Amy Hennig Once Pointed Out Doc Savage as The Main Inspiration Behind Uncharted

Over the years, Amy Hennig has won numerous accolades for her work creating video games, including the Uncharted series and the Legacy of Kain games. The stories and characters in those games, despite being “just video games,” were memorable.

She does not, however, consider herself a gaming celebrity. Rather, she makes an effort to be humble when discussing her experience creating video games. That is how he revealed the inspiration behind the Uncharted series.

Doc Savage Was the Inspiration Behind Uncharted

Uncharted is regarded as one of the greatest series ever grace the gaming world. When GamesBeat asked the former game writer and director at Naughty Dogs, Ammy Hennig, about how “the supernatural thing comes to life for real” in the series, this is what she answered:

That’s what everyone said about the first Uncharted. The thing is, one of the big inspirations was Doc Savage, which was the precursor to things like Scooby Doo. There’s some mystery, and it seems supernatural, and you have all these clues that you don’t know how to read, but it gives you the whole spooky supernatural vibe of the story. Then, in the denouement, you think, “Oh, there’s an explanation for it.”

For example, Indiana Jones doesn’t have nearly the same supernatural elements. Or you do, of course, with the Ark of the Covenant opening, but with mummies and such. There is nothing you can do but hint at a biological explanation for the propulsion at the end of the stories.

But you’re too busy to pause and say, “All right, let’s explain this.” You don’t remove the farmer’s rubber mask in any scene. Doc Savage, though, that’s where that came from. That sensation that something uncanny and supernatural is occurring.

Hennig Regrets About Focusing Solely on Uncharted

Hennig herself was a legend of Naughty Dog as through her hands, some of the best Uncharted games like Drake’s Fortune, Among Thieves, Drake’s Deception, and many more came to life. However, Hennig once lamented that she should have shifted her focus beyond the Uncharted series. In an interview with VG247, this is what she stated:

 My favorite Dreamcast game is actually Soul Reaver on the Dreamcast… Not that many people got to see it, but it was like a more complete realization of what we were trying to do… I wish we had made more.

Soul Reaver, which came out in 1999, was the first to introduce a feature that is now common in open-world games. In order to enable a continuous world, Crystal Dynamics created a data-streaming system that dynamically loaded new areas of the map as players moved.

The spectral and physical worlds are two overlapping worlds that players can access in Soul Reaver. This dual-realm feature prompted them to incorporate it into their strategy for completing quests and solving puzzles.

What are your thoughts on Hennig’s comments? Let us know in the comment section.