Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Has “the Deepest Gameplay in Naughty Dog’s History”, Inspired by Akira and Cowboy Bebop

At The Game Awards, Uncharted and The Last of Us studio Naughty Dog revealed its first new IP in over a decade in the form of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, with a cinematic trailer offering first looks at its sci-fi universe and its bounty hunter protagonist, played by Tati Gabrielle. Accompanying the announcement, Naughty Dog has revealed further brief details on the title in an update published on the PlayStation Blog by creative director and studio head Neil Druckmann.

Intergalactic will see protagonist Jordan A. Mun stranded on Sempiria, a remote planet that supposedly went dark hundreds of years ago, to the extent that anyone that has flown to it has never returned. Now, Jordan must figure out a way to become the first person to escape from Sempiria’s orbit in 600 years.

In an interview with New York Times, Druckmann also revealed that the game is set in an alternate version of our universe, where space travel saw rapid advancements starting in 1986. It also won’t surprise anyone who saw the trailer to find out that the game draws inspiration from Akira and Cowboy Bepop.

The story, according to Druckmann, is “quite ambitious”. Revolving on a fictitious religion, the game will focus on “what happens when you put your faith in different institutions”, according to Druckmann.

Intergalactic will supposedly deliver an “an emotional, character-driven epic journey”, according to Naughty Dog, while on the gameplay front, the studio promises “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.”

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is in development for PS5, with no launch date currently announced. The game has been in development since 2020, with over 250 Naughty Dog employees working on it (in addition to external partners).