Intergalactic: Naughty Dog's Neon-Soaked Love Letter to the 80s

Okay, so Naughty Dog is doing it again, right?

Just when you thought they’d perfected gritty realism with The Last of Us or heart-pumping adventures with Uncharted, they drop this…Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. 

And it’s not just another game; it’s a full-blown, neon-soaked love letter to the 1980s. Looks like Cassette Futurism (Or should that be compact disc futurism?) is back on the menu.

Forget those sterile, futuristic spaceships you usually see. 

Intergalactic is diving headfirst into a universe where the tech jumped ahead sometime around the time of Pet Shop Boys and leg warmers. Think chunky, clunky computers with totally unnecessary blinking lights, spaceships decked out in the coolest (and most impractical) 80s designs, and everyone rocking Adidas gear like they just stepped out of a music video.

It’s a trip, in the best way possible.

The vibe is delightful if you're a fan of similar aesthetics from Blade Runner, Silent Runner and Alien.

It’s that perfect blend of what the 80s thought the future would look like, mixed with actual future tech. You'll catch moments like an afterimage trail, a visual glitch reminiscent of a warped VHS tape on an old CRT and you'll even see retro anime playing in the background on a similarly vintage-looking CRT monitor.

It’s all about creating this vibe, a universe that feels both far-flung and strangely familiar, like a time capsule from a bygone era. That's what Cassette Futurism - or to a larger extent Retro Futurism - is all about.

There are some bits that might raise an eyebrow at first, like the product placement, but it all kind of works. Just like in Blade Runner, the presence of real-world brands adds this layer of lived-in realism, like we’re in a future that has its own cultural debris.

It’s not just random; it feels like part of the world they’re creating, a piece of the puzzle.

And finally, the soundtrack!

Prepare yourself for this one: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are doing the music. Yes, that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Their industrial-meets-ethereal sound is the ideal soundtrack for a game with this particular retro-futuristic vibe. It’s going to make a fantastic, atmospheric space opera.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet isn't just some throwaway sci-fi project; it's looking to be a carefully crafted and intricately detailed experience, from the retro-tech to the meta-narrative hints to, yes, the Trent Reznor soundtrack.

I'm beyond excited to see how it all plays out, and I have a feeling this is going to be another Naughty Dog classic.