GameInformer’s month long Uncharted 4; A Thief’s End extravaganza continues with an in depth interview with Creative Directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. The whole thing is behind this link, but here are some of the main points…

• Neil and Bruce talk about how it feels coming off The Last of Us, taking over the Uncharted direction. Neil says that they feel as though they have found the game’s voice, but now they need to figure out how to fully flesh that out.
• We don’t know exactly when the interview took place, but Neil says that they have a year left. If you were optimistically hoping for a summer release, I think you will be disappointed. It seems we are definitely headed for a winter release.
• Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley worked a Game Directors on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and later moved to develop the game that became The Last of Us. Neil tells us that because of that; Uncharted 4 will be the culmination of everything learned from Uncharted 2 and The Last of Us, rather than just a building on Uncharted 2.
• The relatability of Nathan and Uncharted was called into question by the interviewer; a question that was well dealt with by Neil, who remarked that while the world of Uncharted is stylized, there are always themes that are universal, and that we all deal with.
• The final third of the interview is, I think, particularly interesting because Bruce talks about where, ultimately, the Uncharted stories come from, and that is from within Nathan Drake. Straley also made it appear that there may be more stories in there to tell. (This is why I believe there can not be Uncharted without Nathan.)
• Towards the end there is also an interesting discussion about linearity, and how some areas will offer more than others. I have personally never understood why linearity is often used as a benchmark of quality; if a narrative calls for it, it needs it. Anyhow, I can’t see he actually narrative of Uncharted being anything but linear, but the movement through the environments are reportedly much less so.

Check out the whole interview, though – there was a lot else said that I haven’t referred to.