Naughty Dog is not willing to let the Uncharted franchise go that easily. An Uncharted 5 entry, whenever it happens, will possibly see the developer consider an open-world Uncharted experience unlike before.
Speaking with PCGames.de in a recent interview, co-lead designer Kurt Margenau revealed that an open-world setting was considered for Uncharted 4 but was then dropped as Naughty Dog did not want to “throw away everything that makes Uncharted Uncharted.” However, the developer intends to keep pursuing the goal of an open-world Uncharted game in the future.
“I think we will continue to explore this idea and experiment with larger areas or open worlds or whatever you want to call them,” said Uncharted: The Lost Legacy director Shaun Escayg. “All of these and other ideas are a blank canvas that will allow us to tell great stories, create complex characters, make them interact, and increase or decrease the pace of the game.”
Escayg furthermore added that an open-world Uncharted game “can and will exist regardless of the characters that we currently know.”
Nathan Drake, the face of the franchise, missed out on The Lost Legacy while he more or less sent the franchise off with Uncharted 4. Hence, raising the question of who will be heading Uncharted 5?
“We are always introducing new characters and villains, and I think the world of Uncharted is a lot bigger than the stories we’ve told so far,” said Escayg. “Our hope for the future is that we can build on that and create characters as beloved as Nathan and Chloe in the expanded world of Uncharted.”
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was released as a conclusion to a decade-old journey. The game was one of the best-selling exclusives on PlayStation 4 and a worthy goodbye to the franchise, or at least that was what Naughty Dog said at the time.
Sony Interactive Entertainment will likely bring the franchise back in due time. Until then, the publisher will be releasing Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on PlayStation 5 in the coming week and on PC later in the year.
