Julius Posted December 13 Posted December 13 (edited) Holy. Shit. That classic PS logo. In dev since 2020. Trailer and the game to be scored by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. Holy. Shit. Edited December 13 by Julius
Julius Posted December 13 Author Posted December 13 (edited) Trying to grab everything I can about this game right now. Some more details courtesy of a New York Times interview with Neil Druckmann (source). Quote "The story is quite ambitious," centering on a fictitious religion and "what happens when you put your faith in different institutions," The story is set in an alternative universe where space travel has significantly advanced by 1986. But he said it was a return to Naughty Dog's roots in the action-adventure genre that helped build the studio's reputation with franchises like Crash Bandicoot. It takes inspiration, he said, from classic anime like the 1988 movie "Akira" and the 1990s series "Cowboy Bebop". Quote More than 250 Naughty Dog employees have worked on Intergalactic over the past four years, in addition to outside artists in Druckmann's network. Developing new intellectual property can be nerve-racking because of the financial investment; Naughty Dog has had a series of layoffs over the past two years and underwent a restructuring that Druckmann said would ensure the company could operate as "an I.P. powerhouse." "It is about striking a balance of business and art," he said. "It is not just jumping on any opportunity to increase our bottom line." Quote Druckmann said he was keenly aware that some gamers have eagerly awaited news about Intergalactic. "It's really hard to work on these things in secret and silence for so many years," he said, "and then to see our fans go on social media and say, 'Enough with the remasters and remakes! Where are your new games and new I.P.s?'" He added, "We are finally starting to lift the curtain on this thing." Bebop vibes were the first vibes I got, and I'm sure the Akira vibes will be much more apparent if/when we get to a city. Them being the inspirations is a win for anime and, if done right, obviously, this game – both are masterpieces. Feel like it's also worth mentioning that early builds of TLOU Part II were described as being like an open world Bloodborne with a focus on melee combat, and well, that brief bit of combat teased at the end definitely looks like that (source for this is Grounded II, which I watched back in Jan). From Wikipedia, a synopsis: Quote Set hundreds of years in the future, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet follows Jordan A. Mun, a bounty hunter stranded on the remote planet Sempiria. For over 600 years, the planet has been cut off from all outside contact and no one has been able to leave its orbit. Jordan seeks to escape. Apparently also from Wikipedia the game's name was trademarked back in February 2024 (source: Gematsu). Jordan will be portrayed by Tati Gabrielle. I also see Kumail Nunjiani when her target is shown and in the photo, and also in the photo appears to be Tony Dalton. The song featured in the trailer is It's a Sin by the Pet Shop Boys. I'm pretty sure that in-game anime in the background is original, which would be interesting considering how much seems to be grounded in the real world (like the brand deals), but perhaps shouldn't be a surprise with the minefield that is anime rights handling outside of Japan. I wonder if it'll be a Savage Starlight sort of deal? Maybe we collect VHS tapes to watch this 90s anime, there could be an anime miniseries released, and maybe it'll reflect the story somewhat similar to how Savage Starlight does TLOU's? Edited December 13 by Julius
Julius Posted December 13 Author Posted December 13 Neil Druckmann's entry on the PS Blog for the game: Quote We’re back! You have been dying to know what’s next for us, and I’m thrilled to finally be able to answer: Naughty Dog’s next game is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, currently in development for the PlayStation 5 console. We’ve been working on this brand-new adventure since 2020! This game is shaping up to be our wildest, most creative story yet. Quote Intergalactic stars our newest protagonist, Jordan A. Mun, a dangerous bounty hunter who ends up stranded on Sempiria – a distant planet whose communication with the outside universe went dark hundreds of years ago. In fact, anyone who’s flown to it hoping to unravel its mysterious past was never heard from again. Jordan will have to use all her skills and wits if she hopes to be the first person in over 600 years to leave its orbit. Quote Beyond that, we’re keeping everything about the story under wraps – at least for now. What we can tell you is that this game lives up to the Naughty Dog tradition of creating an emotional, character-driven epic journey. Our narrative goals are rivaled only by our gameplay ambitions. This will be the deepest gameplay in Naughty Dog’s history, taking our learnings from our previous franchises and pushing them beyond anything we’ve ever done before. Jordan is played by the talented Tati Gabrielle, who leads a stellar cast (pun intended!). Eagle-eyed players might spot some of the other cast members in the trailer. We’ll reveal more of our ensemble down the line. Quote Our incredible voyage into the cosmos also needs an equally incredible soundtrack. As tremendous fans of their work, I’m excited to announce our collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who’ll be scoring Intergalactic! The guys are cooking, and the trailer is just a small tease of their work for the game. We know you’re eager for more – and trust us, we’re very eager to share more with you. For now, though, it’s time to put our heads back down and keep cranking away on Jordan’s adventure. Quote On behalf of the entire team at Naughty Dog, thank you to all our fans! Your support allows us to work on our dream games, bringing these wonderful new worlds and characters to life. We can’t wait to show you more! See you on the other side, Neil Druckmann Naughty Dog Studio Head I'm feeling like this is a potential 2026 title? Started dev back in 2020 and so 6 years seems about right (Santa Monica and Sucker Punch both spent around that long on GoW 2018 and Ghost of Tsushima, respectively, if memory serves) and Neil and the team have spoken a few times (in the Grounded II doc and elsewhere) about how they absolutely don't want a repeat of TLOU Part II when it comes to having a massive gap between announcement and launch. Naughty Dog are too smart to commit to a date if they're more than 12 months out because, well, things can happen. Then, maybe, if we're very lucky and things go smoothly and Naughty Dog's studio growth earlier this gen pays off and they're left free from being distracted by the follies of GAAS, that you're looking at 2028 or 2029 in that potential cross-gen period between PS5 and PS6 as the possible window for The Last of Us Part III.
Julius Posted December 13 Author Posted December 13 Seeing a weird number of people causing a stir about Jordan having a shaved head. Not that she would need this to justify the shaved head at all anyways, but I wonder if it's a gameplay mechanic of sorts? Naughty Dog's hair physics are insane so it'd be odd to me if they suddenly went with a protagonist who shaved theirs off...so considering we'll seemingly be trapped on Sempiria for potentially most of the game, if not all of it, I wonder if there's a passage of time (be it through "days" or just story chapters) which sees her hair grow back? It could totally just be her look, I mean it's a bit more grown out in the photo we see but still very short, but choosing to introduce the main character in this first trailer with a shot where she's in the process of shaving her head before she goes down to Sempiria is a pretty peculiar choice if it's not intentional (I guess maybe a form of otherwise "letting her hair down" or something, so to speak).
bob Posted December 13 Posted December 13 Looks very interesting. I wonder if it's going to be action adventure-y like Uncharted, or is there going to be full fighting gameplay? Looks a bit like a cross between Cyberpunk and the Jedi games. 1
Julius Posted 21 hours ago Author Posted 21 hours ago @Hero-of-Time where are you at with this? I'm a bit curious just knowing your love of Naughty Dog but them also finally taking a bit of a break from TLOU as well?
Hero-of-Time Posted 21 hours ago Posted 21 hours ago 2 minutes ago, Julius said: @Hero-of-Time where are you at with this? I'm a bit curious just knowing your love of Naughty Dog but them also finally taking a bit of a break from TLOU as well? I fell out of love with them after TLOU2. Not really excited by this at the moment. I'm hoping for a more light hearted adventure (Uncharted) over something moody and serious. 1
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