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 light on Naughty Dog's next ambitious project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. In a revealing interview with Alex Garland, the mastermind behind the zombie thriller 28 Days Later, Druckmann discussed the four-year journey of developing this new game.

Reflecting on past projects, Druckmann humorously noted the polarizing reception to The Last of Us 2. "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," he shared. Garland's light-hearted response, "Who gives a shit?" encapsulated their shared sentiment. Druckmann then revealed the inspiration behind Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, stating, "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, shrouded in mystery and cut off from communication for centuries, challenges players to unravel its secrets and history to find a way off.

Druckmann emphasized the unique gameplay experience, 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, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, the showrunners for The Last of Us Season 2, have confirmed the return of “spores” 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 experience playing Abby in The Last of Us Season 2, admitting the challenge of resisting the urge to check online reactions to her performance.