We Talk Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End With Naughty Dog

We are just about ready to launch the latest issue of our magazine, and as a special bonus, here is the full interview for the highly-awaited Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End that we did with Community Strategist Arne Meyer at Naughty Dog.

What is the background and setting for the game?

During the three years since Uncharted 3, Nathan Drake has left fortune hunting game and gotten into a more stable, legitimate (and less dangerous) lifestyle. He suddenly finds himself pulled back into the world of fortune hunting when his long lost brother, Sam, needs his help, and it’s an adventure he can’t resist. Uncharted 4 will take Nathan Drake around the globe, through jungle isles, urban cities and snow-capped peaks on the search for Libertalia and Henry Avery’s pirate fortune.

What has the PS4 allowed you to bring to the franchise that was not possible in previous games?

There are far too many things to list! Not to mention many things we can’t talk about right now, either. We saw a glimpse of what was possible with games on the PS4 when we developed The Last of Us Remastered and we were excited with what we could do when fully focused on developing a game from the ground up for the system. We’ve been able to do all the expected things – an increase in resolution to 1080p from the previous generation, increased polygon count for our models, more advanced shader techniques, new and expanded gameplay mechanics, and so on. Our cinematic scenes are now rendered in real-time. We could go on and on…

I think one of the most fun advancements that our community has noticed was the dynamic chest hair shown in the gameplay demo from the PlayStation Experience in 2014.

What are some of the locales players will encounter?

So far we’ve only talked about Madagascar and, if all goes well for Nathan and Sam, wherever Libertalia is located. But there will be various locations you’ll encounter throughout the game.

What can you tell us about the enemies in game and has the PS4 enabled you to up the AI and difficulty of the enemies?

No specific updates we can talk about at this time, but rest assured enemies and NPC AI is one of the areas that we’re applying everything we’ve learned from working on the previous Uncharted games and The Last of Us.

Will vehicles factor into the game as well?

We’ve always managed to include vehicles one way or another into all the Uncharted games, as they add another dimension and challenge to the game. Uncharted 4 will be no different.

Multiplayer was a big part of Uncharted 3, how do you plan to use it this time around?

We can say that multiplayer will be in Uncharted 4, however you’ll have to wait a bit longer before we are ready to reveal more.

Will there be any new movements with the game compared to past games in terms of what actions players can take?

Going back to the gameplay demo at PlayStation Experience from six months ago, it was pretty clear that Drake’s climbing mechanics and animation got a substantial upgrade. Climbing with Drake now has free flowing movement to it as Drake reaches out towards potential handholds, moves towards and onto them, and then looks for the next handhold. It looks really smooth and reduces the need to hit the jump button often, unless you are really impatient.

Are there new weapons that will be in the game and if so what will they be?

The arsenal for Drake, his allies, and their antagonists will be pretty varied. There will be some new weapons, along with some returning weapons that will be familiar to fans of the Uncharted series.

Music is a big part of the series so what can fans look forward to with this release?

We’re working with a new composer, Henry Jackman, for Uncharted 4. You may know him from his work as a composer on Captain America: The Winter Solider, Big Hero 6, and Wreck-It Ralph, among many, many other credits. Look him up; he’s done a great deal of awesome work in film. We’re all extremely excited to be working together – the music I’ve heard so far has sounded great!

To what do you attribute the success of the series upon?

While I’m sure we could break it down to a lot of individual factors, I feel it comes down to the basic combination of us creating a game that we ourselves would play, and pouring our heart and soul into every aspect of development.

As a follow up, how much pressure is there with this release compared to past releases?

There’s always pressure as we move from game to game within a series. We always want to learn from each game and push ourselves to advance technology, performance, gameplay – basically everything – to do things even better than we’ve done them in pervious iterations. Of course, we’re feeling the pressure we put on ourselves to outdo our previous efforts, but that’s what motivates us too.

Any update on how the movie is going?

Sorry, no updates at this time!

You can get the latest issue of our magazine this weekend at Barnes and Noble, Magzter, Magcloud and other outlets in print and electronic versions.