Former Naughty Dog designer: Uncharted 1 remake makes no sense, want a new Drake prequel instead

Former Naughty Dog designer Benson Russell, who spent nearly a decade on the Uncharted series, isn’t interested in remaking Drake’s Fortune or any other Uncharted game. Although the game remains in the zeitgeist among gaming circles, he plans to make something new.

For context, Russell designed Uncharted 1 through 3 and The Last of Us. In an interview with FRVR, he said he sees no point in remaking a game that already runs on current platforms, a stance he also took on The Last of Us Part I. 

Moreover, a rewrite of Drake’s Fortune would change the story’s essence, scenery, and set pieces, making the final result something entirely different from the original masterpiece rather than a better version of it.

Russell suggests a prequel would make more sense than a remake. His take arrives just weeks after separate reports claimed Naughty Dog was working on a Drake’s Fortune remake that began prototyping around 2018–2019 before being scrapped in favor of The Last of Us Part I. Russell explained:

“System Shock… a remake of that now makes a lot of sense because not only can you play it, but it had horrible key bindings that kept a lot of people from wanting to play it.”

Addressing Uncharted, he said:

“Uncharted as a thing is still in the zeitgeist. There’s already a version you can play on modern consoles to get the experience. What’s the point of remastering it? I don’t see the point of remaking it. You’d have to rewrite the whole story to make it better, which means you’re going to change the spirit and you’re going to change the scenes and what the first one was about, right?”

Instead, Russell wants Naughty Dog to “take the lessons of Uncharted 4 and make a new game that’s in the past or whenever you need it to be.” In other words, he wants a prequel built around Drake’s background before the first game rather than rehashing ground that’s already been covered. He said, “Just don’t recreate the first game. It’s just eh.”

Naughty Dog is currently working on its first new IP since The Last of Us in 2013: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. As for the Uncharted series, the last mainline game was Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End in 2016, followed by 2022’s Legacy of Thieves Collection, which includes A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

Buy Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on Amazon here