It’s not wise to bet on reputation alone but Naughty Dog will surely be the exception to the rule with their new project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
The focus on the ’80s will probably never die, even in the 2290s they’ll still refer to the 1980s as that time that had Take On Me and synths galore.
Intergalactic provides other room for cynicism: an abandoned planet that can’t be escaped, a style seemingly derived heavily from a musical era and a wise-cracking, slightly arrogant hero. Yes, even as someone who hasn’t watched every Guardians of the Galaxy or played every space-based shooter this feels very in keeping with trends.
Still, I would have written a very similar paragraph had I covered the release of The Last of Us with zombies and look how that turned out.
There’s also a reason the ’80s gets picked over ’90s grunge for example, because as funny as a space shooter based on the likes of Nirvana or Pearl Jam would be, it wouldn’t be inspiring. It works as an era for the natural, positive energy it provides.
So, what do we know about Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet?
The graphics are pretty stunning in the trailer, and run from a PlayStation 5. The way it handles the contrast between the anime in the background and the actual footage immediately stuck out.
The trailer begins with a cryptic but somewhat foreboding quote from the planet’s archives: “The suffering of generations must be endured to achieve our divine end.” See, I wasn’t kidding. It then leads to the carefree bounty hunter Jordan Mun, played by Tati Gabrielle, deciding to go to the planet that no one has been heard from after visiting for 600 years.
She goes there after talking to her agent with the intent of hunting down Colin Graves, promisingly played by Kumail Nanjiani and seemingly a member of a gang called the Five Aces.
The trailer concludes with a bit of combat showing Mun slicing a big bipedal robot and that’s about it. This is a good reminder that this is one trailer and that’s all, serious judgements can’t be made yet.
It all leads back to the earlier point, when they made The Last of Us, offhand I think zombies were probably at the stage where fatigue was visibly on the horizon. Yet that’s the point, Naughty Dog have plenty of other examples to learn from. They already know where the potential mistakes to avoid are.
Don’t forget to have fun
I’m explaining this because my cynicism is completely unwarranted; yes, it’s early doors, but this looks good. I watched the Starfield trailer and I didn’t care for it, whereas I’m intrigued to know more about this and keep it on my radar.
Does it feel derivative at this stage? Sure, but that doesn’t matter if it ends up being great.
Is this something to count down the days until it is released? No, quite simply we don’t know enough about it. Should we get excited? Yes, of course, that’s part of the fun of video games. With gaming, it’s fun to be eagerly awaiting the next trailer or bit of news, the gaming experience begins long before you start up the game itself.
This looks promising and is a potential new IP from the masters of creating a blockbuster new series roughly once a console generation.
This looks good, so have fun and dare to be excited. Oh, but if they could change the name to The Heretic Prophet it would be easier, I can’t tell you how often I forgot the first name in the actual title while writing this.
