Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet – Everything we know about the new Naughty Dog game

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is the next project from developer Naughty Dog, and it's not what we expected. The studio is best known for its work on the Uncharted and The Last of Us franchises these days, and some have quietly speculated that sequels for either series could be in the works. Instead, we've got a brand new IP, the studio's first since it unleashed The Last of Us on an unsuspecting world in 2013. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is a sci-fi adventure with a gorgeous retrofuturism aesthetic, designed specifically to leverage the power of the PS5.

The upcoming title is immediately one of the most anticipated upcoming PS5 games since it was revealed in 2024, and already we have a ton of exciting details about the game to unpack. For instance, we know that it's set to star Tati Gabrielle (who, as it should happen, appeared in Sony's Uncharted movie adaptation and is set to play Nora in The Last of Us season 2) and that the legendary Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross will score the soundtrack.

Below, you'll find the first salvo of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet news, including what we've been able to glean about its expected release date, gameplay, and story so far.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet release date is unknown

Neither Naughty Dog nor PlayStation Studios has revealed the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet release date or release window. That's likely because it is years away from production.

The studio has confirmed that development started on Intergalactic back in 2020. While it is true that the team typically takes around four years between projects, it's likely that the COVID-19 pandemic has created an elongated production pipeline, which is likely one reason we've seen so many remasters and remakes from the studio of late. Don't expect Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet to be a new game for 2025.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet platforms

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is coming to PS5. Developer Naughty Dog is part of the PlayStation Studios group who sets its sights on building expansive PS5 exclusives.

While it is true that select PlayStation titles have come to PC (including Naughty Dog's most recent releases and remasters of The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2), they typically arrive years after making their debut on PlayStation platforms. There was no mention of it just yet.

Still, you should also expect some pretty sweet PS5 Pro support, given that Naughty Dog is typically a brand leader for benchmark-setting at Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet trailer

The trailer for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet runs for a whopping four minutes and 33 seconds, truly setting the scene for the upcoming IP. The teaser opens with an alien language from the planet Sempiria that is translated to reveal the harrowing words: "The suffering of generations must be endured to achieve our divine end," talk about ominous.

The trailer then cuts to our protagonist, the bounty hunter Jordan's ship. It turns out that Jordan is on her way to that planet we mentioned earlier, Sempiria, and that said planet also has rumors and dark stories surrounding it. The clip above is stunning, showing us realistic visuals of machinery and beautiful shots of space. It also even gives us a quick look at Jordan facing a robot boss with a great red sword as well.

Everything about the new game looks phenomenal, and we can't wait to see more gameplay reveals and teasers as we head further into 2025.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet gameplay

Naughty Dog is yet to go into detail on the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet gameplay experience, so all we really have is word from studio head Neil Druckmann. He says that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet "is shaping up to be our wildest, most creative story yet," teasing that the third-person adventure will be set on the planet of Sempiria – "a distant planet whose communication with the outside universe went dark hundreds of years ago. In fact, anyone who's flown to it hoping to unravel its mysterious past was never heard from again."

He went on to say that Intergalactic will contain "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."

Ben Hanson, formerly of Game Informer, also teased that the upcoming game will be focused on the concept of "player freedom" during a MinnMax video about Intergalactic. Elden Ring is supposedly a massive inspiration for that concept when it comes to this game, too. This is seemingly backed by a 2023 interview with Druckmann (via journalist Gene Park).

"Some of the best storytelling is in gameplay and moving around the space and understanding a history of the space by just looking at it and examining it. To me, that's some of the best joy I get out of games that trust their audience to figure things out. That's the stuff I'm really intrigued by going forward," Druckman explains regarding his thoughts on Elden Ring.

Now, we aren't saying that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will be an Elden Ring clone. However, it's interesting to know that it's gameplay may be inspired by FromSoftware's mecanhics involving interacting with environments and how ther games' history is communicated to players.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet story

Naughty Dog is keeping the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet story under wraps, but there is some information that we've been able to glean by studying that stunning reveal trailer. The game is set to introduce a new protagonist, Jordan A. Mun, a bounty hunter who finds themselves stranded on Sempiria – a dangerous planet that claims the lives of all who enter its orbit.

Jordan is heading to the surface to claim a bounty on Colin Graves, a member of a notorious intergalactic criminal outfit called the Five Aces who terrorized the Bluestar Systems before mysteriously disappearing. It's clear from the reveal that Jordan is hunting these MIA criminals, but whether it's to lay claim to the missing loot or for more personal reasons remains to be seen.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet development

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is in development at Naughty Dog, the studio responsible for some of the best PS5 games (and The Last of Us and Uncharted franchises). Studio head and game director Neil Druckmann says that the team has "been working on this brand-new adventure since 2020", meaning that development will have commenced as production on The Last of Us 2 concluded.

Given the success of the HBO Last of Us adaptation, there had been some speculation that Naughty Dog would dive straight back into that world for its next project. Still, it's great to see the studio shift gears into a new IP – its first since it unleashed Joel and Ellie on an unsuspecting world a decade ago.

However, it's also worth noting that the development on the game is taking time, and is still in the early stages, as ideas are still being formed and changed. In fact, Neil Druckmann recently revealed during an episode of Sony's Creator to Creator video series that the team" still have a ways to go."

"Again, these things are so complex and big, and there's so many people involved. It's like, I still don't know exactly what this thing is going to look like at the end," he continued. "I have a theory, I have an idea, but it's still evolving and changing as we're making it."

Hopefully, we will see progress speed up after the release of HBO's The Last of Us season 2, which comes out on April 13, 2025. Stay tuned for updates!

While we wait for more info on Naughty Dog's new venture, why not dive into one of the best sci-fi games.