Gamers have been waiting for a brand new title from Naughty Dog for a long time. The company’s last major new release was “The Last of Us: Part II” back in 2020 (not counting the recent remasters), and fans haven’t gotten a new IP from the developer in longer than most of us can remember. Since then the company has cancelled “The Last of Us Online” and released those aforementioned remasters, but fans are ready for something new.
Luckily, they won’t have to wait that much longer. Naughty Dog revealed “Intergalactic: The Heretic” with a trailer in December 2024, and recent reporting suggests that the company is looking at an early 2027 release date for the final game. Finally, fans are getting the new IP they’ve been wanting, and they’re going to experience an entirely new sci-fi universe along with it.
We don’t yet know much about what the actual gameplay in “Intergalactic” will entail. The reveal trailer showed us a tiny bit of spaceship flight and some futuristic swordplay, and if those small details made you as excited to play “Intergalactic” as we are, then these five games might help you survive the wait.
Returnal
Sony Interactive Entertainment
“Returnal” is a sci-fi roguelike game that’s sure to help you kill dozens of hours while waiting for Naughty Dog’s “Intergalactic.” Developed by Housemarque, “Returnal” follows astronaut and pilot Selene Vassos, who gets stranded on the mysterious alien planet Atropos. Selene quickly realizes that the planet is filled with hostile alien creatures and plagued by a distortion in time that causes her to loop back to her crash site every time she dies.
Selene has access to a melee weapon, but guns are the main focus of the third-person combat in “Returnal.” Players can find increasingly powerful weapons and upgrade them as they progress through the three biomes of Atropos. Mastering the weapons is another story entirely, and anyone who charges into “Returnal” should be prepared to die a lot. That’s part of the fun, though, and slowly upgrading Selene’s arsenal while simultaneously sharpening your own skills and knowledge of alien life on Atropos is an extremely satisfying process.
“Returnal” is one of the games that make buying the PlayStation 5 worthwhile. The game has since been ported to PC, but unless you’ve got a starship’s onboard computer sitting in your home office, “Returnal” plays best on console.
Starfield
“Intergalactic” is going to be an action-packed sci-fi adventure with a thrilling narrative, but Naughty Dog is far from the only studio to set its sights on the stars. “Starfield” is one of the biggest space games ever made, and it’s filled with enough sidequests, alien worlds, and orbital combat to keep you busy for months on end. However, Bethesda games are typically much more open-ended and sprawling than Naughty Dog titles. We expect “Intergalactic” to be a more focused narrative experience than “Starfield,” but Bethesda’s massive galaxy looks and feels like it could slot right into the world shown in the “Intergalactic” reveal trailer.
If you’ve played any other Bethesda RPG, you’ve got a rough idea of what the “Starfield” experience is like. Players can customize a character before jumping into an expansive galaxy populated by multiple interstellar governments, explorers’ organizations, and space pirate crews. The combat has a wealth of guns for players to choose from, but there’s also an array of melee weapons that might help you warm up for Jordan A. Mun’s swordfighting in “Intergalactic.”
In our review of “Starfield,” we sang the praises of one of the game’s most unique and well-designed features: the ship builder. Any sci-fi fan is guaranteed to lose hours creating the perfect vessel for their space adventures, and that process might be worth the price of entry for “Starfield” all by itself.
Uncharted
Sony Interactive Entertainment
We had to throw at least one other Naughty Dog game on our suggestion list. If you’re impatiently awaiting the release of “Intergalactic,” then you might as well get to know some of the developer’s other work. For more than a decade, Naughty Dog has been something of a “The Last of Us” factory, but before that series made such a splash, the developer was known for a different action franchise.
The “Uncharted” series puts players right into the center of a summer blockbuster action movie. As treasure hunter Nathan Drake, players will need to explore ruins, solve ancient puzzles, and gun down enemies. Every “Uncharted” game offers a near-perfect balance of cover-based shooting and puzzle solving while also telling genuinely engaging stories that would feel right at home on the big screen (even if the eventual big screen adaptation didn’t quite hit the mark).
Playing the first “Uncharted,” which debuted on the PlayStation 3, requires a little extra legwork, but the “Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves” collection is a fantastic choice for anyone with a PS5. The set includes remastered versions of “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End,” arguably the highlight of the series, and “Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.” There’s no better way to get a feel for the approach to storytelling and combat that we’ll likely see in Naughty Dog’s upcoming release.
Cyberpunk 2077
“Intergalactic” is a sci-fi game that promises to have a strong narrative and addictive melee combat. Fortunately for impatient gamers, there’s another semi-recent release that just so happens to be one of the best sci-fi games ever made. “Cyberpunk 2077” is a visually stunning and narratively rich experience that could easily help make a good chunk of time disappear while you wait for “Heretic.”
The game doesn’t have any third-person action, but it does have some of the slickest sci-fi swordplay we’ve ever seen. Make some room for time-dilating cyberware like the Sandevistan in your build, and you can play a cyber-ninja that dices up their enemies before anyone even knows you’re in the battle. Of course, “Cyberpunk 2077” also has a full suit of ranged weapons and the option to digitally attack your enemies with quickhacks. And after you’ve exhausted your capacity for katana-wielding, the game still has plenty to offer.
Between the main quest, the intricate DLC plot, and all the sidequests, “Cyberpunk 2077” has some gripping stories to tell. The writing in the game is top-notch, and the strong characters work with the detailed open world to create a deeply immersive experience. “Cyberpunk 2077” also happens to be one of the best games to play while waiting for “GTA 6,” so by checking out CD Projekt Red’s sci-fi masterpiece, you can kill two birds with one stone.
NieR: Automata
One of the best RPGs of 2017 might also be the ideal game to play to help you pass the time between now and the release of “Intergalactic.” Square Enix and Platinum Games developed “NieR: Automata,” a third-person hack-and-slash game with role-playing elements and a beautifully stark, apocalyptic world to explore. Far in the future, robotic beings have taken over the Earth and forced humanity off the planet. Players follow a group of android soldiers created by the last remaining humans and sent to the surface to reclaim the planet from the robots that control it.
“NieR: Automata” has a straightforward, classically sci-fi premise, and the game remains visually stunning a decade after its release. On top of that, the game has a deeply satisfying third-person combat system. Melee is a major focus, so you can warm up your swordsman capabilities before “Intergalactic,” but there are also some satisfying long-range weapons to discover and use.
Playstyle customization is part of the appeal with the game’s combat, and “NieR: Automata” encourages players to experiment and try new things. If the “Intergalactic” reveal trailer has you dying to explore a sci-fi landscape and smash enemies with a big sword, then “NieR: Automata” is the perfect itch-scratcher for you.
