Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is currently a giant question mark beyond what was shown in the reveal teaser and the tiny scraps of details that Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has shared since the game’s announcement. There will obviously be a huge emphasis on melee combat in Intergalactic seeing as there’s a highly unique and mysterious blade weapon that protagonist Jordan A. Mun wields, for example, but gunplay will still have a role considering she has an SMG sidearm holstered on her leg. As with many AAA titles and sequels, it wouldn’t at all be surprising if a lot of The Last of Us’ DNA is fed to Intergalactic intravenously.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is reportedly tackling themes of loneliness and being lost, presumably without many NPC allies to exchange dialogue with. The science-fiction IP may follow The Last of Us’ linear level design approach, too, but it will be interesting to see how its setting, Sempiria, takes shape regardless. Indeed, Part 2 introduced a map system that The Last of Us inherited from a similar section in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and if larger areas home to rich, optional exploration culminate in Intergalactic it would be excellent seeing that map system iterated on.
How Uncharted’s Latest Rumor May Be Bolstered by a Correlation Between Sony Adaptations
With Tati Gabrielle now making a splash in multiple Naughty Dog projects, Kaitlyn Dever's role as The Last of Us' Abby could spell a similar pattern.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is Seemingly All About Exploration in an Unknown IP
Being a new IP with a world that nobody will be familiar with until they experience it themselves, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet’s brand of science fiction and religion isn’t easy to categorize yet, and probably purposefully so. In essence, the game’s aesthetic may well be demonstrative of the studio’s favorite science-fiction motifs and, like The Last of Us, not everything will need to be explained by exposition for its lore to be superb so long as worldbuilding and environmental storytelling in-game suffice.
The game is vibrant and plastered with notable, real-life corporate labels, such as Adidas, Porsche, and Sony, and even has the comforts of a modern, ordinary life, including a brown paper takeout bag with hot sauce beside it, suggesting that Intergalactic will be familiar and not too alien. A lot of Intergalactic will supposedly concentrate on Jordan and the player learning about Sempiria specifically, though, and dabbling in cartography as Jordan begins to explore a mysterious land could logically allow Intergalactic to become a semi-open-world title by taking Seattle Day 1 from The Last of Us Part 2 and extrapolating it into a full game.
The Last of Us Part 2’s Seattle Day 1 May Be the Perfect Formula for Intergalactic
Intergalactic’s reveal teaser does illustrate that ordinary photographs, print news articles, and handwritten notes have not yet gone out of style—perhaps a quirk of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet’s alternate universe marinating in the cassette futurism subgenre of science fiction. It’s unknown how much could be digitized versus analog, for instance, and this makes whatever assortment of tools or resources Jordan has incredibly exciting.
If stranded and lacking communications or a ton of technology, Jordan may resort to a physical map that she periodically updates and appends to. This way, it may be possible to have linear story beats told within big regions.
Not having an ally to accompany Jordan in a sweeping section like this would be odd, particularly because Naughty Dog truly has made NPC companions such a natural element throughout Uncharted and The Last of Us, but it might also be a great idea due to how distinct that change would inherently make Intergalactic. Either way, should an interactive map find itself in Jordan’s possession, it would be fantastic to see how Intergalactic may learn from some of The Last of Us Part 2’s best chapters and features.
- Developer(s)
- Naughty Dog
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5
