Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is Naughty Dog’s next big project, which seems to be something wholly new for the studio.
The story will tell about a planet that has lost contact with humanity. The previous The Last of Us was about a world in agony after the apocalypse, but in the new game, the planet is completely «silent». Although Intergalactic was announced back at The Game Awards 2024 — development has been underway since 2020. But we shouldn’t expect it anytime soon.
«Again, these things are so complex and big and there’s so many people involved. It’s like, I still don’t know exactly what this thing is going to look like at the end. I have a theory, I have an idea, but it’s still evolving and changing as we’re making it», — says Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann.
That is, the development is still at the stage of active experiments, so a release in 2025 is unlikely. Druckmann says that many players have met with a negative response to The Last of Us 2 through «certain creative decisions». Therefore, the studio decided to take as a basis «less» provocative topics — religion and faith.
«But the joke is like, you know what, let’s do something that people won’t care as much about. Let’s make a game about faith and religion», — Druckmann adds. «I really wanted to make a game about faith and religion, but also about just being lonely».
The history of a planet that has been «silent for» 600 years
The game will take place around the mysterious planet Sempiria 2000 years from now. However, the history of the world diverged from ours back in the 1980s, so it has an entirely different future. The most important mystery is what happened to Sempiria, which lost contact with us 600 years ago?
In addition, in the new project, Naughty Dog didn’t just invent a world, but created a whole religious system, its prophet, and history that developed over thousands of years. Druckmann explained that religion is present in many games, but usually in the background or as a plot device. But now the studio wants to show religion as something living, changing, transforming, and influencing people.
It’s up to Jordan A. Money, a bounty hunter, to solve this mystery. She accidentally lands on Sempiria while pursuing another target. Unlike other games — there will be no partners, so she will have to go all the way alone.
«I really want you to be lost in a place that you’re really confused about what happened here. Who are the people her? What was their history?» — Neil Druckmann continues.
Although it is not known whether religious groups have turned into fanatics terrorizing the entire planet. At the very least, In the trailer, we were shown one enemy — a robot with a weapon. If religious groups, there, have become something of a craze, then perhaps Jordan A. Money’s target is hiding among them.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet release date is unknown. The game will be exclusive to PlayStation 5.
Source: The Game Post / Games Radar 1, 2
Spelling error report
The following text will be sent to our editors: