Days Gone Director Had Ideas for an Uncharted Prequel

gamerant.com:

Around the same time news broke that Sony had decided not to greenlight a sequel to Days Gone, it was also reported that developer Sony Bend Studio had instead been tasked on a brand-new Uncharted game. However, the project never panned out and was ultimately canceled, with Bend Studio moving on to something else entirely.

While developers at Bend Studio had asked to be taken off the Uncharted project, there was a time when the studio was playing with the idea of making its own Uncharted game. More specifically, Days Gone’s director Jeff Ross had conceptualized one in the wake of Days Gone 2 not being approved.

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Speaking on the Sacred Symbols+ podcast (as transcribed by VGC), Ross discussed his Uncharted plans, revealing that his game would have been a prequel that focused on a much younger Victor Sullivan. Better known as Sully, he serves as a mentor/father figure to protagonist Nathan Drake and regularly assists him in his adventures throughout the series.

Sully’s solo adventure would have been set in the 1970s, with him in his mid-20s. Ross theorizes that he would have busted out of the Navy and be finding himself as a hustler working on the streets. He also would have evoked James Bond star Sean Connery, with the 70s setting influenced by movies like Once Upon a Time In Hollywood and Joker, although Ross wouldn’t have leaned into the cheesier parts of that decade.

Ross admits that his concept didn’t lend itself to many opportunities for shoot-outs. Gunplay has been a key aspect of the Uncharted games since the first one and Ross didn’t want to be the one to make the first game in the series where players didn’t shoot anyone.

This wasn’t the only PlayStation IP Ross played