Naughty Dog's new sci-fi adventure Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet was inspired by two of the greatest sci-fi anime classics of all time

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. (Image credit: PlayStation Studios) The announcement of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophetcapped off an extraordinarily jam-packed night of reveals at last night’sGame Awards 2024, which just happened to be the show’s 10th anniversary. For some folks, the biggest announcement was the long-awaited full reveal ofThe Witcher 4, for other people of taste, it wasOkami 2. Personally, I was most excited to finally see what Naughty Dog has been working on for the last few years, and it didn’t disappoint. The four-minute trailer revealed protagonist Jordan A. Mun, a bounty hunter stranded on an isolated planet. The visuals and animation are astounding, and I have no doubt Naughty Dog is going to once again push the envelope with the storytelling, but I’m even more excited today than I was last night, because now I know Druckmann and co. are studying the classics. Druckmann revealed in an interview withThe New York Timesthat Hajima Yatate’s groundbreaking and enduring neo-noi sci-fi Western series Cowboy Bebop and the seminal cyberpunk 1988 movie Akira inspired the making of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. If you want to make a sci-fi story about a space-traveling bounty hunter, it’s hard to imagine a better pair of stories to draw from. It’s also worth noting some of the similarities and homages we’ve already seen in the announcement and trailer. The obvious one is Intergalactic’s protagonist being a space cowboy like Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, but this comparison video from Twitter user LnL really highlights the various ways Naughty Dog seems to be paying tribute to Akira: Intergalactic: The Heretic Project’s sci-fi sword fights might seem a departure for Naughty Dog, but it’s actually the perfect evolution from Uncharted 4. 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