The author of the YouTube channel TheKempy showed content that allows reconstructing the project's direction before the reboot under the leadership of Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. The leak includes scenes that did not make it into the final version, and a darker story about pirate treasure.
Sam Drake in the early version was a much less positive character: a morally unstable rival who collaborated with Rafe against his own brother for most of the story.
The antagonist Rafe himself was also different – in Hennig's version, he is shown as an aggressive mercenary, not a rich and calculating man. Elena was supposed to play a more prominent role at the beginning of the story, accompanying Nate in London and Scotland, and Charlie Cutter remained an important supporting character.
Among the planned mechanics were survival elements: fishing, making a campfire, building rafts, social stealth with disguise and infiltration into social events, interrogating enemies, and unarmed combat. There were also ideas with flashbacks to 1695, where the player controlled Henry Avery in naval battles.
Most of the systems were removed due to lack of resources and the parallel development of The Last of Us, but some ideas remained in the final version – Libertalia, Avery, the rope climbing mechanic, and Madagascar.