Josh Scherr, co-writer on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, recently revealed a cut scene from The Last Of Us: Part II, which had Ellie travelling to the Seraphite Island. Scherr joined an Uncharted 4 playthrough on an episode of the CouchSoup podcast. At around the hour mark, he is asked about a cut crane sequence from Uncharted 4’s Scotland chapter.
Scherr explains that Naughty Dog had “gotten probably about halfway into the production of it.” However, the developers cut the scene to make room for the game’s final boss sequence. Says Scherr: “…we could either have this crane sequence or we could have a really good final boss encounter.”
Scherr discusses that the scene was cut later into the production process, explaining that since Uncharted 4, Naughty Dog has become better “at recognising these things a lot sooner.” He refers to later games, specifically the Chloe Frazer spin-off Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and 2020’s The Last Of Us Part II.
Scherr then reveals that The Last Of Us Part II initially included a scrapped sequence featuring Ellie travelling to the Seraphite Island. The sequence would have taken place before Ellie reaches the aquarium on Day 3 in the game’s story. Scherr says the sequence “was cut before any real work had been done on it,” claiming the encounter would “slow down the pacing and [wouldn’t] really add too much to the story.”
The Last Of Us Part II is undoubtedly a larger game, from everything to its runtime, narrative length, and console storage sizes. A data-mine recently revealed two other cut scenes from the game. These included a boar hunt and a playable dance sequence. Game creator Neil Druckmann commented on the boar hunt sequence, echoing Scherr’s comments that they had cut the scenes for “pacing and production.”
For more on The Last of Us and other major titles, stay tuned right here at GameLuster.
