M79

Lore & Background

The M79's design philosophy is brutally simple: a soldier carries one tube, loads one 40 mm high-explosive grenade, and fires a single, devastating round before the weapon must be reloaded. In the Uncharted world, that constraint becomes a tactical gamble. Drake and Sully frequently find themselves pinned down in narrow canyon passages, crumbling temple corridors, or tight warehouse interiors where a burst of automatic fire cannot penetrate cover or thin out a cluster of enemies. The M79, when available, turns that stalemate into a single, concussive solution—shockwave and shrapnel scattering opponents and blowing away the very structures that were shielding them. The weapon's presence in the series fits the broader Uncharted pattern of the player cycling through an eclectic arsenal scavenged from the battlefield. A crate in a Peruvian jungle hideout, a supply drop in a Middle Eastern compound, or a cache in a Himalayan monastery might yield a single M79 alongside a handful of 40 mm rounds. Because the rounds are scarce, the player must choose the moment carefully: a well-placed shot can clear a room of enemies and destroy a sandbag wall in one motion, but a wasted round in a long firefight leaves Drake vulnerable with only his sidearm. Narratively, the M79 underscores the gritty, improvised nature of Drake's adventures. He is not a special-operations operator with a tailored loadout; he is a thief grabbing whatever is within reach. The M79, with its clunky break-action mechanism and single round of ammunition, feels exactly like the kind of overkill tool a mercenary or military contractor would toss into a supply crate without a second thought—and exactly the kind of weapon Drake would grab without a second thought if it meant getting out of a bad spot.

In Their Own Story

The corridor reeked of cordite and wet stone. Drake pressed his back against the crumbling wall, his 9 mm clicking dry. Three men in black tactical gear fanned out ahead, rifles raised, boots crunching on broken tile. Sully's voice crackled in his ear, already three seconds behind: "You got a grenade, Nate?"

He didn't. But the supply crate half-buried in the rubble to his left had a faded stencil: a fat green tube and the words "40 MM HIGH EXPLOSIVE—HANDLE WITH CARE." Drake pried the lid open with his knife, revealing the M79—grease-stained, barrel cold, a single round nestled beside it. He broke the action, slid the shell home, and snapped the barrel shut with a heavy clack. "Yeah, Sully. I got something better."

The first mercenary rounded the corner, finger tightening on his trigger. Drake didn't aim. He just pointed the launcher at the center of the group and pulled. The blast slammed through the hallway like a physical wall—concrete chunks, shattered glass, and three men torn from their boots. The ringing in his ears was deafening. But the hallway was silent. And empty.

Reader's Guide

In the Uncharted series, the M79 functions as a single-shot, area-damage weapon. The player breaks the action, loads a 40 mm high-explosive round, aims, and fires. The round detonates on impact or after a short fuse, producing an explosive blast that damages enemies in a radius and can destroy destructible cover such as sandbags, wooden crates, and thin walls. Because the weapon holds only one round at a time and the player typically carries only a small number of spare rounds, timing the shot is critical. The M79 first becomes available as a pickup weapon in the early-to-mid sections of the campaign, usually found in supply crates or dropped by enemies in specific encounters. It is not a weapon the player carries persistently; once the rounds are spent, the launcher is discarded. There are no upgrade paths or attachments for the M79 in the series—it is a fixed, single-purpose tool. Narratively, the M79 reinforces the series' core fantasy: Drake is resourceful, not overpowered. He grabs whatever the environment offers, and the M79 is the ultimate "I need to clear this room right now" answer. Its limited ammo and single-shot nature force the player to think in terms of decisive moments rather than sustained fire, making each use feel weighty and consequential within the flow of the treasure-hunt gameplay.

Did You Know?

• The real-world M79 is a break-action, single-shot launcher: the player must physically break the barrel down, insert a 40 mm round, and reassemble the weapon before firing the next shot.
• The 40 mm high-explosive round used by the M79 is the same caliber standard used by many modern military grenade launchers, including the M203 and M320.
• In the Uncharted games, the M79's limited round count means a single misfire or poorly timed shot can leave the player with no area-damage option for the remainder of an encounter—and the frantic scramble for a backup pi
• The M79's real-world service history spans from the Vietnam War era through the 1990s, making it a period-appropriate find in the military supply caches scattered throughout the Uncharted campaign—a relic of Cold War fir