Tati Gabrielle’s latest comments suggest Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet marks a dramatic shift for Naughty Dog. From Elden Ring-inspired player freedom to a mid-2027 internal target, here is everything we know about the studio’s most ambitious project yet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is Naughty Dog’s first original franchise since The Last of Us in 2013. In development since 2020 for PlayStation 5, the sci-fi action-adventure game returned to the spotlight after lead actor Tati Gabrielle told IGN that the project will show “such a different side of Naughty Dog” that she believes players will be genuinely excited. Her comments reinforce months of reports suggesting the studio is moving away from its trademark linear design toward something far more open and exploratory.
What Exactly Did Tati Gabrielle Say?
Speaking at a press event for the Mortal Kombat 2 film, in which she plays Jade, Gabrielle shared her enthusiasm for Intergalactic without revealing concrete gameplay details. “I am excited to play myself. I think that it’s such a different side of Naughty Dog that I think people are going to get really excited for,” she said. She added that the studio “even challenged itself in terms of world-building,” hinting at a scope well beyond the studio’s previous corridor-style level design.
Naughty Dog’s identity over the past two console generations has been defined by razor-sharp linear game design. Uncharted 4 introduced semi-open sections and The Last of Us Part II experimented with a freely explorable open zone in Seattle, but the studio’s games have always been tightly guided experiences. When Gabrielle says “different side,” most industry observers read it as confirmation that Intergalactic will lean heavily into player freedom.
The Elden Ring Comparison Explained
Gabrielle’s words align with a widely discussed claim from MinnMax host Ben Hanson. Back in October 2024, before the game was even announced, Hanson teased that Naughty Dog’s next project was “inspired by a game with a lot of player freedom.” After the Game Awards reveal in December 2024, Hanson confirmed the mystery game was Elden Ring: “I think it’s fine to say it now, that game was Elden Ring that it was compared to back then. If I would have said ‘Naughty Dog’s next game is like Elden Ring’ and then that reveal trailer came out, I feel like we would have been lit on fire.”
The comparison is not about Souls-like difficulty or dark fantasy combat. It centres on structural openness and environmental storytelling. Creative director Neil Druckmann supported this interpretation in a 2023 interview with the Washington Post, saying: “I’m more recently intrigued by stuff like Elden Ring that doesn’t rely as much on traditional narrative to tell its story. Some of the best storytelling is in gameplay and moving around the space and understanding a history of the space by just looking at it and examining it. That’s the stuff I’m really intrigued by going forward.”
In a September 2025 Variety interview, Druckmann expanded further: “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.” Reports from Instant Gaming have described the game as a cross between The Last of Us Part II and Dark Souls, leaning toward a sandbox structure rather than a traditional Ubisoft-style open world.
The World of Sempiria
Intergalactic is set roughly two thousand years in the future, in an alternate universe where advanced space travel existed by 1986. Players control veteran bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun, who becomes stranded on Sempiria, a remote planet that has been cut off from outside contact for over 600 years. No one who has visited has ever managed to leave. Jordan is tracking the legendary “Five Aces” criminal syndicate and must uncover the planet’s history while fighting hostile, blade-wielding robots.
Druckmann told the New York Times that the story is centred on a fictional religion and explores “what happens when you put your faith in different institutions.” The writing team created thousands of years of fictional history for Sempiria’s belief system. Druckmann also emphasised loneliness as a core theme: “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 where you’re really confused about what happened here.”
The absence of a constant companion character would be a first for modern Naughty Dog. Uncharted always paired Drake with allies, and The Last of Us defined itself through the Joel-Ellie dynamic. Jordan tackling Sempiria alone fits both the Elden Ring-inspired design philosophy and the narrative theme of isolation.
Cast and Soundtrack
Tati Gabrielle portrays Jordan A. Mun. Gabrielle previously appeared in the Uncharted film (2022) and the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us (2025), both adaptations of Naughty Dog properties. Druckmann has said he pitched Intergalactic to Gabrielle during casting for The Last of Us and compared her audition to Ashley Johnson’s original tryout for Ellie.
The supporting cast includes Kumail Nanjiani as Colin Graves, Tony Dalton in an unannounced lead role, Troy Baker in an undisclosed part, and Halley Gross as the character AJ. Dalton described his involvement as “insane” and “something I’ve never done in my life,” praising the motion capture process and Druckmann’s direction.
The score is composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, marking Reznor’s first full video game soundtrack since Quake in 1996. Naughty Dog has said “the guys are cooking,” and the reveal trailer offered a small taste of their work alongside Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin,” a track Druckmann specifically chose for its thematic resonance with the game’s focus on faith.
When Will It Release?
No official release date or window has been announced. According to a December 2025 Bloomberg report by Jason Schreier, Intergalactic is internally scheduled for mid-2027. The same report revealed that between late October and mid-December 2025, Naughty Dog staff were asked to work at least eight additional hours per week to complete an internal demo for Sony’s review.
As of May 2026, no gameplay footage has been shown publicly. Industry watchers expect the first gameplay reveal at Summer Game Fest on June 5, 2026, or a subsequent PlayStation State of Play. Druckmann described the project in September 2025 as “the most ambitious game we’ve ever made, the most expansive, maybe the most expensive by the time we finish it.” With Sony’s other major 2026 exclusive, Marvel’s Wolverine from Insomniac, set for September 15, Intergalactic appears to be next in the PlayStation first-party pipeline.
How Naughty Dog’s Design Philosophy Is Evolving
Naughty Dog’s shift did not happen overnight. Uncharted 4 introduced wider play spaces and optional side content. The Last of Us Part II’s Day 1 in Seattle let players explore a large zone at their own pace. The studio also has older open-world DNA from the Jak and Daxter series. Intergalactic appears to be the culmination of that gradual expansion, pushing into fully open or sandbox territory while retaining the character-driven storytelling the studio is known for.
The development team is roughly 250 people strong, led by creative director Druckmann alongside game directors Matthew Gallant and Kurt Margenau and narrative director Claire Carré. Druckmann assembled a writers’ room structured “more like a TV show” than the studio’s previous projects, reflecting the scale and ambition of the project’s worldbuilding.
For those following Naughty Dog’s broader output, the studio also has The Last of Us Part III in development with a separate team, ensuring Intergalactic receives full creative and production focus.
Questions Players Are Asking
Is Intergalactic open world? Not officially confirmed, but multiple credible sources, including insider Ben Hanson, have compared its player freedom to Elden Ring. Druckmann’s own interviews support a more exploratory, less guided structure than previous Naughty Dog titles.
Will it come to PC? Only PS5 has been announced. Naughty Dog’s recent titles have eventually arrived on PC, but typically years after the console launch. No PC version has been mentioned.
Who is composing the music? Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It is Reznor’s first full game score since Quake (1996) and marks a high-profile collaboration between the Oscar-winning composers and Naughty Dog.
What anime inspired the game? Druckmann has cited Akira (1988) and Cowboy Bebop (1998) as inspirations for the game’s science fiction elements and tone. The reveal trailer showed Jordan watching anime aboard her ship, reinforcing the 1980s cultural aesthetic that permeates the game’s alternate universe.
Is this connected to The Last of Us? No. Intergalactic is a completely original universe. Some cast members overlap with The Last of Us franchise, but the stories and settings are entirely separate.
A Pivotal Moment for Naughty Dog
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet represents Naughty Dog’s biggest creative gamble in over a decade. A 250-person team, a score by Reznor and Ross, a narrative built around thousands of years of fictional religious history, and a design philosophy reportedly inspired by Elden Ring’s player freedom: every signal points to a game that deliberately breaks from the studio’s comfort zone. Tati Gabrielle calling it “a different side of Naughty Dog” may prove to be the most telling preview anyone has given so far. With gameplay expected to surface in the coming months and a likely mid-2027 release, the wait is entering its most revealing phase.
