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

Neil Druckmann, the director behind the 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. He humorously reflected on the polarizing reception of The Last of Us 2, stating, "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." Garland's light-hearted response, "Who gives a shit?" prompted Druckmann to share the team's playful shift in focus, "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 experience of being alone in this setting, saying, "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."

In other news, last week, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, the showrunners for The Last of Us Season 2, confirmed that "spores are back" after their absence in Season 1. At SXSW 2025, Druckmann teased an increase in the variety and number of infected, along with a new method of infection spread shown in the latest trailer. He explained, "Season 1, we had this new thing that wasn’t in the game of these tendrils that spread, and that was one form. And then one shot you see in this trailer, there are things in the air."

Additionally, actress Kaitlyn Dever shared her experience of playing Abby in The Last of Us Season 2, admitting the challenge of resisting the urge to check online reactions to her performance.