aughty Dog's Neil Druckmann has revealed some more details about the studio's next game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet (which, incidentally, is a dreadful name and one I'm surprised the creators of The Last of Us are satisfied with) and if you were hoping its sci-fi setting might mean a lighter, more frivolous adventure than the The Last of Us, you might want to think again.
Speaking to Civil War and Ex Machina director Alex Garland on the Creator to Creator podcast (via Eurogamer), Druckmann revealed that the game will be diving deep into the not-remotely emotionally charged waters of faith and religion.
Druckmann broached the topic on the podcast by referencing the mixed reception The Last of Us: Part 2 received from players, stating, "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." When Garland dismisses the hate the sequel received, saying, "Who gives a shit?", Druckmann responded "Exactly. But the joke is like, you know what? Let's do something that people won't care about as much. Let's make a game about faith and religion."
According to Druckman, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet takes place "2000 years" into a future which "deviates" from our own timeline in the late 1980s. Part of this deviation involves the rise of a new religion, which "becomes pretty prominent, and then we spend years just building out this religion from the original prophet all the way [to] how it gets changed and sometimes bastardised and evolves over all these years."
As is hinted at in the title, Intergalactic doesn't take place on Earth, and is instead centred around a planet called Sempiria which is the centre point of this religion. "This whole religion takes place on this one planet," Druckman says. "And then at one point all communication stops from this planet and you're playing a bounty hunter that's chasing her bounty and she crash lands on this planet."
It also seems that, unlike The Last of Us and its sequel, Intergalactic will see your character Jordan A. Mun adventuring on their own, with Druckmann stating, "So many of the previous games we've done there's always like an ally with you." Intergalactic, by comparison, will be more about deciphering the mysteries of Sempiria. "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."
Frankly, I reckon Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet dabbling in fictional religions is far less likely to incur the kind of Metacritic bombings The Last of Us 2 received. The primary objects of ire for Naughty Dog's sequel were the decision to kill off Joel, the fact that a girl had muscles, and the depiction of a lesbian relationship between Ellie and Dina, all of which were destined to set off individuals incapable of tolerating any perspective that doesn't default to heteronormative male. Then again, maybe Intergalactic's big twist is that God is a lesbian, in which case Druckmann probably has a fair point.
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