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Uncharted 4 Has 10X Playable Space of Past Entries, In-Game Cutscenes

Watch the latest Uncharted 4 mini-documentary.

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The latest "making of" video for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End was released today. This one, called "Pushing Technical Boundaries," showcases Naughty Dog developers talking about how the power of the PlayStation 4 is allowing the game to be bigger, denser, and more detailed than any entry that's come before.

Check it out:

In the video, developers talk about how A Thief's End has around 10 times the explorable space than past entries in the series. As we've seen in previous trailers, players can explore and complete levels in multiple ways, instead of being forced down one particular path.

This created a challenge for the developers. With more choices available to players, Naughty Dog needed to find a way to make the story seem "just as intense" as past entries, which have been more linear in nature.

Also in the video, developers talk about how A Thief's End's world is not only larger, but also denser and more detailed. Additionally, it's revealed that Uncharted 4 has in-game cutscenes. Instead of cutting to a black screen between gameplay and cutscene, A Thief's End will blur this together into one sequence.

Finally, we learn that the game's actors, including Nolan North (Nathan Drake), Troy Baker (Sam Drake), and Emily Rose (Elena Fisher), had their facial expressions recorded, in addition to their body movements. This was not the case for the first three games, and it should help make the characters feel more alive, North said.

This is the third of five planned episodes in the series. The first one was called "The Evolution of a Franchise," while the second was titled "Growing Up With Drake." Here are the names of the others, which are coming later:

  • The Making of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: Pushing Technical Boundaries Part 2
  • The Making of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: In the End

It's been a long road to release for Uncharted 4. The PS4-exclusive was first scheduled to launch in 2015, but was later moved to March 2016 and then again to April 2016 before its latest delay to May 2016. The game has now finally gone gold, meaning Naughty Dog has finished development on the base game.

Work is now presumably underway for the game's expansion content. For the first time in Uncharted's history, Naughty Dog will release a story-based expansion for A Thief's End.

Uncharted 4 is the final entry in the series that Naughty Dog plans to develop and the last one to feature Nathan Drake in the lead role. However, the series may live on with another developer.

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