The last three “Uncharted” video games played out more like the player is following the script of a movie rather than a video game so developer Naughty Dog will be doing things differently for “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.”
Naughty Dog reveals that players and gamers of the fourth and likely the last installment of the very successful video game franchise will have tactical freedom in the larger game environment.
To be exclusively released on the PlayStation 4 sometime this year, “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” will be employing an open sandbox gameplay approach, reports the Australian edition of the International Business Times.
The latest edition of the open-world action adventure third person video game will give gamers more options to achieve their goals and accomplish their missions and objectives.
Not forcing the gameplay on gamers
Unlike in the first three editions of the Uncharted video game series, “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” will not force gameplay choices on gamers. This was revealed by Ricky Cambier, co-lead designer of the game.
With the open sandbox approach of the upcoming game, players are actually free to solve the challenges posed by the game depending on how they prefer to do it.
So it’s not like there’s a golden path that gamers need to follow because anywhere they chose to go in the game’s large environment, they can actually discover something. But the bottomline is, all the things they do in every challenge or stage must lead to the ultimate goal of the game.
Cambier said that the idea of designing an open layout of the game is to make sure that every space or area where the gamers chose to go, they will find something new or surprising. If gamers decide to turn the corner, they get to see something. If they go straight, they might discover a ledge, or if they turn this way, they get to see some break in the road or something.
So every path has that gameplay action as well as tempo that gamers want. That was not available in the first three Uncharted video games, where gameplay was actually forced upon gamers.
Glimpse of gameplay demo
Naughty Dog gave gamers a glimpse of this open sandbox approach to “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” during the PlayStation Experience event in Las Vegas in December last year.
The gameplay trailer showed Nathan, the hero of the game, using the grappling hook to swing from ledges and cross the expansive jungle terrain in many different and interesting ways. He was also shown using a wide range of acrobatic maneuvers to take down his enemies.
The only apprehension of some gaming analysts about the open sandbox approach to be used by Naughty Dog on “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” is it might affect the cinematic proficiency of the game, which is widely regarded for its superb writing.