It’s good fun, splashing along, learning how to make steep inclines by staying on rocky outcrops to maintain traction. En route, the trio indulges in easy, entertaining chatter. Sully moans about the extra price Sam paid for a car with a winch (“I bet we’ll never use it” he complains – in a way that instructs the player that they almost certainly will); Sam yells patronising instructions to his younger brother from the backseat. It’s the sort of loose, charming dialogue we’ve always enjoyed in the series, but with the addition of another character, the dynamic is slightly different. While Nathan is off investigating the little ruins you discover dotted around the landscape, Sam and Sully often sit back and bicker about the past, revealing handy plot details in the process.
To Cambier, this interplay is an absolutely crucial element of the series, and especially in this last game. A lot of the story is revealed through these seemingly off-the-cuff dialogue moments during playable sections. When a cut-scene is necessary, though, the more powerful PS4 hardware has allowed Naughty Dog to use the in-game engine, so the cinematics now merge seamlessly with interactive sequences.
“We’ve always been interested in the idea of protagonists working with allies, and the systemic moments this creates” he says. “In the combat stages you have these moments where your brother comes in and helps you, or Sully call things out …then we have this larger, more organic exploration space, so you’re driving around exploring and the types of conversations that we can have … we’re building these relationships constantly. In the games industry, we have this idea of gameplay, story, gameplay, story … but in this game, the story is always happening, you’re always with these people, you’re doing things together. It’s very challenging, but it makes the game more interesting”.