Well, it was an interesting demo. I will start with the controversial topic:
Graphically, it is definitely not the same as the reveal trailer. I remember seeing Naughty Dog devs talking about how they wanted to avoid discrepancy between cutscenes and gameplay. They still have almost a year to work on that, so I am not going to say they "failed", but so far they still have a bit to go. I should say too that the current graphical level is enough for me, since I don't expect the PS4 to be the platform for amazing visuals in a technical level. I have a PC for that and when I get the console, I already know I shouldn't expect what it can't deliver.
Now, in terms of frames per second, I want to see if they are still targeting 60. I know they are far away from the optimization phase, but I believe Uncharted can benefit a lot from it, even if they need to tone down the visuals. This, to me, is more about gameplay than visuals. The series has a fast-paced combat and, if The Last of Us already showed big improvements (and it is slower), one can see how A Thief's End can be better at 60 fps. But I also should mention that it must be stable to be functional. An unstable framerate can only hurt a game like this, so, if they can't reach it, then I would lock on 30.
As for other gameplay improvements, what I am about to say is what I want from any shooter in this new generation of games: open level design (not to be mistaken with open-world, but linear levels with many branches to get to the end) that can allow us to manipulate the environment. I am tired of conveniently placed boxes/rocks/sand bags/anything else. Anyone who is observant will understand when you are in an area of exploration or combat. How about surprising us? Let us explore and suddenly be surrounded by enemies in a place not suited for combat. Let us create our own covers. For example, throw a grenade at a tree to blow it up and be an option for cover or shoot some rocks above a character to make them fall and be another option (I've seen some games do this, but only to kill an enemy). Also, let the AI do the same. I want to outsmart then when they surprise me. I mean, imagine discussing in this forum how you manipulated the environment to defeat some enemies and then seeing another player talking about his/her strategy being different and, some times, even better than yours? Wouldn't you want that?
I see this game (or at least this area of it) has the potential for it. So far, it has an open level design with very interesting stealth elements and I am really glad to see it, but I hope there's more to it, because what I've said before is the kind of evolution I truly expect from this new generation of games. Not so much of a graphical leap, but instead new, more dynamic and natural gameplay improvements.
