GamesTM has released an interview with Naughty Dog writer Josh Scherr and lead designer Ricky Cambier about the differences between Uncharted and The Last of Us, how Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is shaping up, and what The Order 1886 got wrong.
Asked about the leap from the first Uncharted to The Last of Us and whether a similar revolution in graphics might take place on PS4, Cambier said “We’re still early days with the new systems and obviously the first round of things that came out, a lot of that was cross-gen ports that just up-resolutioned their assets for the PS4.
"But what’s exciting is that we’re still early days [with the PS4]; if you look at the first Uncharted and how that looked versus how The Last Of Us looked… I have difficulty fathoming that we’ll have that kind of graphical leap in the next several years. The reality is, we probably will as we learn the systems better, so it’s all up from here, and that’s exciting.”
The developer added that while Killzone: Shadow Fall looked great for a launch title and The Order 1886 is probably one of the finest looking games ever developed, they'll almost certainly be surpassed in the years to come.
Cambier went on to discuss how Uncharted has always been about exploring the unknown and big cinematic moments.
“Every Uncharted game continues to push for this sense of adventure and wonder – it’s about exploring places, right? Literally going off the map, going uncharted, but keeping you on the stick. We know [staying in control] creates a sense of adventure in the player – you think of some of the biggest moments in the franchise’s history, like the train scene in Uncharted 2, the airplane sequence [in Uncharted 3]. The player gets to be hands-on with those all the way through; that’s something that’s fairly unique."
Yet he adds that Naughty Dog explored a more intimate story with The Last of Us and wants to offer plenty of emotional, personable moments in Uncharted 4.
Scherr also discussed the importance of balancing gameplay and cinematic, something many feel The Order 1886 failed to do.
"Ideally, you take control away from the player as little as possible so they feel as engaged as they can with what’s going on. That makes us look really closely at our story beats and think about how we can make as much of each individual section playable, rather than just have these scenes be a passive experience. That’s something we’ve gotten progressively better with as we’ve gone on – the first Uncharted had some lovely moments, but you weren’t really in control of them, so for Uncharted 2 making them available was a big goal.
“Likewise, we took that even further with The Last Of Us; the whole sequence at the end with the hospital was intended to be a cutscene, but we realised it would be much more powerful if it was on the stick, so we made that change near the end of production, and it improved the scene so much more. We’re always looking to do stuff like that that merges story with actual gameplay.”
Despite the backlash against Ready at Dawn and The Order 1886, Naughty Dog says it's unfazed and we can expect a spectacular cinematic experience benefitting from the explosive action Uncharted has always been known for and the more intimate moments brought to us by The Last of Us.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End will be released in Spring 2016.
