Neil Druckmann Aims to Make New Game 'Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet' Confusing and Disorienting

Neil Druckmann, the director behind the acclaimed The Last of Us, recently shared intriguing details about Naughty Dog's upcoming game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. In a revealing interview with Alex Garland, the mastermind behind the zombie film 28 Days Later, Druckmann discussed the development journey of Intergalactic, which has been in the works for four years.

Reflecting on past projects, Druckmann humorously noted, "We made a game, The Last of Us 2, and made certain creative decisions that got us a lot of hate. A lot of people love it, but a lot of people hate that game." Garland's light-hearted response, "Who gives a shit?" encapsulated their shared sentiment. Druckmann continued, "Exactly. 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."

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Screenshots

4 Images

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet stars Jordan A. Mun as Tati Gabrielle and unfolds in an alternate historical timeline. The game centers around a "pretty prominent religion" that has "changed, bastardized, and evolved" over time. As Jordan, players will need to employ all their skills and ingenuity to become the first person in centuries to escape the planet's orbit.

Druckmann teased the game's setting, saying, "This whole religion takes place on this one planet, and then at one point, all communication stops. And you're playing a bounty hunter that's chasing her bounty, and she crash lands on this planet." He emphasized the isolation and mystery of the game's world, stating, "So many of the previous games we've done, there's always, like, an ally with you. I really want you to be lost in a place that you're really confused about what happened here, who are the people here, what was their history. And in order to get off this planet — again, no one has been heard from this planet for 600 years or so — if you ever have hoped to have a chance to get off, you have to figure out what happened here."

Last week, The Last of Us Season 2 showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin confirmed that "spores are back" following their omission from Season 1. The latest trailer for the upcoming HBO show teased the reintroduction of spores, with Druckmann explaining at SXSW 2025, "There is an escalation of numbers and types of infected, but also, as you see in the trailer, an escalation of the vector of how this thing spreads."

Druckmann elaborated, "Season 1, we had this new thing that wasn’t in the game of these tendrils that spread, and that was one form. And then one shot you see in this trailer, there are things in the air."

In other news related to The Last of Us Season 2, actress Kaitlyn Dever discussed her role as Abby, admitting that she finds it challenging to resist checking online reactions to her performance.