Naughty Dog's Intergalactic Delayed Past 2026, Druckmann Calls It 'Incredible'

With the wait for *The Witcher 4* extending into 2027, fans of Naughty Dog's newly announced *Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet* are facing a similar timeline. According to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier on ResetEra, neither *The Witcher 4* nor *Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet* will see a release next year. This means that *Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet* is slated for a 2027 release at the earliest, just like *The Witcher 4*. Both titles will raise questions about their target platforms—whether they're aimed at the PlayStation 5, the upcoming PlayStation 6, or perhaps designed as cross-gen games.

If *Intergalactic* bypasses the PS5 to launch directly on the PS6, Naughty Dog would effectively miss out on releasing a new game during the PS5 generation. So far, the studio has focused on ports, remasters, and remakes for Sony's current-gen console, including *The Last of Us Part II*, *Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection*, *The Last of Us Part I*, and *The Last of Us Part II Remastered*.

*Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet* was unveiled at The Game Awards 2024, boasting a star-studded cast with Tati Gabrielle from the *Uncharted* movie as the protagonist Jordan A. Mun, and Kumail Nanjiani of *Marvel's Eternals* as Colin Graves. Fans have meticulously analyzed the trailer to uncover the rest of the cast, and even a glimpse of a crew photo has sparked further intrigue.

Earlier this month, *The Last of Us* director Neil Druckmann provided more insights into *Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet*. In an interview with Alex Garland, the writer of the zombie movie *28 Days Later*, Druckmann discussed the game's development process, revealing that *Intergalactic* has been in the works for four years.

"I joke about this with the team. 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," Druckmann remarked, with Garland humorously responding, "Who gives a shit?"

"Exactly," Druckmann continued. "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* is set in an alternate historical timeline and features a significant religion that has "changed and bastardized and evolved" over time. "This whole religion takes place on this one planet, and then at one point, all communication stops," Druckmann teased. "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," he explained. "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."

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Screenshots

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Assuming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet launches in 2027, and considering Druckmann's mention of four years of development so far, the game will have been in the works for a total of six years by release. While the wait is substantial, Druckmann shared with IGN at the red carpet premiere of The Last of Us Season 2 that the game is not only playable but also "really good."

"I will say we are playing it at the office and it's incredible," Druckmann enthused. "It's really good. I'm so excited to finally put gameplay out into the world and show people about it, because we just showed you the very, very, very tip on the iceberg. The game goes pretty deep beyond that."