Uncharted 3? Uncharted 4? Uncharted 5, 6, 7, 8?
It looks like the career of Nathan Drake is only just beginning. This according to Naughty Dog’s Amy Hennig, who says that Nathan still has lots of adventures to go after Uncharted 2.
“The expectation with Uncharted 2 is that it can be an ongoing franchise as long as people want more of it.”
To quote her: “[Uncharted 2] doesn’t conclude the story at all,” she said. “The expectation with Uncharted 2 is that it can be an ongoing franchise as long as people want more of it. All these stories are self-contained. You don’t have to play the last one to play this one. Obviously, you’re going to get a little bit more out of it if you have. But [Nathan Drake]’s going to have a lot of adventures, thank god.”
Here is the full interview/Q&A with her.
Via PlayStation Blog
PS: Apparently Uncharted 2 Co-Lead Game Designer Neil Druckmann told press at this week’s Sony Holiday Preview Event that Uncharted 3 will look better than Uncharted 2. This is possible since the game engine can still be optimized to look better on PS3. Later in a Pulse interview, Uncharted 2 lead voice actor Nolan North said “We desperately want to do a third one.”
November 2009 update: In the latest issue of Official PlayStation magazine, Nathan Drake’s voice actor Nolan North has said: “Well I know we’re going to be assured a third one. That would just be financially irresponsible, not to do a third one.”
January 2010 update: I’m glad voice actors are so talkative by nature, because Nolan — who does both Drake’s mocap and dialog — once again comments about the sequel to Gamepro magazine. This time he outright mentions that Uncharted 3 will go into production this year, as “2010 is gonna be a busy year,” he said with a smile. The magazine continues to say there are sequels to Uncharted 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2 and other unannounced game projects that need to be voiced by him.
February 2010 update: Found some interesting recent interviews with Amy Hennig, where she talks about the thought process behind Uncharted 2 and by extension Uncharted 3. Since the second game’s success in outselling the original many times has now guaranteed a third one. To quote:
“I can’t share any concrete details on a game that people aren’t going to see for a while. A big part of our process is a ton of research into a ton of real-world locations, real-world history, real explorers, and then real objects of mythological or historical importance, and the actual real mysteries that are associated with these things. We take a mystery that we know exists… and then just have fun with it. We always want to say our stuff is set in the real world, but that there are still mysteries to find even in this world that we believe has been mapped, explored, and had satellite images taken of every corner… If you know how to look, you can find unexplored corners.
I don’t have anything concrete I can hand you at this point because I’d be giving up too much anyway,” she said, stressing the amount of work that goes into researching real historical mysteries like Sir Francis Drake’s burial at sea or Marco Polo’s lost fleet of ships. She continued: “It takes a little while, pre-production wise, to come up with the next one and make sure that we’ve met all of those goals… but those are the rules that we place for ourselves. Trying to stick to something that’s familiar and then do something unfamiliar with it.”
These same sequel principles are resonated by her in this video interview:
May 2010 update: Nathan Drake has apparently sent out radio messages on his official page at the German social network MeinVZ. To quote:
“Amundsen was the first to reach the South Pole. He wrote about a city that is said to have lain under the ice there. That doesn’t make any sense!”
“The South Pole is now 25 million years under ice. Such cities didn’t exist at that time. What has Amundsen seen? I can’t sleep because of that!”
“I’m probably crazy, but I want to know more about it. I will fly to Fredrikstad, Amundsen’s hometown. Must know it.”
November 2010 update: Evan Wells, the boss of Naughty Dog, said in a recent interview that “ICO’s the kind of game – that linear, narrative-driven experience – that we’re focused on making right now [with Uncharted 3]. Everyone in the office has been influenced by it greatly; it’s just a fantastic game. Story-driven games are very difficult and costly, but I hope people are now realising how story can really elevate the gaming experience.”
December 2010 update: Rumors suggest that Uncharted 3 will take Nathan Drake and company to the deserts of Africa, and that the PS3-exclusive will be revealed at the Spike TV Video Game Awards on Saturday, December 11th, 2010. We’ll post the first footage here if that happens.