This beloved indie is encouraging Neil Druckmann to try something "a little bit new" for Naughty Dog's next game

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Inside and Elden Ring have got the Naughty Dog co-president thinking lately

Inside
(Image credit: Playdead)

The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann has discussed what kind of stories he's interested in these days and what that means for Naughty Dog going forward.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Druckmann discussed how his view of storytelling in video games has changed since working in other mediums, like co-directing The Last of Us TV show. "I'm more recently intrigued by stuff like Elden Ring and Inside that doesn't rely as much on traditional narrative to tell its story," the Naughty Dog co-president said. 

"Some of the best storytelling in The Last of Us is in the cinematics, but a lot of it is in gameplay, and moving around the space, and understanding the history of a space by just looking at it and examining it," Druckmann continues, "to me, right now, that's some of the best joy I get out of games that trust their audience to figure things out. [Games] that don't hold your hand, that's the stuff I'm really intrigued by going forward."

Speaking about future Naughty Dog games, Druckmann said he's interested in "trying something a little bit new, a little bit different, that not everybody's going to like." Fans shouldn't worry too much though as the director explains: "That doesn't mean we will never have dialogue or cutscenes, I think those are tools in your toolbox... And I think there's a way to push that stuff forward, at least for the kind of games we make at Naughty Dog."

Want to know what we can look forward to playing this year? Find out what's due to be big in 2023. 

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.