Two weeks have gone by and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has seen great commercial and critical success. Of course, like with any big triple-A game, not every idea will make it into the final game. In an interview with Glixel, Uncharted 4’s director Neil Druckmann explains what was cut from the game.
Some of the moments cut from the game include small things like a cooking segment in Nathan Drake’s house where you could add different ingredients. Druckmann explained “you could make the food too spicy, and they would have different dialogue, depending on how spicy you made it.” There was also a whole sequence that was fully working where Nathan and Sam could have a snowball fight. It was cut due to the creators thinking it was tonally wrong. Maybe it wouldn’t fit the tone, but it could’ve been a great easter egg for a second playthrough.
There was also supposed to be a segment with Nathan Drake walking around a prison talking to people while he looked for Sam, but it was cut as the team felt “we needed to get on with it.” Another cut segment that seemed too long was a different take on the boat scene for the game’s opening. Originally it was going to have Nathan thrown off the boat and have to swim back to shore, but was changed because the team felt “it was really long and unnecessary.”
There was a whole action sequence where the map room starts to collapse, the crane is collapsing into the cave, and Nathan has to hold on to the room as it’s flipping and rotating. Druckman said that they were pretty far along in the scene, but it had to be cut. There was also a whole game mechanic that was cut where Nathan could shoot holes in wooden boxes that you could climb, but because the team couldn’t get the execution right it was removed.
Finally, there were two silly little segments that had to be cut. The first one was being able to play fetch with the dog in the epilogue, but because the dogs animation looked janky it had to be cut. One sequence that Druckman was “bummed” about cutting was a part in the manor where you would pretend to swordfight with the kids, which would introduce the sword-fighting mechanic that would be used for the final boss fight.
The interview also has some interesting segments from Druckmann regarding the game’s development. One story was about a sexist focus tester who was upset about Nathan Drake having a daughter, stating “Not you, too, Naughty Dog! Goddamnit. I guess I’m done with Uncharted if you guys ever make another one, with his daughter.” Of course, Druckmann ignored these ridiculous claims.
When asked if any of the cut content would be put in a director’s cut version of Uncharted 4, Druckman replied “The only one I’m wistful for is the sword fight. That’s the only one I feel wouldn’t hurt the pacing , or the tone, or something else.”
Since its release on PS4, Uncharted 4 has sold over 3 million copies and garnered much critical praise. Hopefully the success of the game could lead to a possible director’s cut and we could experience some of these cut segments.