Uncharted Designer Questions the Logic Behind a Drake's Fortune Remake

Benson Russell, a designer on two of the original Uncharted games and currently a developer at Naughty Dog, has voiced his skepticism about the possibility of a remake of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Released in 2007 on PlayStation 3, Drake's Fortune was the first entry in the beloved trilogy, and its influence is still felt in the industry today. For the past couple of years, rumors have suggested that Naughty Dog might be working on a remake, but Russell, who also worked on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, has now shared his thoughts in an interview with FRVR, and he's not convinced it's a good idea. In his view, remakes only make sense when the original is difficult to access or play, which isn't the case here. 'Uncharted as a thing is still in the zeitgeist,' he explained. 'System Shock... a remake of that now makes a lot of sense, because not just can you play it, but it had horrible key bindings, it kept a lot of people out of it from wanting to play it. There's already a version [of Drake's Fortune] you can play on modern consoles [to] get the experience. What's the point of remastering [or remaking] it?' He argued that a remake would require rewriting the story to improve it, which would alter the spirit and key scenes of the original. 'You're going to have to add all these scenes or take things away and a lot of the key set pieces — are you going to keep those? Are you going to have to redo them because they don't fit your story? It doesn't make any sense [to remake it]. I honestly thought the same thing about The Last of Us Part 1... these are old games for a reason.' Russell concluded that a remake would feel 'more like a cash grab than it would feel like anything necessary at this point,' adding, 'Just don't recreate the first game. It's just, eh.' While it remains uncertain whether Naughty Dog has any actual plans for a Drake's Fortune remake, the studio is currently focused on its next title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which has seen Neil Druckmann step back from HBO's The Last of Us series to concentrate on the game. Meanwhile, rumors of a Last of Us 3 continue to circulate, fueled by Druckmann's recent online comments hinting at another potential installment in the acclaimed series.