Naughty Dog Learns Lessons from The Last of Us Part II Controversy — New Details on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet

Naughty Dog co-head Neil Druckmann has shared details of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the studio’s next game after The Last of Us Part II, in a conversation with 28 Days Later writer Alex Garland.

Image source: Naughty Dog

The events of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will unfold in an alternative universe where, already in the late 1980s, people made a technological leap and mastered space travel. The game starts approximately two thousand years after that.

During this time, a new religion emerged and became dominant in the game’s world, Druckmann says. The team spent years working out the timeline, from the original prophet to how the belief “inevitably changed, distorted, and evolved.”

«”With The Last of Us II, we made some creative decisions that ended up getting a lot of hate. So I jokingly suggested that we make a game about something that people wouldn’t care about as much – faith and religion,” Druckmann recalls.

The plot will take players to the remote planet of Sempiria, which was at the center of this religion but lost contact with the rest of the universe 600 years ago. Naughty Dog aims to create a sense of loneliness and confusion in users.

In Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, players will not have companions, as in previous Naughty Dog projects

It looks like Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is still far from release. Druckmann notes that the game is still developing and evolving. The director does not yet know what the final version will look like.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet has been in the works for at least four years and is set to release on PS5, promising the “boldest, most creative” story yet, along with the “deepest gameplay” in Naughty Dog’s history.