The Game Awards, the annual awards show that both celebrates the best of the year and teases what’s coming in the future, dropped the world premier ofIntergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.The game is an entirely new project byNaughty Dog, the makers of classic gameslikeThe Last of Us,Uncharted,andCrash Bandicoot,and takes the studio to a new sci-fi setting.Intergalacticfollows a bounty hunter named Jordan A. Mun as she enters the orbit of a distant planet called Sempiria.
Thetrailer forIntergalactic: The Heretic Prophetdropped a lot of information on the setting and did some great world building in a four and a half minute span. With walls full of obsessive research on a group called the Five Aces, tables full of newspapers and magazines, and a fair amount of throwback product placement,Intergalacticis already full of Easter Eggs and hints towards the game’s plotfor eagle-eyed viewers.Intergalacticis a game that seems to be wearing its influences on its sleeve, which makes for a nostalgic future full of anime, sleek spaceships, and Adidas.
10Ancient Sempirian Scripture
A Crumbled Civilization From 1986
Right off the bat, the trailer forIntergalactic: The Heretic Prophetbegins withan unidentifiable language that’s translated to read, “The suffering of generations must be endured to achieve our divine end.”While this cryptic sentence is certainly ominous, it’salso too vague to know how its message will impact the game besides the religious implications that connect to the game’s title.
What makes this passage even more interesting is the year at the end, which states thatthis quote is from 1986. From the vibes of the trailer, with its synth wave music and charmingly clunky sci-fi technology, it’s clear that something happened to make a 1980s style stick around for thousands of years. While “Sempirian” isn’t a real culture, its name does invoke Sumerians, the earliest known civilization on Earth who lived thousands of years ago. Perhaps the similar name lends to the idea that players will be discovering a lost civilization that was monumental to history in some way.
9Newspaper Headlines
Limited Resources For Space Travel?
After introducing the ancient writings and an ominously red planet with a broken moon,the trailer pans across a table full of newspapers, magazines, and stray poker chips. Some of the visible magazines on the table include pictures of sleek spaceships. This small tidbit of information tells us that Jordan, the main character, is a fan of high quality ships and will likely highly value her own spaceship enough to try very hard to protect it from danger.
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Alongside the spaceship magazines is a headline that reads “The Price of Crystal.” While the article text is too small to read,it can be inferred that crystals are an important resource in the galaxy, one that might impact the plot ofIntergalactic. Since that newspaper headline was next to the ship magazines, it might be an indication that crystal is a type of fuel for spaceships that’s in short supply. If crystal does turn out to be a fuel resource, it would make sense that a criminal organization like the Five Aces might be trying to control the supply.
8The Five Aces
A Missing Criminal Organization
Along the wall of Jordan’s ship is an investigation board entirely focused on the Five Aces. From what’s seen on this wall, it seems thatJordan has been hunting this group for a long timeand her search for them may be personal, based on the sheer number of clippings. Headlines refer to past crimes like an empty safety deposit ship and call the group masterminds, so catching this group will certainly be no easy task.
The board includes aliases for the various members - three men and two women, according to a photo on the wall - but doesn’t indicate any strong leads. Jordan is determined to catch the Five Aces, for some personal vendetta, but doesn’t have any lead to follow next.
The headlines make note of incredibly well executed thefts, but start to mentionthatthe group is missing. One subheading on a paper says, “For years, these notorious intergalactic criminals were unstoppable. Then suddenly, the crime spree ended.”From the information given by the headlines, it seems thatthe Five Aces disappeared suddenly and mysteriously. Jordan’s determination to find the group is what leads her to take a dangerous bounty on Sempiria.
7The Luxury Spaceship
The Last Known Ship Of The Five Aces
Alongside the information about the Five Aces on the wall of Jordan’s ship area few photos of a large spaceship. One ad for the same ship states that it’s the ultimate in luxury, so it’s safe to assume that this huge ship is the equivalent to a luxury cruise ship. Since all of this information is next to the Five Aces clippings,that could indicate that the criminal group are aboard the luxury shipand that it may be the last known ship they were on before mysteriously disappearing.
There are only a few images of this large luxury spaceship, butgiven the limited information available on Jordan’s board,more than one snapshot of the ship does point to it being significant to the gamein some way. Maybe Jordan will find the ruins of the ship on Sempiria after she becomes trapped in its orbit.
6Kumail Nanjiani as Colin Graves
A Charming Actor For An Important Role
Colin Graves is the name of the bounty Jordan is so desperate to hunt, even if it means bringing her into the orbit of the planetary equivalent of Earth’s Bermuda Triangle. Graves, a member of the Five Aces, isplayed by Kumail Nanjiani. Nanjiani is a charming actor with comedy chops from stand up and his time onSilicon Valley, so that may point tothe type of role he’ll play inIntergalactic.
Since Jordan is heading to Sempiria to hunt Graves,it seems likely that both characters will be trapped on the surface of the planet. This could lead to a situation where the two must work together, despite Jordan’s goal of capturing the Five Aces, and Nanjiani’s endearing personality may lead to a tentative friendship between the two.
5Cowboy Bebop’s Influence
Bounty Hunters In Red Ships
The trailer forIntergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, likemany other games at The Game Awards, does not hide its influences.Almost every aspect of the game points to an incredibly strong influence, which is most certainlyCowboy Bebopand other iconic anime from that era.From the jump, Jordan’s sleek red Porsche spaceship looksstrikingly similar to Spike’s personal ship, the Swordfish II, with its sharp made-for-speed design and hot rod red color. Inside the ship, an anime plays on the retro TV with animation that looks exactly like the smooth fight scenes ofCowboy Bebop, just to drive home the parallels between the game and the anime.
Cowboy Bebop premiered in 1998 and has influenced science fiction media ever since.
The most obvious similarity betweenIntergalacticandCowboy Bebopis thatboth main characters are bounty hunters with a particular obsessionthat drives them to recklessness. Jordan is shown a bounty for a member of the Five Aces and demands to take it, despite being warned that no one comes back from the planet it’s on. Jordan may also be similar to Spike, the main character ofCowboy Bebop, in that she operates in a morally gray career but may, at the core, be a good person.
4Akira And Interstella 5555
More Anime Influences For This Sci-Fi Game
Cowboy Bebopisn’t the only anime influence thatIntergalacticshows throughout the trailer.Other anime influences could beAkira, as Jordan’s red jacket with a knight chess piece on the back does look similar to the iconic red jacket worn by the main character, Shotari Kaneda in that iconic anime and manga. Both have a single symbol on the back while the cut of the jacket, cropped with shoulder pads, creates the same upper body profile.
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In just the title,Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophetcalls back to the video game titles of yesteryear, but seems most similar toInterstella 5555. This anime collaboration between Daft Punk and Toei Animation came out in 2003 and itself calls back to earlier anime in both plot and style.The titles of bothIntergalacticandInterstellainvoke that type of early sci-fi titlethat was so common in past decades.
31980s Film Influences
Alien, Star Wars, And Blade Runner
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophetis visually inspired by not only the animation of the 1980s, but the movies of that decade as well. The most similarmovies for that science fiction analog technology areAlien, Blade Runner, and evenStar Warsto a small extent. The TVs seen throughout Jordan’s ship look similar to technology in bothAlienandBlade Runner, with the former making the most visual appearance with the ship’s flight controls near the end of the trailer.
Blade Runnermay be influencingIntergalacticboth visually and in its story, asboth follow a main character hunting down an important target, though the similarities may end there. SomeStar WarsandAlieninfluences can be seen inthe interior of Jordan’s ship, especially in her living quarters. The white paneled design of her couch and bed area, with its strips of warm white light, looks very similar to the cozy areas in the ships seen in those movies.
2Product Placement
What’s Cool Stays Cool For Centuries
Well-known brands aren’t exactly an Easter Egg for a video game, but the specific brands used in theIntergalactictrailer are.Brands like Sony and Adidas are synonymous with the 1980s aestheticthat the game is using, so the nostalgic factor that they bring is invaluable. It may be a small amount of corporate synergy for a PlayStation game to rock a Sony CD player, but there’s no denying that a spaceship with a retro Sony music system that manually swaps CDs is very cool.
Alongside Sony’s product placement is Adidas and Porsche. Jordan’s Adidas sneakers, which she uses to rev the engine of her spaceship, alsolend to the vision of 1980s cool.Her Porsche ship also gives a sense of luxuryand a cool factor, since a recognizable luxury car brand helps players understand that Jordan loves her ship and values its speed.
1Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin”
A Needle Drop With A Message
Almost every trailer for any media uses a needle drop these days, but this particular song,“It’s a Sin” by Pet Shop Boys, might hint towards Jordan’s background and current mental state at the beginning ofIntergalactic.The song begins with a countdown to what could be a spaceship launch, which is an obvious connection to a sci-fi game set in space, whilethe song speaks about always being a sinner in every action. The lyrics say, “Everything I’ve ever done, everything I ever do, every place I’ve ever been, everywhere I’m going to, it’s a sin.”
As a bounty hunter, Jordan might not be an entirely good person. She may operate in a gray area morally, so the song “It’s a Sin” may be reflecting on her life choices as she recklessly chases down one of her most sought after bounties inIntergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. The song choice of Pet Shop Boys brings in both another aspect of 1980s nostalgia and a deeper meaning for Jordan with its lyrics about never being able to be a good person.
