Benson Russell, a game designer on the first three Uncharted titles, says remaking or remastering the original “doesn’t make any sense” — and that Naughty Dog should make a new game in the series instead.
Russell spent nearly a decade at Naughty Dog, working as a designer on Uncharted 1–3 and The Last of Us. Asked on the FRVR podcast whether he wanted to see Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune remade, he said no: the game, he argued, has never left the conversation.
Why does an Uncharted designer oppose a remake?
He contrasts Drake’s Fortune with games that needed it more.
“System Shock… a remake of that now makes a lot of sense, because not just can you play it, but it had horrible key bindings, it kept a lot of people out of it from wanting to play it.”
Benson Russell, former Naughty Dog designer
Uncharted, he says, is the opposite case.
“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 or remaking it?”
Benson Russell
He also rejected the idea that a remake could make the first game slower and more emotional, in the style of modern Naughty Dog titles. A rewrite would change the spirit of the original, he said — scenes added, set pieces cut, the whole thing reworked to fit a different story.
“You’re going to have to add all these scenes or take things away and a lot of the key set pieces – are you going to keep those? Are you going to have to redo them because they don’t fit your story?”
Benson Russell
What he’d rather Naughty Dog did
He felt the same about The Last of Us Part 1, the 2022 remake of the 2013 original.
“I honestly thought the same thing about The Last of Us Part 1… these are old games for a reason.”
Benson Russell
Instead, he wants the series’ spirit taken somewhere new: Naughty Dog should “make a new game in an earlier time era and go back to what it was”. Or, as he put it, “just don’t recreate the first game. It’s just, eh.”
The original trilogy launched on PS3 between 2007 and 2009 and was remastered as The Nathan Drake Collection for PS4 in 2015. Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy got the same treatment in 2022’s Legacy of Thieves Collection. A Drake’s Fortune remake has been rumoured before — Insider Gaming reported the project was shelved so the studio could remake The Last of Us instead, the very remake Russell has now called pointless.
Naughty Dog’s next game is Intergalactic, reportedly still a couple of years away, while fans recently read a studio Instagram post as a clue for a new Uncharted game. The Nathan Drake Collection, meanwhile, remains on the PlayStation Store, UAE included — the version Russell says already delivers the experience.
Who is Benson Russell?
A former Naughty Dog designer who spent nearly a decade at the studio, working on Uncharted 1–3 and The Last of Us.
Is an Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune remake in development?
Not officially. A remake was previously reported to have been shelved in favour of The Last of Us Part 1, and the designer of the original trilogy says the game does not need one.
How can I play the original Uncharted games today?
The Nathan Drake Collection, which remasters Uncharted 1–3 for PS4, is available on the PlayStation Store — UAE included — and runs on PS5.
