A YouTuber has shared footage of the oldest beta version of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, which contains some rather interesting changes compared to the final game, including cut mechanics and completely different versions of Nate and Elena.
The original Uncharted is probably the most distinctive game in Naughty Dog's library. The Last of Us may have catapulted him to superstar status, but Nate's first adventure was the previously platform-focused developer's first push toward more mature gaming. But like any other game, Uncharted went through many changes during its development.
Uncharted fans will recognize some of these differences, including Nate's more casual, younger-looking design and Elena's original brown hair. But as it turns out, considerably Uncharted found a few things a bit different during its development, many of which were discovered by YouTuber Thekempy.
Uncharted was originally going to include spiders, ammo crates, and a sprint mechanic.
Nate didn't even have Sir Francis Drake's ring.
As highlighted by Twitter user NaughtyDogWorld, YouTuber Thekempy recently shared a video explaining the oldest version of Uncharted, which was released in May 2007, six months before the game's release. This beta build of the game was the version shown on stage at Sony's Gamer Day event that same year.
Thekempy somehow gained access to this build of the game, and goes into detail about its differences. There are some standard things, such as a slightly different UI and ammo boxes strewn about instead of guns, but there are also much bigger changes, such as the inclusion of a dedicated sprint button.
As Thekempy showed, players could make Nate run at full speed by holding down the circle button, which was removed from the final game to have Nate's speed automatically change depending on whether he was in combat or not. The files from this build also show that the spiders are very early in development and will never become familiar, but will once be enemies.
Spiders have finally been used in the series in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and it seems to work similarly to how Naughty Dog had planned for the first game.
Aside from the gameplay differences, this build of Uncharted includes an early design for Elena with brown hair, which will be familiar to anyone who saw early footage of Uncharted. But what you may not be as familiar with is that Nate's design is also different and can have a huge impact on the direction of the game's story.
The Nate model found in this build is wearing a strange-looking pendant instead of Sir Francis Drake's trademark ring. Given how important Drake's ring is to the game's story, it's a strange change that could have affected the story. Either he or Naughty Dog was going to go with the pendant he inherited from Drake instead. It would have been much worse then.
Uncharted: Drake's Luck
- released
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November 19, 2007
- ESRB
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T For Teen // Blood, language, mildly suggestive themes, tobacco use, violence
- publisher
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sony computer entertainment
- engine
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spoiled dog
