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T he problem with a compelling
gaming franchise like Uncharted
is supply can never match
demand. What initially started out as a
game that drew deep influence fromTomb
Raider and Indiana Jones soon developed its
own identity through compelling cliffhanger
storytelling and relentless action.
The series kicked off in 2007 with PS3 title
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and followed with
three full titles culminating with the excellent
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End last year. Over the
last ten years the Uncharted universe has
expanded to comics, handheld games and even
a film that begins shooting later this year with
Tom Holland playing Nathan Drake.
Naughty Dog categorically declared that A
Thief’s End would be the end of the Nathan
Drake story. We’ve been around long enough
to know that such definitive statements are
usually overruled by commercial decisions
made further down the line.
However, years without the Uncharted
series is a bitter pill to swallow for fans of
the franchise, so the announcement of The
Lost Legacy in December last year, originally
planned as story DLC, helped ease the pain.
But as the team continued to work on the
content, it quickly transpired that they had more
on their hands than just DLC.
“Initially, it was just going to be a single
player story, but when we first started it, we
soon realised that we had so much material
that we ended up turning it into a full blown
game,” says co-writer on The Lost Legacy,
Josh Scherr.
“So now it’s a fully standalone Uncharted
game that you’re going to be able to buy at
retail.”
It’s hard to imagine getting bored with a
character like Nathan Drake, but if you’ve
been working on him – and his adventures –
for a decade, then even one of the brightest
properties in video games would eventually
become a chore.
“We were definitely done with the Nathan
Drake story when we finished A Thief’s End, so
while we had more Uncharted stories to tell,
we saw it as an opportunity to explore other
characters in the universe,” explains Scherr.
“We started with trying to come up with ideas
for it. We went down a number of different
roads and then we tried some ideas with nearly
every character in the series just to sort of
‘see’ it.
“We eventually started on Chloe Frazer,
partially because she’s an interesting character
with a potentially interesting backstory that
we never really got to see in Uncharted 2.
And then there’s the fact that she’s kind of
a fan favourite that we couldn’t really find a
place for in Uncharted 4; it seemed like a good
opportunity to flesh that out."
As Scherr has already mentioned, Frazer
The Uncharted universe sets off on a new adventure this month.We spoke with co-
writer Josh Scherr about this new direction for the series. Words Paul Jones
058 AUGUST 2017
visit GAMES FEATURE
We had so much material that
we ended up turning it into a
full blown game
Josh Scherr
st154_058-060_GAMES-Uncharted.indd 1 21/7/17 2:13 pm