Home News Neil Druckmann Aims to Make Players Feel 'Lost and Confused' with Naughty Dog's New Game

Neil Druckmann Aims to Make Players Feel 'Lost and Confused' with Naughty Dog's New Game

by Jonathan Apr 07,2025

Neil Druckmann, the creative mind behind The Last of Us, has recently unveiled more intriguing details about Naughty Dog's latest project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. In a fascinating interview with Alex Garland, the acclaimed writer of the zombie film 28 Days Later, Druckmann provided insights into the development of this ambitious new game, revealing that it has been in the works for four years.

Reflecting on the polarizing reception of The Last of Us Part II, Druckmann humorously noted, "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's light-hearted response, "Who gives a shit?" led Druckmann to quip, "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 features Jordan A. Mun as Tati Gabrielle, set in an alternate historical timeline. The game delves into a "pretty prominent religion" that has evolved dramatically over time. As players, you'll control Jordan, a bounty hunter who crash-lands on a mysterious planet where all communication has ceased. The challenge? To unravel the planet's history and secrets to become the first person in centuries to escape its orbit.

Druckmann expressed his vision for the game, 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."

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In other news, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, the showrunners for The Last of Us Season 2, have confirmed that "spores are back" after their absence in Season 1. At SXSW 2025, Druckmann teased an escalation in the number and types of infected, as well as the method of infection spread. "Season 1, we had this new thing that wasn’t in the game of these tendrils that spread, and that was one form," he explained. "And then one shot you see in this trailer, there are things in the air."

Additionally, actress Kaitlyn Dever shared her thoughts on portraying Abby in The Last of Us Season 2, admitting the challenge of not getting swayed by online reactions.

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