In an interview with the Dolby Institute, Naughty Dog audio director Philip Kovats and senior sound designer Robert Krekel have discussed at length the process and innovations which are going into making Uncharted 4: A Thief's End sound every bit as good as it looks.
Naughty Dog aims for a "hyper real pulp sound," with the development team greatly admiring the scores of movies such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, as well as the work of Richard King, who has contributed to films such as The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar. While they try to remain grounded, they'll push things if they need to, and part of making a great score is “to know when to flip that switch."
Music in the game revolves context and story, both of which are described as being "king". The sound team works with the game's directors from the earliest stages so they can “get into their heads,” anticipate what they're looking for, and experiment – pushing sound and technology while trying to developer new techniques to solve problems.
Composer Henry Jackson works with creative director Neil Druckmann, with the former offering cues to see what works, while the latter gives direction notes to finish the mix. The result of this is a dynamic score which reflects the events of the game but certain moments have music keyed to them, as they know players will arrive at these important scenes.
Much of Nathan Drake's character comes from Nolan North's improvisations. He and Troy Baker, playing Nate's brother Sam, love to play off each other. Anywhere up to 98% of recorded dialogue is used in the game.
In the interview it's also revealed that Naughty Dog isn't working on any kind of VR game or experience at the present time, but the sound team is very excited about the technology.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End launches on March 18th, 2016.