Naughty Dog‘s catalog of games is an iconic one. From Crash Bandicoot to Uncharted and The Last of Us, the team has been a stalwart in the PlayStation lineup for decades. One Naughty Dog IP that we haven’t heard from in a long time is Jak and Daxter, the beloved PS2 action-platformer trilogy.
With such a shift in game development during the Uncharted and TLOU era, it was interesting to learn today that Jak seems to be playing a role in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Naughty Dog’s next project.
The PS Classic Series is Factoring into Intergalactic at Naughty Dog
In an interview with Patton Oswalt during Comic Creators Block Party 2026, Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog’s studio head, was asked by the host if he’d like to discuss the upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Oswalt inquired whether building on previous projects factored into Intergalactic development, to which Druckmann responded: “We’ve been doing The Last of Us and Uncharted since 2005, and those are relatively grounded IPs. They take place on our planet. Something we’ve been really hungry for is to go sci-fi, which we haven’t done [since] Jak and Daxter.”
Druckmann continued, “And with [Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet], we really wanted to take everything we’d learned from that franchise, which is sci-fi/fantasy, the pulp action-adventure stuff we learned with Uncharted, the more serious drama we got from The Last of Us… And it really is a combination of those three franchises. We really wanted to expand our deep gameplay systems. Can we sustain the cinematic storytelling we’re used to doing, and go even deeper with gameplay systems?”
Intergalactic Has Heavy Anime Influence, Too
Druckmann also went on to discuss that, additionally, Intergalactic is pulling heavily from some anime influences as well, and directly discussed both Akira and Evangelion. This influence was then said to be both stylistic and visual, but also in how those properties approached storytelling and philosophy.
With all of this in mind, it’ll be interesting to continue learning more details about Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Druckmann teased that we’ll hear more about the game sometime in 2027. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see how Jak and Daxter’s classic adventures have rubbed off on this new Naughty Dog IP.
How are you hoping Jak and Daxter influence manifests in Intergalactic? Let us know in the Insider Gaming Discord server.
Want some more clues about what Intergalactic could be? Troy Baker says the lead character is a “spiritual successor” to Ellie from The Last of Us. For more news and stories, subscribe to the Insider Gaming weekly newsletter.
Ethan Krieger got started as a sports journalist covering the NBA, but video games have always been his main passion. Since then, he's edited and written for multiple gaming outlets,…
More from Ethan Krieger
Comments