Naughty Dog And Neil Druckman Are Losing The Plot…

The goal of any video game company should always be about making good games first and foremost. Neil Druckman, the head game director of Naughty Dog studios, has had some comments go viral as he seems to be abandoning game quality for games that are “structured more like a TV show”.

Now, I know Neil Druckman has been under fire for a while given his involvement with the plot that disgraced (in many fans’ eyes) The Last of Us 2 and many have called for his resignation, though I have not been one of those people. I understand the fans anger and resentment for Druckman over his handling of some of the iconic characters of the franchise, such as Ellie and Joel, and I actually condone it, but I’m just not at the “fire Druckman” stage yet.

The man has proven his talents as a video game director, writer, and visual storyteller as he was one of the main creators behind The Last of Us and its expansion DLC. And, with The Last of Us being one of the greatest games ever made, I can’t completely disregard him as the head of Naughty Dog gaming for one bad game.

Sure, Uncharted 4 wasn’t a perfect game and can’t really stand up to the original three titles, but it is still good enough to get constant, enjoyable playthroughs. The Last of Us 2 is not that kind of game.

Along with the atmosphere and story just being dark, depressing, sad, and miserable, the characters were handled in such a rough, violent, and kind of disrespectful way that any chance of a person replaying/having a second playthrough goes down to 0 the moment you look at the front of the disk or the PlayStation home screen.

That image of Ellie is so depressing given the knowledge of what happens to her that the joy a game should give a player is sapped away by the darkness and cynicism of the main story. Plus, the game is 60% cut scenes and 50% in the point of view of Abby, the very same character that bites off Ellie’s fingers, shoots Tommy in the head, makes Ellie’s life a living hell, and violently, ruthlessly murders Joel in cold blood in front of Ellie.

Yeah, I’m sorry, Neil, but you couldn’t make me feel sympathetic to that character even if she adopted a bunch of puppies and opened an orphanage for all of the people’s children she murdered.

Nevertheless, The Last of Us 2’s story is not why I’m writing this article, but rather the implication of Druckman’s comments regarding any Uncharted or Last of Us sequel.

I fear Druckman is getting drunk (bad pun, I know) on the fame and status you get as a “Hollywood entertainer” and it will harm the future of Naughty Dog’s games. When he says things like he wants his game to be “structured more like a TV show” that only gives me two takeaways: 1. He wants to make his games filled with even more cutscenes or 2. He only cares about making ‘adaptable’ games for TV/movies instead of good games.

Both of these options are bad for us gamers as it shows that Druckman only cares about getting more popular within Hollywood, or he is hellbent on proving his “directorial chops” with even more cutscenes in the games. You don’t need me to tell you that more cutscenes in a Naughty Dog game is about as needed as getting whacked in the head with Abby’s golf club.

Still, we’ll have to wait and see for the sequels of these franchises to verify if our fears are justified. Though, being honest, I think the damage is already done as The Last of Us 2 (in my opinion) stupidly got the Game of the Year award over games like DOOM Eternal, Ghost of Tsushima, Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Sadly, it looks like Naughty Dog is heading down the wrong path.

Images Source: Featured Image: (PlayStation/Naughty Dog) (The Last of Us Part II – Official Launch Trailer | PS4 – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (PlayStation/Naughty Dog) (The Last of Us Part II – Official Launch Trailer | PS4 – YouTube)