Back in the PlayStation era, Naughty Dog gave us Crash Bandicoot, a light hearted, whimsical series of mascot based platforming games. In the PS2 era, they delivered Jak and Daxter- the games were still mascot based platformers, but they were significantly grimmer and less funny now.
In the PS3 era, we got Uncharted from them. Uncharted, with its realistic settings, was even more grounded and less whimsical than any of their other offerings so far, although it did have some of Naughty Dog’s trademark humor. And right at the end of the PS3 era, they gave us The Last of Us, an amazing game that was depressing and a far cry from their original lighthearted games.
When Naughty Dog showed off Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End at E3 in June, that’s what it looked like too- it looked grim, it looked dark, and it sparked fears that Naughty Dog was going to lose the trademark humor, witty banter, and series protagonist Nathan Drake’s one liner quips that have defined these games, and are unquestionably a huge reason for their success.
Not so. In a recent discussion with Eurogamer, Naughty Dog addresses this concern head on and promised the game will still be lighthearted.
“Uncharted is a completely different franchise, and appeals to its audience for completely different reasons. I don’t think The Last of Us marks a new direction in tone that all of our future games are going to take on. We’d alienate a lot of our Uncharted fans. We want to keep it a light-hearted romp. I think from a technical standpoint we’ve learnt some things from the Last of Us that will feed into Uncharted – in fact it strengthens our desire to keep them distinct.”
That said, he also noted that the technical expertise Naughty Dog had gotten over the development of The Last of Us would transfer over to Uncharted.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is presently scheduled for a release exclusively on the PS4 some time in 2015. Stay tuned.
