Uncharted’s Health Meter Doesn’t Work Quite How You Thought It Did

Something I often think about during movies and games is how it’s actually plausible for the main character to take so much damage, yet stay alive.

Well, Naughty Dog has provided a bit of clarity around it. Naughty Dog Animator, Jonathan Cooper has revealed that the black and white effect that happens when Nathan Drake is almost about to die doesn’t actually represent him losing health or him taking shots. It just represents his luck running out. Eventually, enemies will obviously get a clear shot and you’ll die a painful death.

Here’s exactly what he had to say:

“That’s a mega-swing! Sidenote I learned on joining the team: Drake doesn’t ever take bullet damage. The red UI that shows ‘hits’ is to represent his ‘luck’ running out. Eventually enemies will get a clear shot and kill him if he takes enough near-misses.”

Amy Hennig has also confirmed that this was a design decision made to closely mimic films.