Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann is one of the more prominent names in game development. With incredible series like Uncharted and The Last of Us, Druckmann and his team have revolutionized the way we play video games. Interestingly, one of the development tactics Naughty Dog is known for (narrative-driven gameplay) is a direction Druckmann wants to diverge from in upcoming projects. Here’s what he had to say during a media run for an upcoming TV adaptation of one of his company’s games.

In an interview with The Washington Post about the upcoming The Last of Us HBO Series, Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann applauded FromSoftware’s Elden Ring for its environmental storytelling. The magic of the game’s immersive nature, Druckmann claims, comes from its ability to “trust their audience to figure things out.” It’s a very different approach from God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon: Forbidden West, both of which got flack for giving too many hints to players.

Elden Ring‘s main strength in storytelling is that it doesn’t give too much away, which is a huge reason it was my personal Game of the Year Staff Pick for 2022. Without major dialogue breakdowns or conversational drivers to the game’s pacing, Elden Ring asks you to learn little and imagine in a major way. What does every mystery mean as you encounter new pieces to an unclear puzzle? It’s really the opposite of a game like Uncharted, which thrives heavily on the ability of its characters to lay out emotional and action-oriented thought processes on the table for players.

It’s not concerning to me that Druckmann sees this approach becoming a trend in gaming. As we’ve seen since the likes of Uncharted 3 or God of War (2018), games operate in many ways like films nowadays. The games that either lean heavily into mindless gameplay like Vampire Survivors or imaginative worlds like Elden Ring catch our eye because they’re something different. It’s a nice change of pace and one that Druckmann and his company could likely do masterfully with their next project.

Let us know what you think of these comments from Druckmann. Do you want Naughty Dog to take a stab at the less-is-more narrative approach?

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