Naughty Dog’s interview with Edge regarding Uncharted 4 has been fully transcribed. We’ll run down the details with you below.
Edge did do their job and ask about Amy Hennig’s exit, but ND opted to stay mum. Following below are details on the game’s development, graphics, and story.
We’ll start on graphics, as ND calls the game the prettiest this generation has ever produced. Textures have at least quadrupled from Uncharted 3, thanks to a new system to render detailed surfaces using background LOD algorithms instead of performance adaptive tessellation. They also made a physically based shader for over two years, and even Drake’s model has scaled up, from 250 bones in his Uncharted 3 body to now 800 bones in his face alone.
The combat system incorporates stealth, traversal, melee, and gunplay, and is described as an evolution of what they built from Uncharted 2. They have modified many systems, going so far as to rebuilt their animation system from scratch to use analogue movement with real body physics. Slip events are now subsequently based on angel and jump distance, and fixed grapple points give Drake freedom to swing, rappel, climb or run on cliff faces. Drake’s Piton itself acts similar to Lara’s Pickaxe, but gives the player more freedom.
Spoilers follow below.
We don’t want to spoil too much here, so we’ll be brief. The game picks up 4 years after Drake has retired, when his brother Sam brings him back in with a lead on a 15 year old obsession for both men: the treasure of Henry Avery, a haul from 2 years of plunder, worth a billion dollars today. Sam believe he has a lead on Libertaria, every pirate’s utopia and the source of Henry’s treasure.
Uncharted 4 is planned for release on PlayStation 4 this year.
