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

Neil Druckmann, the director behind the acclaimed game The Last of Us, has recently shed more light on Naughty Dog's highly anticipated new project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. In a revealing interview with Alex Garland, the mastermind behind the zombie film 28 Days Later, Druckmann discussed the development journey of Intergalactic, which has been in progress for the past four years.

Reflecting on past experiences, Druckmann humorously recounted the mixed reception to The Last of Us 2. "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 shared. Garland responded lightheartedly, "Who gives a shit?" To which Druckmann agreed, stating, "Exactly. 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, featuring Jordan A. Mun as Tati Gabrielle, unfolds in an alternate historical timeline dominated by a significant religion that has undergone significant transformation over time. As the protagonist, Jordan must harness all her skills and intellect to become the first individual in centuries to escape the planet's orbit.

Druckmann teased the setting: "This whole religion takes place on this one planet, and then at one point, all communication stops. And you're playing a bounty hunter that's chasing her bounty, and she crash lands on this planet. 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, announced the return of spores, which were absent from Season 1. Speaking at SXSW 2025, Druckmann elaborated on the evolution of the infected, saying, "There is an escalation of numbers and types of infected, but also, as you see in the trailer, an escalation of the vector of how this thing spreads. 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, who will portray Abby in The Last of Us Season 2, discussed the challenge of managing online reactions to her role, admitting it's hard to avoid looking at the internet's feedback.