Matt Redford, former Visual Effects Artist at Naughty Dog.exe, recently recalled that Amy Hennig's version of "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" differed significantly from the final release in 2016. Redford joined Naughty Dog.exe during a period of high production pressure and participated in the early development of the game.
Redford stated that the version by Hennig he saw didn't even feature exactly the same character dynamics. In it, Drake's brother Sam served as an antagonistic figure, differing from the role players are familiar with in the final version.
Hennig discussed this concept back in 2019. She stated that the core story and basic framework remained unchanged, and she introduced the setting of Drake having an older brother. However, Sam was not a traditional villain, but rather an opposing force in Drake's life. The process of the two moving from conflict to reconciliation and teamwork was originally much longer and held a more significant position.
Earlier this year, data miner Michael Kemp uncovered content from "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" that appears to originate from an abandoned version, including scenes that don't align with the existing plot, unused level information, and story events that never made it into the final game. The related content indicates that the early plan included more sequences of Drake and his wife Elena exploring shipwrecks together, with less emphasis on gun combat.
Early production of the game began around the time the third installment in the series was released in 2011. Redford recalls that the team created an initial demo that could only run at one frame per second on computers. He described that phase of the game as still very rough, with a somewhat chaotic development state.
Redford believes that the direction Hennig envisioned for "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" was interesting, but he also expressed satisfaction with the final product, calling it a strong entry in the adventure series. He also expressed anticipation for Hennig's future works.
Hennig is currently involved in the development of "Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra," having previously worked on the story concept design for "Forspoken." As abandoned content gradually comes to light, some fans of "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" hope to experience the version envisioned by Hennig.