‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’ Madagascar Gameplay Trailer: Gorgeous (Not Completely) Open World
So gorgeous. So soon. Don’t let me down, Naughty Dog.
When Sony announced the PS4, we were promised new, powerful hardware, capable of brigning graphics and gameplay to new heights that were simply unimaginable with older technology. For the most part, we’ve gotten that: a few years in and the PS4 is an eminently capable buy, with a deep library of impressive games and it’s first stellar holiday season behind it. But moments after the announcement, I basically only had one question running through my head: “what is Naughty Dog going to do with this?” The developer is the crown jewel of Sony’s first party studios, and I always had the feeling that we were never really going to see what the PS4 was capable of until Uncharted 4.
Sony released a solid 15 minutes of gameplay today featuring Sully, Drake and newcomer Sam Drake traipsing around Madagascar, seeing what there is to see. And yes, it looks amazing: aside from baseline excellent models and lighting, we’ve got truly impressive fluid mechanics, both in terms of water and more viscous mud. But it’s those big, open vistas that really make this game, for me. Uncharted is all about the spirit of an Indiana Jones/40s pulp adventure, and something about that endless blue sky captures that better than anything else. I’m not sure how I feel about those yellow outlines around enemies, though: takes a bit of the immersion away. Probably a custom option, of course.
And it’s not just a graphical showcase, either: the video showcases off a slightly more open world than the corridor mechanics of Uncharted that we’ve seen in the past. Not open open world, mind you, just what appears to be a slightly broader selection in how you approach the level. We see Drake sneak around back towards a more stealthy entrance, and anything to tamp down the “Nathan Drake is the most charming mass murderer you’ve ever met thing” is good news by me. We’ve had something like these options before, but here’s hoping for more.