Naughty Dog chief Neil Druckmann has revealed the studio has a secret, unannounced second game in the works other than Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
In an interview with the Press X to Continue podcast, Druckmann discussed his ongoing roles at Sony-owned Naughty Dog. On Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Druckmann works with two game directors: Matthew Gallant and Kurt Margenau, and is co-writing the game with narrative director Claire Carré. Druckmann did not say which director is working on the second game, however.
“There’s another game that’s being worked on at Naughty Dog where I am more of a producer role and I get to mentor and watch this other team and give feedback and be like the executive in the room,” he said.
“I enjoy all those roles, and the fact I jump between one to the next, it makes my job very exciting and always feeling fresh. I’m never bored.”
It is unclear at which stage each game is in production. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is announced, so you’d imagine it’s further along. But what is the second game?
There are some obvious candidates. Could it be The Last of Us 3? Druckmann has expressed his uncertainty in the past about being able to make the game, but has said he has an ending in mind for what the game would be. Based on Druckmann’s comments about having more of a producer role on this mystery second game, it doesn’t sound like it’s The Last of Us 3, as you’d imagine he’d want to be heavily involved and take on a director role for that game.
Alternatively, it could be another Uncharted game. There hasn’t been a brand new Uncharted game since 2017’s The Lost Legacy. Could it finally be time for a return? And there’s always a chance this second game could be a brand new intellectual property, as Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is.
It’s worth noting that there’s always a chance this second game never comes out, or is never properly revealed by Sony. Naughty Dog has endured a tumultuous time in recent years, with the cancelation of its The Last of Us multiplayer game to focus on single-player games coming amid an apparent pull-back of live service titles at Sony.
Naughty Dog stopped development on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, saying it would have needed to put all its resources into post-launch content for years to come — an approach that would have severely impacted its ability to develop future single-player games.
Historically, Naughty Dog has struggled to work on two big games at the same time, with one tending to end up top of the tree internally. The studio hasn’t released a brand new game since 2020’s The Last of Us 2, with remakes and collections in the interim.
As for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, it features a star-studded cast that includes Tati Gabrielle from the Uncharted movie as protagonist Jordan A. Mun, and Kumail Nanjiani of Marvel’s Eternals as a man called Colin Graves. It is not expected to release until 2027 at the earliest. It’s a pretty long wait, but speaking to IGN on the red carpet ahead of The Last of Us Season 2 premiere, Druckmann said that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is not only playable right now, but “really good.”
“I will say we are playing it at the office and it’s incredible,” Druckmann teased. “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.”
Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
