Naughty Dog has been one of the most successful first-party game developers for Sony, delivering hit series like Uncharted and, more recently, The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2. These games have gained praise for their stories, their performances, and the strengths of their sequels.
Despite this, there are some strong reasons that Naughty Dog should leave both Uncharted and The Last of Us behind to focus on new IPs. The reasons why lie with some of the things that made both franchises successful to begin with, as well as the fates of other triple-A developers over the past decade.
The 2010s have seen some major long-running franchises stagnate, even those with a major focus on story like Naughty Dog’s games. BioWare’s Mass Effect damaged its reputation with the clunky animation bug-filled launch of Mass Effect: Andromeda. Bethesda hurt its reputation with the similarly problematic release of Fallout 76. If Naughty Dog continues to focus on Uncharted and The Last of Us, the studio and fans may begin to see diminishing returns.
Naughty Dog games are known for their intense focus on character-driven storytelling, particularly The Last of Us. The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2 focused almost entirely on developing the stories of just two main characters, Joel and Ellie. Everything throughout the story ties back to these two characters, even after Joel’s death. The second game ends with Ellie trying to play Joel’s guitar after injuring her hand in the sort of revenge-fueled fight that ultimately caused Joel’s demise.
The post-apocalyptic setting of The Last of Us may be one of its key strengths, but it would be very little without Joel and Ellie’s perspective. A Last of Us game which moves on from these characters to focus on other people in the same setting would likely miss the point of what drew players to the first two games. Similarly, a Last of Us Part 3 which continued to focus on Ellie would undermine some of the biggest moments of the second game, as well as the poignant and cinematic note it closed on.
The last Uncharted game, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, skillfully wraps up Nathan Drake’s story as well. Not only does much of the game, including its title, feel like a last hurrah for the famous character, but the game ends with Drake beginning to tell the story of Uncharted to his daughter Cassie. While this hints at the possibility of an Uncharted game with a new protagonist, it’s actually a touching ending which would be hard to emulate and likely leaves the series better left alone.
Naughty Dog’s greatest appeal is its bold, original stories. If the studio continues to develop just a few key franchises like Uncharted and The Last of Us these games risk feeling like soulless cash-cows. Not only that, but the type of stories that the studio can tell will be limited. Nathan Drake is a character designed to complement the world of Uncharted just as Joel and Ellie’s story complements the setting of The Last of Us games. If the series march on without them or undo their stories’ senses of closure to make them return, it’s likely the new narratives would feel unsatisfying.
Naughty Dog should continue to work on original stories by weaving new narratives in worlds designed to create a synthesis between the setting and the main characters to tell a single, concise story with a clear conclusion. To be satisfying these stories – and the settings that come with them – need closure. Having achieved that in both The Last of Us 2 and Uncharted 4, Naughty Dog should explore new possibilities.
The Last of Us 2 is available now on PS4.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply