The studio is about to turn a page with the launch of the next and final adventure of Nathan Drake. With Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, we will witness the end of the adventures of Nathan Drake, the adventurer who is ready to bow out once and for all, exclusively on PlayStation 4. For Naughty Dog, it is naturally a very special moment: developers are preparing to say goodbye to the heroes, but also to the franchise (for good?). Not surprisingly, the emotion takes over the job.
In an interview with the Official PlayStation Magazine, Neil Druckmann, co-director of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End says:
“We increasingly feel that this is the end of an era in the studio. We’ve been with this franchise for almost ten years now from inception all the way to this point. Luckily, we don’t get too much time to dwell on that feeling because we’re so busy, but every once in a while…you know? I remember when Bruce [Straley] and I came onto the project. A few weeks later we pitched a pretty new story to the team, kind of like a new direction for the project. A lot of things were pretty rough and just slotted in, so there was an ending but it wasn’t as well defined, and at some point we defined more of the [plot] thread and a more definitive ending, and we did a second pitch for the team.”
Proof that it is too soon for the farewell, the motion capture is finished for the main cast. Neil Druckmann also confessed about getting emotional over how the game series would end:
“You could tell people in the room were just getting emotional as we were discussing the specifics of how this series is going to end. That was one of those moments where you felt the excitement and anticipation for our fans to experience this, but a little bit of sadness because it’s ending. The other day we finished motion capture with Emily Rose (Elena) and Richard McGonagle (Sully), and some people got teary-eyed in the room because they’ve been part of this project for many, many years now and it’s wrapping up.”
The release date for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is scheduled 18 March, 2016.
