Neil Druckmann Aims for 'Lost and Confused' Feel in Naughty Dog's New Game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet

Neil Druckmann, the creative mind behind The Last of Us, has recently shed light on Naughty Dog's latest project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. In a revealing interview with Alex Garland, the acclaimed writer of the zombie thriller 28 Days Later, Druckmann discussed the four-year journey of developing this new game. He humorously reflected on the polarizing reception of The Last of Us 2, saying, "We made a game, The Last of Us 2, we 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 responded lightheartedly, "Who gives a shit?" to which Druckmann agreed, adding, "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

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

Druckmann teased the plot, explaining, "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 game's unique approach to isolation, saying, "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 showrunners of The Last of Us Season 2, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, confirmed that "spores are back" after being omitted from Season 1. The latest trailer for the upcoming HBO series teased the reintroduction of spores. At SXSW 2025, Druckmann discussed the evolution of the infected, stating, "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." He 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 related news, actress Kaitlyn Dever discussed playing Abby in The Last of Us Season 2, admitting she finds it challenging to resist checking online reactions to her performance.