Neil Druckmanngame director of both The Last of Us and Uncharted 4, discussed with The Washington Post topics such as Elder Ringthe differences between the creation of video games and movies and not only.
Speaking of famous creation FromSoftware, Druckmann admitted that he was intrigued by the out-of-the-box approach to storytelling. Elden Ring tells the story not through traditional methods, but through the freedom and independence of the players. This style of play encouraged Naughty Dog to new thinking: to tell more interesting stories not only through cinematography.
Regarding the differences between making games and making movies, Druckmann recalled that “creative decisions are difficult to make, especially when it comes to large-scale collaborations.” While working on The Last of Us for HBO the team had to scrap some cool ideas in favor of ideas that “led to the core of the story”.
Druckmann cited deafness as an example Sam is one of the changes that was included in the series. The hero, by the way, is played by a deaf actor. Sam’s deafness opened up some interesting storytelling possibilities for the show’s creators that are in some ways more impressive than the live action sequences.
In addition, Druckmann was asked about the balance between artistic integrity and commercial requirements. The game director admitted that he does not strive for maximum profit – in this case, he would work on Crash Bandicoot 17. It is enough for him to have a profit, which is enough for a new project. According to Druckmann, first the artist reaches a certain audience, and then the already successful businessman gets the opportunity to grow and hire more people to continue his business.
At the end of the interview, Druckmann expressed his admiration for the gaming industry, noting its ability to constantly surprise and evolve. Talking about the best games of 2022, he chose as his favorites Vampire SurvivorsElden Ring и The Case of the Golden Idle.
Full interview
Recall that Naughty Dog is engaged in several game projects at once. We already know about the multiplayer project for The Last of Us, which should be told in more detail this year. Recently, one of the insiders said that Druckmann’s next game will be exactly The Last Of Us Part III – the triquel, by the way, already has a script outline.
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