- Amy Hennig's original version of Uncharted 4 portrayed Sam Drake as a villain to his brother and the series hero, Nathan Drake.
- According to former Naughty Dog VFX artist Matt Redford, Sam Drake was "not the same guy" as he is in the final 2016 release.
- He confirmed that a different actor was planned to play Sam before the role ultimately went to Troy Baker.
The Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End we played in 2016 differed vastly from the version Amy Hennig originally developed at Naughty Dog. The PlayStation title remains one of the best adventure games of all time, but it originally had Sam Drake as a villain.
According to former Naughty Dog VFX artist Matt Radford, Amy Hennig’s Uncharted 4 was “very different” from the official release.
Sam Drake Was “Not the Same Guy” in Amy Hennig’s Uncharted 4
Speaking on the latest Kiwi Talkz episode, Radford said he worked alongside Hennig on the original version of Uncharted 4 while he was still new to game development. However, Naughty Dog’s final release a decade ago didn’t match Hennig’s original vision for the ambitious sequel, which made Nathan Drake’s own brother a villain.
“Amy’s vision for the game that I saw didn’t have the same characters, like Sam, and I mean Sam was in it, but he was not the same guy. It was like a very different, very different; like Sam was the villain,” said Radford.
The former Naughty Dog VFX artist also revealed that the team originally planned to cast a different actor for Sam. Troy Baker ultimately played Sam Drake in the final release, making the character central to Nathan’s journey to search for Avery’s treasure.
“There was a bunch of differences: different actor, and that actor used to hang around Naughty Dog,” said Radford. “The original guy they had cast, he was really nice, and he works with Amy still on the Star Wars game.”
Sam helps Nathan in Uncharted 4, despite deceiving him with a false plan to save his own life by helping the main antagonist, Rafe Adler. But he never becomes a villain himself. Whether Hennig’s Uncharted 4 would’ve been better than the one we got remains unanswered, but Radford says it “seemed cool.”
However, he admits, “But then again, Uncharted 4 was amazing. So, you know, you can’t kind of fault Neil and Bruce’s vision because I loved that game and I loved the story they came up with.”
Speaking of Bruce Straley, the Uncharted 4 director recently shared his AAA gaming thoughts, while Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann is currently working on their next flagship release, Intergalactic The Heretic Prophet.
That said, would you have preferred Sam as a villain alongside Rafe in Uncharted 4? Let us know in the comments section below.
