One of the biggest takeaways from the presence of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End at PlayStation Experience last weekend was the fact that Naughty Dog has implemented dialogue trees into the game’s single-player mode.
For a feature more associated with open-world RPGs or Telltale’s episodic adventure series, their inclusion took fans of the swashbuckling franchise by surprise, though Creative Director Neil Druckmann cautioned that the storytelling mechanics won’t be widespread in A Thief’s End, with the studio planning to adhere to a less-is-more approach.
Speaking with Greg Miller of Kinda Funny Games, Druckmann highlighted the advantages of introducing dialogue options.
“There were a few spots in the game where we felt dialogue options would give us something interesting. So with Sam talking to Nate about his adventures, we thought this was cool nod to the fans. Where would Nate start the story? Let’s give fans the option so they can start the story wherever they want.”
Further in the interview, the Naughty Dog developer went on to say that the addition of player choice in dialogue aligns with the core themes of Uncharted 4, as the studio looks to close the book on Sony’s action-adventure juggernaut.
“These characters are real to us,” said Druckmann. “When we’re writing for them you can hear their voices in your head. But it felt it was time to wrap it up. We felt like we really came up with something that looks at the three previous games as the start of an arc and this is the finish.”
Fresh off the back of the recent multiplayer beta, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is on course to hit PlayStation 4 on March 18, 2016.
