Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End ultimately became one of Naughty Dog’s most acclaimed games, but the version players experienced in 2016 was significantly different from the game Amy Hennig was originally developing.
In the latest episode of Kiwi Talkz, available exclusively for Premium Plus subscribers in the Insider Gaming App, former Naughty Dog VFX artist Matt Radford spoke about his time at the studio and what he saw of Hennig’s original vision for Uncharted 4.
Uncharted 4 Became A Different Experience
Radford joined Naughty Dog while Hennig was still working on Uncharted 4, giving him a firsthand look at the game’s early development. While he was relatively new to the industry at the time, he found himself working alongside Hennig and other members of the team on material for the highly anticipated sequel.
What he saw was not quite the Uncharted 4 that fans eventually played.
“Amy’s vision for the game that I saw didn’t have the same characters, like Sam, and I mean Sam was in it, but he was not the same guy,” Radford said. “It was like a very different, very different; like Sam was the villain.”
Sam ultimately became one of the central characters in Uncharted 4, but his role changed substantially during development. In the final game, Sam is Nathan Drake’s older brother who “returns to his life” after years of being presumed dead and helps pull Nathan back into treasure hunting.
In Hennig’s version, however, Sam was positioned as the villain.
Radford also recalled that the original Sam was played by a different actor.
“There was a bunch of differences: different actor, and that actor used to hang around Naughty Dog,” Radford said. “The original guy they had cast, he was really nice, and he works with Amy still on the Star Wars game.”
The changes to Sam were part of a much larger transition for Uncharted 4. Hennig left Naughty Dog in 2014 after working on the project, with Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley subsequently taking over development.
Radford was at Naughty Dog during that period and remembers just how early the project was when he first encountered Hennig’s version.
“I remember we built this green light demo for Uncharted 4 and it ran at like one FPS on like a PC,” Radford said. “Like it was super early. It was just like crazy scrappy back then.”
Despite the differences, Radford came away impressed by what he saw.
“And Amy’s vision seemed cool,” he said. “Like, to be honest, it seemed cool.”
However, Radford isn’t suggesting that Hennig’s version necessarily would have been better than the game that eventually shipped.
“But then again, Uncharted 4 was amazing,” he said. “So, you know, you can’t kind of fault Neil [Druckmann] and Bruce [Straley]’s vision because I loved that game and I loved the story they came up with.”
Elements of Hennig’s original story have been discussed publicly before, including the fact that Sam was initially conceived as a villain for the game. Nolan North has also previously revealed that a significant amount of the game’s original story was scrapped during the transition, with Todd Stashwick originally cast as Sam before Troy Baker took over the role.
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Radford’s comments, however, provide another firsthand look at that version of the game, particularly the characterization of Sam and the fact that a different actor had originally been attached to the role.
For Radford, though, his memories of Hennig extend beyond the story she was developing.
He recalled Hennig working late alongside the team to meet demanding deadlines and said she remained approachable despite her position at Naughty Dog.
“She’d be up with us, pinging you at two in the morning, ‘hey, what about this?’, and I felt that she was a very vulnerable person who was willing to not kind of be above you,” he said.
“Even when I was objectively a nobody, I felt she was really human, really vulnerable in the way she would talk to me. And that was very cool.”
Radford remains a fan of Hennig’s work and said he hopes players eventually get the opportunity to see another major game from her.
“I just want to see Amy have her comeback,” Radford said. “You know, when are we going to get Amy’s games? She’s really talented.”
What do you make of Radford’s thoughts on Amy Hennig’s version of Uncharted 4? Let us know down in the comments and in the official Insider Gaming Discord.
Kiwi Talkz is an interview series from Insider Gaming, exclusively as a first-run for Premium Plus subscribers. Download the free Insider Gaming App today on iOS and Android to help support true independent games media.
Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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