The Heretic Prophet is Naughty Dog’s most expansive and expensive game

We just learned more about Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the next game from Naughty Dog, the PlayStation studio known for Uncharted and The Last of Us. Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann teased out the game’s scope and ambition, saying that it’s the most expansive and expensive game the studio has ever worked on.

Announced at The Game Awards last year, Naughty Dog’s next game still doesn’t have a firm release window. As such, it’s nice to hear about the game’s ambition so we can better understand why the game may still be a ways off from launching.

What did Neil Druckmann reveal about Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet?

It’s going to be ambitious, expansive, and expensive for Naughty Dog and PlayStation Studios

Neil Druckmann revealed all of this new information about Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet when speaking to Variety ahead of this year’s Emmy Awards. He recently took a step back from working on The Last of Us’ TV show to focus on Naughty Dog’s next game, so Variety pressed him to reveal a bit more about it.

Initially, he played a little coy, simply speaking to the game’s ambition. He says that Naughty Dog is “in the thick of it” when it comes to development, and is already able to play parts of the game. “It’s the most ambitious game we’ve ever made. It’s the most expansive game we’ve ever made, maybe the most expensive, by the time we finish it,” he went on to say.

Currently, we know that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is a futuristic sci-fi game and a completely new IP. We’ve yet to see gameplay, although the reveal trailer shows the main character using a sword-like weapon, suggesting it’s an action game like many of the studio’s previous releases.

Druckmann teased that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet’s gameplay would be an evolution of what the studio has worked on before:

“You could look at our previous titles and see the evolution of going from Uncharted, where we’re really cutting our teeth on realistic character-action game, third-person shooter, combined with emotional storytelling. With The Last of Us, we added some RPG elements, we started playing with wide linear layouts. Continue that trajectory forward, add sci-fi and you start to get the sense of what we’re doing, and then we’ve gotten even more ambitious than that. So really looking forward to see how it all comes together. I think you’re all going to be pleasantly surprised by it.”

Druckmann also seems interested in expanding Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet as a franchise, although he’s committed to finishing the game first. Still, it’s clear that expectations are very high for this new game from Naughty Dog, as it’s apparently much different and more ambitious than anything the studio has done before.

It’s a little frustrating that Sony and Naughty Dog still have to be somewhat coy when they speak about the game, but there’s still plenty of insight to glean from Neil Druckmann’s latest comments. When it does come out, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will be one of the highest-profile game launches of that year.