One of the biggest reveals for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End at Sony’s PlayStation Experience 2015 keynote was the dialog system in the game- it came as a bit of a surprise. Here was a linear story focused game, and it was offering players at least an illusion of choice by giving them dialog choices. Maybe Naughty Dog could actually flesh it out, and let players experience the story differently (if only a little), giving them more agency in a series that has traditionally been all about taking it away from the player?
As it turns out, that won’t be happening. Hollie Bennett from Playstation Access spoke with Arne Meyer, Community Strategist at Naughty Dog, about the dialog choices, and Naughty Dog explained that it’s more salad dressing than anything meaningful.
“One of the things we’ve always said about what our philosophy is, is…How do we give you more player choices, more player agency?” Meyer explained. “So, we were experimenting with this and it felt like the right thing to do at sort of key moments…To give you a little bit more feel that you’re having a choice of what’s happening.
“We’re not going to go to the degree of an open world game,” Meyer said. “We’re still going back to telling a linear narrative and you’re still going to get the major beats.”
So, that’s a shame. Still, I’m glad they’re at least being upfront about it.