As Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End turns 10 years old, a feature-length documentary has appeared that reveals myriad new details about what the game looked like under Amy Hennig.
After leaving the project in 2014, much of Hennig’s version of Uncharted 4 was thrown out; the story was rewritten, levels were cut, and a lot of ground work was repurposed as direction was handed to Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley.
We’ve known that for a long time, but this video, from Thekempy, brings to light many details about Amy Hennig’s rendition of the game, and it’s a fascinating watch:
In it, we learn about lots of similarities and differences between the early version of Uncharted 4 and the game that shipped in 2016.
This includes many different plot details, characters, and environments, how levels played out, cut sequences, and more.
We won’t go into spoiler territory in case you’ve not played Uncharted 4 yourself, but if you have, and you’re a fan of the series, this is definitely worth a watch.
It isn’t just spurious claims and rumours, either — pretty much everything mentioned in the video is backed up with work-in-progress gameplay footage, concept art, performance capture, and so on. It’s an extremely thorough breakdown of what’s known about Hennig’s version of the game.
We do also know that Uncharted 4 was in trouble mid-way through development, with Sony threatening to pull funding if it didn’t come together. It sounds like a lot of the drastic changes were perhaps necessary to get it out the door.
Even so, seeing Nolan North, Emily Rose, and other actors going through scenes that never appear in the final game is a bit of a trip; it’s like peering at an Uncharted game from an alternate dimension.
The video is nearly 90 minutes long, so it’s a bit of a commitment, but if you’re at all interested in the history of this game, or how games are made at this level, it’s definitely something to watch when you have the chance.
