The Game Awards were filled with tons of exciting announcements and reveals, but none was as surprising as the show closer — Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. It's a brand new game from Naughty Dog, the studio behind hit PlayStation franchises The Last of Us and Uncharted.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is, in fact, the studio's next big franchise, described by studio head Neil Druckmann as "our wildest, most creative story yet."
The reveal kicked off with a cinematic trailer that introduced us to a fascinating, retro-futuristic sci-fi universe. We don't know much about this alt-universe setting, but it's clearly influenced by the 1980s.
The series stars Jordan A. Mun (portrayed by actress Tati Gabrielle), a dangerous bounty hunter who is tracking a man named Colin Graves (portrayed by Kumail Nanjiani). We don't know much about either of these characters, except that Graves is affiliated with a faction known as The Five Aces. There's just one problem for Mun — the man she is tracking is currently hiding out on the Sempirian moon.
The trailer alludes to the dangers of the planet of Sempiria, but Naughty Dog provided a bit more context on the PlayStation Blog. Although much of the plot remains a mystery, Naughty Dog teased:
Intergalactic stars our newest protagonist, Jordan A. Mun, a dangerous bounty hunter who ends up stranded on 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. Jordan will have to use all her skills and wits if she hopes to be the first person in over 600 years to leave its orbit.
Naturally, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet was met with rousing excitement, but Naughty Dog is keeping the story under wraps for now. However, the developer did tease that the game will live up to the studio's tradition of "creating an emotional, character-driven epic journey."
"Our narrative goals are rivaled only by our gameplay ambitions. This will be 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," Druckmann said.
No launch window was given for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which suggests it could still be years away from release. As it's developed by Naughty Dog, it will almost certainly be a PlayStation exclusive. But by 2027, we may be looking at a PlayStation 6 rather than the PS5.