Naughty Dog's Next Game Will Reportedly Focus on 'Player Freedom'

gadgets.ndtv.com:

Naughty Dog has been working on its next project for a while now, with studio head Neil Druckmann confirming development on a new game several times. The Uncharted maker's last original release was The Last of Us Part 2 in 2020, following which the studio has released a remastered collection of two Uncharted games, a remake of 2013's The Last of Us and a remaster of the sequel. Naughty Dog has not revealed any details about its next game, but an industry insider has teased that the unannounced project would favour player freedom.

The information comes from Ben Hanson (as spotted by ResetEra), founder of independent games media outlet MinnMax, who claimed last week that Naughty Dog's long-awaited unannounced project will likely feature “a lot of player freedom.” While Hanson did not expand on what that player freedom would translate to in terms of gameplay, his assertion suggests the Sony-owned studio's next game could be a departure from its signature narrative-focused, hyper-linear titles that usually offer a very on-rails experience to players.

According to Hanson, a source “very in the know, who worked on the game,” told him that Naughty Dog's next game would take players by surprise. The source compared the in-development title with another existing game that features “a lot of player freedom,” Hansen revealed on The MinnMax Show last week.

Naughty Dog release The Last of Us Part 1, a remake of 2013's The Last of Us, in 2022
Photo Credit: Sony/ Naughty Dog

While that's very little detail to get a clear idea about what Naughty Dog is working on, the claim does line up with Druckmann's recent views on the kind of games that have interested him of late. In a conversation with The Washington Post in January 2023, the Naughty Dog co-president had said that he was drawn towards games that told their stories through environment, exploration and gameplay, rather than through a traditional linear narrative.

“I'm more recently intrigued by stuff like Elden Ring and Inside