Naughty Dog’s head-honchos Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann have today talked to Sony’s PlayStation Blog about the reveal of their latest project, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, its graphical fidelity and what to expect from the blockbuster hit.
It’s known to all that the PlayStation 4’s considerable capabilities can make for a lot more ambitious and epic projects, but Director Neil Druckmann has sounded out the ability for more ‘character subtlety’ as one of the key factors to its power.
‘’It’s a subtle touch but as he raises his eyebrows the colour of his skin changes, as the blood flows away from that compression – and all of those things just let a realistic character become more grounded and believable,’’ mentions Druckmann.
The ability to show pain in a more realistic way: detailing grimaces and face-pulling means that gamers will become far more invested in the narrative that the developer’s are trying to convey.
In terms of gameplay and what to expect from the fourth Uncharted game, both Straley and Druckmann stress that the technique used for previous entries in the series was one of ‘’keeping things core’’; always cross-checking to make sure the vision and narrative were as one; keeping the core systems in check, both gameplay-wise and story-wise. Now, it’s a matter of attempting to expand on Nathan’s move-set and core tenets whilst remaining true to the balance and vision of previous games.
‘’Gameplay-wise we’re just going deeper and richer with all the mechanics, it’s still going a rollercoaster ride; it’s still going to have that pacing; we still want you on the edge of your seat; but at the same time, we want to make sure that you as players, I as a player, want to play this thing and feel invested. We want to make sure we have that with the epicness, with the pacing, with the characters that we’re known for,’’ says Straley.
‘’Ultimately I think it will come down to how good is the gameplay, how good is the story; because without that, you can have all the graphical bells and whistles and it doesn’t matter – but, if you have that really strong foundation, those things can really help to take you over the top and get immersed in the journey,’’ surmises Druckmann.
Uncharted 4 is scheduled for release in 2015. Are you looking forward to playing Naughty Dog’s latest? Don’t forget to give us your views below and stay tuned for all the comprehensive E3 coverage this week.