Gaming News The formula “The Last of Us” soon abandoned? Naughty Dog is based on Elden Ring
As The Last of Us series launches on HBO Max, Naughty Dog, the studio behind the game of the same name, continues to make waves. To this day, Neil Druckmann, the studio’s co-president, admits he wants to change his recipe for success.
summary
- Neil Druckmann fed up with the formula that’s democratized?
- Elden Ring and Inside for inspiration
Neil Druckmann fed up with the formula that’s democratized?
Since the resounding success of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, a game released in October 2019 and heavily inspired by the seventh art, Naughty Dog has established itself as a master of the narrative action game genre. A formula that has also gained maturity with the arrival of The Last of Us, first name in 2013, and more specifically with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End released in 2016. While we thought that the Uncharted saga consisted solely of high-performance games, Naughty Dog proved the opposite with a focus on writing. The characters then gained depth as the cutscenes multiplied; a finding that we could also observe at the launch of The Last of Us Part II in 2020, a title that shines with its scenario.
Nevertheless, when this recipe for success attracts more and more fans and even inspires the entire video game industry – just check out Santa Monica Studio (God of War: Ragnarok) or Asobo (A Plague Tale: Requiem) –, Neil Druckmann, co-president of Naughty Dog, wants to move away from that.
Elden Ring and Inside for inspiration
In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Neil Druckmann admitted he plans to change his formula in the future. As a matter of fact, The co-president and creator of The Last of Us saga has indicated that he’s now more interested in a less frontal narrative that doesn’t take players by the hand.
Lately I’ve been more intrigued by things like Elden Ring and Inside, which don’t rely as much on traditional storytelling to tell a story. I think one of the best parts of The Last of Us is the gameplay, moving around a room and understanding its story just by looking at it and examining it. Neil Druckmann, Co-President of Naughty Dog
As you have understood, Neil Druckmann alludes here to the environmental narrative, which, without saying a word, often says a lot about the universe that the player traverses.
Naturally, That doesn’t necessarily mean that traditional storytelling will disappear entirely in Naughty Dog’s next game, but it might fade slightly in favor of a new form of writing.
I think there’s a way to move things forward, at least for the kind of games we make at Naughty Dog. I’m really intrigued. Again, we never rest on our laurels, we try something new, something different. Not everyone will like it, but that’s okay. Neil Druckman
As a reminder, Naughty Dog is currently working on two productions: a fully multiplayer game that, according to the latest news, is set to take place in the universe of The Last of Us, and another creation that is still very mysterious.
So there’s our multiplayer project, The Last of Us, and there’s another project that I’m not going to say anything about that’s beyond all of that and that we’re really looking forward to as well. Neil Druckman
