Speaking during an interview with GamesRadar, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Game Director, Bruce Straley, touched on the inclusion of the jeep in the upcoming PlayStation 4-exclusive sequel, describing it as a ‘significant’ addition to the game.
"Scope-wise, this is our version of what a new set piece is in the series," said Straley, adding that the jeep has "much more significant" in Uncharted 4 than the muddy, high-speed chase sequence.
"You actually see it earlier in the game," he continued, "you get used to all the contro ls [in] much larger environments than this, you can play with the jeep."
Straley went on to add that large areas have been specifically created for the vehicle, as there are locations "that you can’t necessarily traverse through on foot," such as "types of mud, bouldering over terrain, rocky terrain."
He added: "We’re going wide when we want to [and] we’re going to narrow it down when the story calls for it. It’s all about pacing. We look at our needs. What do we need to get out of this? What do we need to say about the characters? How do we use the tools in our kit? You have to find your way, to use these tools you have like the rope, the piton, the jeep. The jeep you can get in and out of throughout these ‘explore areas’."
"Because of the PS4, we do not have the constraints with memory that we had in the past," added Creative Director, Neil Druckmann. "So in the set piece, normally, we’d be going down one road [now] you can see the road branches and splits up. There’s a ton exploration in this game."
You can check out the jeep in action in the extended E3 2015 demo for Uncharted 4 here. The game is due out exclusively on PS4 in spring 2016, and will feature real-time cutscenes. Read our impressions here.