The Last of Us and Uncharted developer Naughty Dog has finally, finally revealed the project it’s been secretly working on since 2020.
Naughty Dog fans have been absolutely ravenous for any small crumb of information about what its next project will be after The Last of Us 2 and the cancellation of its multiplayer component. Well, at The Game Awards 2024, they got everything they could’ve asked for and then some.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet debuted with a generous four-and-a-half minute trailer showcasing Naughty Dog’s trademark acting talent and visual fidelity, introducing the game’s lead protagonist, the dangerous bounty hunter Jordan A Mun. The story takes place “thousands of years in the future” and puts Jordan in the terrifying situation of being stranded on a distant planet called Sempiria, which hasn’t been able to communicate with the outside universe in hundreds of years.
The Last of Us 2 director Neil Druckmann is helming the project with co-director Kurt Margenau. In an announcement blog, Naughty Dog says the game “is shaping up to be our wildest, most creative story yet.” It also says it sports the “deepest gameplay in Naughty Dog’s history, taking our learnings from our previous franchises and pushing them beyond anything we’ve ever done before.”
Jordan is played by Tati Gabrielle, and Naughty Dog says there are “other cast members” in the trailer but are tougher to spot. I’m pretty sure I spotted Kumail Ali Nanjiani as one of the people being hunted, but I’m not 100% certain.
It sure seems like Naughty Dog is putting all of its eggs into Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet’s basket, as it describes the project as the start of a brand new franchise. The game has no release date, but Naughty Dog says it’s being built “for the PlayStation 5,” so at the very least it’ll have some platform exclusivity.
In the meantime, here are the best PS5 games to play right this very moment.