If you are a Nathan Drake fan, this is where your fears come full circle. Call us psychic, but somehow we did imagine a sort of delay for the next Uncharted just before its final release from Naughty Dog. And needless to say, there's now an extended year's wait before any sort of development in the release of the game.
As disappointing as it may sound, but 'Uncharted 4: A Thief's End' has been delayed and will now be released in Spring 2016. Game directors Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann have also confirmed the news via the official PS Blog.
The company says that it has made the "difficult choice of pushing the game's release date. Giving us a few extra months will make certain that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End not only meets the team's high standards but the high standards that gamers have come to expect from a Naughty Dog title."
Well, looking at things from a more positive viewpoint, delay to a game isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially when it involves a major name as Uncharted. We hardly think the developers will just want to push out a game just for the sake of pushing it out, trying to keep up with the deadline.
And since the company adds the lines "this game is much more ambitious than we originally envisioned," here's a quick look at five potential reasons that could justify the delay to the game. Since it's getting extra development time, fans will expect the end product to be worth the wait. We are expecting new additions, though.
A More Human-like Drake
Taking full advantage of this newly announced delay, we think Naughty Dog would do good if it decides on adding new details to the in-game characters, especially Nathan Drake. Drake is well and good, and easily one of the most identified videogame characters in the industry. However, we feel that beneath that hard and unforgiving exterior, there's a regular guy like most of us. And if Naughty Dog is indeed delaying the game, we would like to think that it's doing something that would underline Drake's "other side" a bit more. You could show Drake as a "hollow shell of man that he once used to be," for instance.
Improved Melee Attacks
If there's one thing Naughty Dog could do, taking advantage of this delay, is make the game's melee combat system a bit more improved and "out of the box." While all the three Uncharted games until now do have melee-based combat systems, they aren't up to the standard most of us would like it to be, keeping clear of comparisons this time, though. Anyway you know for a fact that Drake's animation needs a bit of upgrade (since it cannot tackle more than one person at once), but we would like a more precise control mapping for the melee system that would make hand-to-hand combat more realistic and a tad easy to handle.
A Bigger Take on Combat Mechanism
The overall deal with the combat in all the Uncharted games is quite pleasing, to say the least. But since the term "good job" is the most harming thing ever (see Whiplash), we would only expect the combat system in the game to get better with the help of the delay. Since you can take multiple paths to your objectives, there's no reason why there can't be a diverse set of combat elements to go with it. While sprinting over to a guy, landing some telling punches on him, and prying the gun from his hands still sounds cool, but there could be more that matches the game's upcoming rope feature that can attach to definite mantle positions.
More Realistic Scenario Approach
All the Uncharted games have stood out from the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefields in terms of offering the player varied ways to reach his or her target. Whereas others offer a more linear approach to the in-game enemies and what happens next, the Uncharted series has always looked to push the boundaries of the more traditional side of things, often resulting in telling gameplay elements and a usually gripping storyline. With all hands now involved with the upcoming Uncharted 4, and with the delay now at hand, we are expecting Naughty Dog to build upon those elements.
Better Climbing (Hills and Otherwise)
If going by the previous in-game footages that emerged for the upcoming title, it seems there might be some new mechanics involved, as far as climbing tall objects are concerned. While in the past Uncharted games there hasn't been much work put into the way Drake climbs up hills (remains mostly linear), this new game has shown that there is now the probability where you can venture almost any path from the your way up, that looks fit and climbable. Naughty Dog has already laid the foundation for a more advanced climbing mechanic; now let's see it work on the mech to apply the finishing touches.
