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

Neil Druckmann, the director behind the critically acclaimed The Last of Us, has recently shed more light on Naughty Dog's much-anticipated new title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. In a revealing interview with Alex Garland, known for his work on the zombie film 28 Days Later, Druckmann discussed the game's development journey, which has spanned four years.

Reflecting on the creative backlash following The Last of Us 2, Druckmann shared a light-hearted moment with Garland. "We made a game, The Last of Us 2, and 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," he admitted. Garland responded with a nonchalant, "Who gives a shit?" to which Druckmann agreed, humorously suggesting that their new project might be less polarizing. "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

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Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet introduces players to an alternate historical timeline, featuring a "pretty prominent religion" that has evolved significantly over time. The game stars Jordan A. Mun as Tati Gabrielle, who plays a bounty hunter crash-landing on a mysterious planet. This planet is home to a unique religion, and all communication with it has ceased for centuries. Players will guide Jordan as she navigates this enigmatic world, piecing together its history and solving its mysteries to find a way off the planet.

Druckmann emphasized the game's focus on isolation and discovery, 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."

In other news, last week, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, showrunners for The Last of Us Season 2, confirmed that "spores are back" after their absence in Season 1. Speaking at SXSW 2025, Druckmann teased an escalation in the number and types of infected, as well as the introduction of new vectors for the spread of the infection. "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, who will portray Abby in The Last of Us Season 2, discussed the challenges of her role and the difficulty of avoiding online reactions to her performance.