Uncharted 3 Designer Admits Too Many Set Pieces Was a Major Flaw

A former Naughty Dog designer has suggested that the success of Uncharted 2 might have had a negative impact on the development of Uncharted 3. In an interview with FRVR, Benson Russell, who worked as a designer at Naughty Dog, revealed that the over-the-top set pieces in Uncharted 2, like the train sequence, came about organically during production. However, for Uncharted 3, the team initially brainstormed 10 or 12 set pieces, including the cargo plane sequence, with the intention of later narrowing them down to just a few. Unfortunately, that plan never came to fruition, and almost all of the set pieces ended up in the final game. This forced writer and director Amy Hennig to weave these massive action sequences into the story, even if it meant shoehorning in elements like pirates and a pirate leader to justify a ship sequence. Russell called this approach "a big flaw" in the game's design. Despite this, Uncharted 3 was a commercial and critical success, even earning a perfect 10/10 from IGN. However, it is often ranked lower compared to other entries in the series. The cargo plane sequence, in particular, became iconic and was even featured in the Uncharted movie released a decade later. Naughty Dog concluded the Uncharted series in 2016, but there are rumors of a possible Uncharted 5. While the studio's only announced title is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, it has confirmed that multiple projects are in development. It remains unclear when these other games will be revealed, but they might follow Intergalactic in quick succession.