 which will be Hammer-Time bosses.
• In Easy, Normal and Hard, the only Kickback Bosses will be Carpet Bomb bosses in Round 8. In Crushing, just like in Co-op Arena, Kickback Bosses spawn in every round except the first.

UNCHARTED 3 Drake's Deception™ - CoOp Shade Survival Mode Trailer

Maps

Co-Op Shade Survival can be played on the following maps:

• Sanctuary
• Fort
• Molten Ruins
• Desert Village
• Highrise
• Syria
• Airstrip
• Facility
• Lost City
• Chateau
• Yemen
• Plaza
• Village
• Old Quarter
• Oasis
• London Streets
• Museum

Gallery

Co-op Shade Survival

Salim vs Fire Spirit

Nate shooting Blue Fire Demon

Elena vs Fire Demons

Elena jumps away from a Fire Spirit

Co-Op Shade Survival in Old Quarter