Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is the next game from Naughty Dog

By George Yang Published December 12, 2024 8:36 PM

At The Game Awards 2024, Naughty Dog has revealed its new game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet for PlayStation 5. The game has been in development since 2020 and it is set to be the next franchise from the acclaimed The Last of Us and Uncharted developer. No release window has been confirmed yet.

Recommended Videos

The Heretic Prophet takes place thousands of years into the future, and follows the story of a woman named Jordan A. Mun, who is a bounty hunter stranded on the planet of Sempira. The planet lost communication with the outside universe hundreds of years ago, and Jordan is using everything in her skill set in order to be the first person in over 600 years to leave.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The reveal trailer shows Jordan doing what seems to be a daily routine, like freshening up and shaving her head. Jordan is played by Tati Gabrielle, who will play Nora in The Last of Us TV show’s upcoming second season. It also shows actor Kumail Nanjiani having a part in the game as Colin Graves, who seems to be a target for bounty hunters. The trailer ends with Jordan taking out her red laser sword and fighting a giant robot.

Director Neil Druckmann says that this will be Naughty Dog’s most creative and wild story yet filled with emotional moments and character development. The game’s soundtrack will be a collaboration between Trent Renzor and Atticus Ross.

Back in February, a trademark for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet appeared in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Currently, Naughty Dog has two single-player games in development, and it looks like The Heretic Prophet is one of them.

Topics

Tech News

George Yang is a freelance games writer for Digital Trends. He has written for places such as IGN, GameSpot, The Washington…

Gaming

The Last of Us Online’s cancellation is the right move for Naughty Dog

The second piece of The Last of Us multiplayer concept art shows two players walking toward a beached yacht.

After a long period of silence on the project, and numerous reports of a beleaguered and troubled development, Naughty Dog has finally pulled the plug on its The Last of Us online multiplayer project. It was originally planned as an online mode paired with The Last of Us Part II, much like Factions accompanied the first game. But at some point, the scope and direction of the mode was changed and it was decided that it would be a standalone title. Over three years later, with nothing but concept art shown from the game, it has b4een officially scrapped.

While that may come as a disappointment to Naughty Dog fans looking forward to its take on a live-service game set in The Last of Us universe, its cancellation is a necessity for the company. It's a hard decision that will allow the studio to continue doing what it does best rather than giving in to what's trendy.
Cutting losses
Naughty Dog's official statement on why it decided to halt production on this project paints a very clear picture: the studio wanted to put the same amount of time, care, and ambition into every component of The Last of Us Online as it would a single-player title. After evolving into a full live-service effort, upholding that level of quality would have become the studio's sole focus. Seeing the road it was about to embark on, Naughty Dog had to choose between becoming a studio that only made The Last of Us Online, or one that could continue to create single-player experiences that have helped define PlayStation's modern image. It was both a hard decision and an obvious choice.

Gaming

Naughty Dog confirms The Last of Us Part II Remastered following leak

Key art for The Last of Us Part II Remastered

Naughty Dog officially announced and released the first trailer for a remaster of 2020's critically acclaimed The Last of Us Part II. The developer was forced to announce The Last of Us Remastered Part II Remastered a bit early after it leaked Friday afternoon. Thankfully, the wait for the remaster won't be long, as it's coming to the PlayStation 5 in two months.

The Last of Us Part II Remastered - Announce Trailer | PS5 Games

Gaming

Naughty Dog devs suffer layoffs, reportedly impacting Last of Us multiplayer spinoff

Ellie looking concerned.

A new report revealed that Naughty Dog has ended several contracts it had with developers early, laying off around 25 developers. This had a negative impact on The Last of Us multiplayer game but, more importantly, is chillingly just the latest batch of layoffs in a rough couple of months for the video game industry.
These contracted developers were informed that their contracts were ending prematurely at the end of October and that they'd get no severance afterward, according to the report at Kotaku. Reportedly, most of these layoffs at Naughty Dog, PlayStation's darling studio that employs over 400 developers, come from the quality assurance, art, and production teams. According to Kotaku, Naughty Dog asked its developers to keep quiet about it. That didn't happen, though, with developers telling Kotaku not only about the layoffs but that the multiplayer The Last of Us game "while not completely canceled, is basically on ice at this point."
Concept art for Naughty Dog's Last of Us multiplayer title. Naughty Dog
These layoffs are unfortunate but sadly not uncommon for the game industry. Throughout the last few weeks, studios like Ubisoft, Creative Assembly, Ascendant Studios, and Epic Games have all laid off people. Epic, in particular, cut a whopping 16% of its workforce despite the fact that Fortnite is one of the most popular video games. Then, there are studios like Saints Row's Volition, support studio Puny Human, and Boomerang X's Dang are closing entirely.
Although 2023 has been a year full of fantastic games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, and Baldur's Gate 3, it's unfortunate that it has been so rough for the developers who actually make the games in this gigantic industry. It's clear something needs to change.