Following a few delays, 2016 is (hopefully) the year that players will be able to experience the end of Nathan Drake's story with the upcoming Uncharted 4: A Thief's End in April, with Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann offering a few more insights on the surprising inclusion of dialogue options, a first for the series that was revealed at last month's PlayStation Experience event.

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, Druckmann explained on the inclusion of dialogue options in Uncharted 4, putting emphasis on the fact that dialogue options, for the most part, will seem to be used in the game for offering some more detail and insights to specific characters and scenes, rather than a more in-depth system like those found in Mass EffectFallout, or similar titles that have a more direct impact on the game's narrative and ending.

Druckmann explained that he and Naughty Dog want to "make sure we're clear about is that we're not making Mass Effect," adding even further that Uncharted "has a very specific story, it has a very specific ending that's very definitive to the franchise." Instead, he and the studio felt that the inclusion of brief dialogue options and scenes would help "really bring [the player] more into the scene."

In particular, Druckmann used one example of a scene in the title, which was the scene between Nathan and his older brother, Sam, that was shown as a demo at last December's PlayStation Experience event:

"There's something about Sam asking Nate about his old adventures that's like, it would be kind of fun to have Nate - and therefore the player - pick which story they want to tell first. And there's a few other instances like that where it felt like a dialogue tree was just going to get you more into the scene and make it more interactive."

Earlier in the interview, Druckmann specifically mentioned some of the ideas and concepts from the studio's previous games that led to Naughty Dog exploring the idea of player interaction and dialogue options further, with both The Last of Us and its story-based DLC, Left Behind, both seeming to have a big influence on the design:

"It's not a specific example, but with the Last of Us we introduced the concept of optional conversations where I could turn around to my ally and dig in a little bit deeper. And it's a choice for the player, you can do it, or you don't do it."

"Players who engage with it can slow the characters down a little bit and have them engage in conversation, and you can find out a little bit more about their relationship, and a little bit more about their personalities. We've sprinkled those throughout the game."

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End will release for PS4 on April 26th, 2016.