Naughty Dog president and The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann has seemingly revealed that The Last of Us Part III is, at the very least, an idea that's been floated at the studio. In a new interview with Variety, Druckmann says Naughty Dog debated going straight into Part III after completing Part II, but that ultimately, the team decided to move forward on what we now know as Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. 

While a Part III to The Last of Us seems like a no-brainer, considering how well this franchise does for Naughty Dog and PlayStation, Druckmann has given mixed signals over the years. When The Last of Us Part II Remastered dropped last year, it eventually included Grounded II, a documentary about the making of the game. 

Near the end of it, Druckmann said, "For years now, I haven't been able to find that concept [for Part III], but recently, that's changed, and I don't have a story, but I do have a conept that to me is as exciting as 1, as exciting as 2, is its own thing, and yet has this throughline for all three. So it does feel like there's probably one more chapter to this story." 

But then, in a March 2025 Variety interview, Druckmann, when asked about a potential Part III, said, "I guess the only thing I would say is don't be on there being more of The Last of Us. This could be it." 

Now, in a new interview with Variety, Druckmann has seemingly revealed that Naughty Dog, at one point, had plans regarding a Part III game in its Last of Us franchise. 

When asked about potential Intergalactic sequels, Druckmann said, "We don't tend to plan too much in the future, because we find – and this is something I inherited, it's just the Naughty Dog culture – that we do our best work when it's something we're really excited about, really passionate about.

"Just to give you an example, when we finished The Last of Us Part II, and that was highly successful for us, we were debating whether we should just go straight into The Last of Us 3, and we had a really long period where we looked at ideas for maybe what could be in that game." 

The team looked at Uncharted, Jak and Daxter, and its "sci-fi thing," though, and Druckmann said what is now Intergalactic is where the team's passion led it. 

So for now, it sounds like a third Last of Us game is on the theoretical or potential table as Naughty Dog continues work on Intergalactic. 

For more, read Druckmann's thoughts on the casting and gameplay of Intergalactic, and then check out Game Informer's interview with Druckmann on the set of The Last of Us Season 2. 

[Source: Variety]

Do you want Naughty Dog to make a third Last of Us game or something else? Let us know in the comments below!

Game Informer spoke with Naughty Dog president and The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann last year on the set of The Last of Us Season 2. Since then, he's revealed he is stepping back from Season 3 of the show to focus on developing the studio's next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which Naughty Dog revealed at The Game Awards 2024 last December. 

In a new interview with Variety, Druckmann discussed a number of things about Intergalactic, including casting Tati Gabrielle as the game's lead, Jordan A. Mun, working with Joel actor Troy Baker again, casting The Last of Us Season 2 actor Tony Dalton (who played Joel's dad), and more. 

Perhaps the most revealing statement from Druckmann came when Variety asked him about his description of Intergalactic as having "the deepest gameplay" in Naughty Dog history. 

"You can look at our previous titles and see the evolution going from 'Uncharted,' where we're really cutting our teeth on a realistic character-action game, third-person shooter, combined with emotional storytelling," Druckmann said. "With 'The Last of Us,' we added some RPG elements, we started playing with wide linear layouts. Continue that trajectory forward, add sci-fi, and you start to get the sense of what we're doing, and then we've gotten even more ambitious than that."

My money's on a deep, third-person, character-driven RPG with multiple open hubs to explore, and I hope I'm right. 

When asked about Gabrielle's casting, Druckmann explains Naughty Dog had an idea of who protagonist Jordan is as a character, but via documents and backstories – scripts and gameplay come much later as the team wants the space to "run experiments and prototypes and then see what works, what doesn't work," and so on. 

"We were kind of at that stage when we started talking to [Gabrielle]," Druckmann told Variety. "That came about because we had just cast her in Season 2 [of The Last of Us], and just got the idea that she might be perfect for this role. Then she showed up, she came by Naughty Dog, I pitched her the story as it was at the time, and we kind of walked through it beginning, middle, end, and explained what her role would be.

"I asked her if she'd be willing to audition, and she was. We had her on stage, and I asked Troy to come in and read with her, so she read against Troy Baker. We were just very confident that is our Jordan A. Mun." 

Druckmann says since then, he's been writing with Gabriella, something he did with Ellie actor Ashley Johnson and Baker when making The Last of Us. "[Gabrielle's] been just as influential in the writing and the thinking of this character, her arc, and I believe she's gonna be very iconic and complex and interesting in the Naughty Dog tradition. 

Speaking of Baker, Druckmann says, "Troy is in the game, and it's been five years since I've worked with Troy, and I've got to do it again, and it was a lot of fun to be on stage with him again."

The final piece of casting information from this interview is about Dalton. Druckmann says after working with him on Episode 206 of The Last of Us where he played Joel's dad, he DM'd him on Instagram to ask if he'd jump into a Zoom call to check out Intergalactic. "We jumped on a Zoom call, and I showed him parts of the game, and I talked to him about it," Druckmann said. "He's like, 'Yeah, I'm in. I'd love to do it.' So Tony Dalton is there, and maybe there's a few more [of actors from Season 1 or Season 2 of The Last of Us]."

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is due out on PlayStation 5, though there's no word on when to expect the game. 

In the meantime, read Game Informer's interview with Druckmann about creating Season 2 of The Last of Us. 

[Source: Variety]

When do you think Intergalactic will launch? Let us know in the comments below!

Reviewed on: PC
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Gearbox Software
Release: September 12, 2025 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC), TBA (Switch 2)
Rating: Mature

Following Borderlands 3, I had a hard question to ask: Has one of my favorite series passed me by? That 2019 release made me realize that the last Borderlands game I truly enjoyed – outside of Telltale’s excellent Tales from the Borderlands – was Borderlands 2 in 2012. I initially approached Borderlands 4 with skepticism for that reason. However, Gearbox evidently agreed with my criticisms, as Borderlands 4 introduces and recalibrates myriad elements to deliver what could very well be my new favorite in the series. 

Watch Game Informer's Borderlands 4 Video Review:

Borderlands 4 plays all the familiar refrains for which the franchise is known: You control one of four Vault Hunters as you gun down thousands of masked maniacs and mutated monsters. Taking down these hordes of enemies not only grants you valuable experience for leveling your character, but also millions of guns to loot. True to its pedigree, these weapons are a highlight; every encounter holds the potential to yield your new favorite weapon, a rush I never grew tired of during my 50-plus-hour playthrough. Though upgrades to my existing loadout were ultimately rare, I lived for when I got something unique, like a sticky-bomb sniper rifle or a singularity-spawning throwing knife.

I always looked forward to the loot each battle would deliver, but Borderlands 4’s gunfights are as chaotic and fun as ever. Though some drag on longer than my liking, wide ranges of enemies from disparate factions elevate the variety of foes in any given fight, and I often caught myself leaning in to focus when the dynamic music shift signaled the arrival of a strong “Badass” enemy variant. I loved picking off foes with my single-shot assault rifle before storming in with my corrosive shotgun. Throwing a knife to deliver the final blow while trying to reload never ceased to make me feel like an action star. 

 

The world of Kairos is under the oppressive thumb of the Timekeeper, who values order above all else. Gearbox has crafted an appropriately intimidating antagonist that shines distinctly from the series’ past villains, and in the process delivers my favorite big bad since Borderlands 2’s Handsome Jack. If you want the more unhinged villain type for which the franchise is known, you’ll find plenty of that through his supporting cast.

To combat the Timekeeper, this entry delivers arguably the strongest class of Vault Hunters yet, each with multiple distinct skill trees to develop, as well as character-specific Action Skills. Rafa’s an agile damage-dealer; Harlowe can apply a status ailment that spreads damage across multiple targets; Vex can summon support phantoms; and my personal favorite, Amon, can throw elemental axes or call upon a fiery barrier. Thanks to wider skill trees and a ton of unlockable cosmetics, you can customize your characters more than ever before.

Each character has access to all-new traversal mechanics like gliding and grappling. I always enjoyed gliding onto the battlefield, ground-slamming an enemy from above, and sprinting into a sliding shotgun blast before zipping out of danger. These improved movement mechanics add a ton to each combat encounter, and I genuinely think it would be difficult to go back to older Borderlands games where you don't have these moves at your disposal. However, having the same button perform dodge, ground-pound, and crouch caused me more than a few upsetting deaths.

These traversal elements come in handy as you make your way through the largest world in franchise history. Kairos, which is fast to explore thanks to a summonable Digirunner vehicle, is full of fun diversions like safe houses, world bosses, and compelling side missions. You can also discover Vaults, which house wave-based combat punctuated by intense boss battles, but it’s disappointing to have some of the most fun content hidden behind a cryptic “hot/cold” meter that doesn’t work well with so many layers in the world.

Though the most rewarding moments of my playthrough came during exploration, the open world can be laborious, as I sometimes struggled to find the best route to my destination. Thankfully, the new Echo-4 robot companion can help navigate to your waypoint, but its guidance can be hit or miss. 

Borderlands 4 generally scales with your level the entire game, which makes the steep level spike in the final stretch jarring and frustrating. That skyrocketing difficulty deflated the momentum I had going into the final act, but the story as a whole is much more even than prior entries. Borderlands 4 better balances the comedic elements and offers more memorable gags, characters, and set-piece moments.

In fact, the worst thing I can say about Borderlands 4 is that some things just go on for too long. Some fights are too prolonged, some missions feature too many chaining objectives, and some bosses have way too much health. When those bullet-sponge bosses have multiple forms, they become exercises in tedium and frustration rather than the adrenaline-fueled encounters they’re designed to be. But when the game is this much fun to play, that’s only a minor annoyance and is often alleviated through the series’ excellent co-op, which is even better in this entry, thanks to easy-to-join sessions, enhanced fast travel, and replayable boss encounters. However, by the time I reached the final boss, it was evident that some parts of the game are not appropriately tuned for single-player action.

Though many of the series’ core elements remain intact, Gearbox has refined and reconfigured them in such ways that Borderlands 4 rises beyond anything the series has accomplished to this point, making for a chaotic looter-shooter worthy of the series’ sterling early-2010s reputation. It’s simultaneously a poster child for excess and restraint, which sounds paradoxical, but for a series named for existing on the border of seemingly opposed concepts, it feels right at home. 

Score: 8.5

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Pokémon Legends: Z-A launches next month on Oct. 16 for Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch, and developer Game Freak has been steadily releasing more and more information about the upcoming game. Last month, we learned Mega Victreebel and Mega Hawlucha are coming to the game, and now, Game Freak has revealed that Mega Malamar is the latest Mega-evolution joining the Pokémon Legends: Z-A roster. 

Mega Malamar was first revealed today in a "Special Report" on the official Pokémon YouTube channel, in which we learn about some strange behavior happening in Lumiose City, the setting for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and how a Malamar capable of Mega-evolution might be behind the occurrences. 

Check it out for yourself in the video below: 

As you can see, Mega Malamar just wants to be your friend. There's absolutely nothing terrifying or suspicious about that. Just let Mega Malamar into your life. 

Game Freak states that Mega-evolution causes Malamar's brain to enlarge and its body to glow brightly in vivid colors, allowing it to release psychic power from the luminescent tips of its tentacles and hypnotize others. It can even stick its tentacles to its head to stimulate its brain for a rapid boost of psychic power, according to Game Freak. 

Here's a look at Mega Malamar in Pokémon Legends: Z-A: 

 

Mega Malamar will be one of the various Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Z-A when it launches on Switch 2 and Switch next month on October 26. 

In the meantime, check out this New Gameplay Today about why Pokémon Legends: Z-A might be the best Pokémon game in years, and then check out Game Informer's hands-on preview of Pokémon Legends: Z-A. 

What do you think of Mega Malamar's design? Let us know in the comments below!

Nintendo has announced that a Nintendo Direct is coming this Friday, on Sept. 12. It will begin at 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET and run for about 60 minutes. 

As for what to expect, Nintendo simply says, "Tune in for roughly 60 minutes of information on upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch games," noting that it will be streamed on YouTube and via its news-focused Nintendo Today app. 

If we put our speculation caps on, it seems likely we'll see more of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which launches on Oct. 16 and has the potential to be the best Pokémon game in years, Metroid Prime 4, which doesn't yet have a release date despite Nintendo stating it's launching this year, and Kirby Air Riders, which launches in November. Beyond that, it wouldn't be surprising to get some game reveals and more. 

Fortunately, we don't have to wait too long to find out because the Nintendo Direct happens this week, on Friday, Sept. 12. 

In the meantime, read Game Informer's Metroid Prime 4 preview, and then check out everything we learned in the recent Kirby Air Riders Direct. After that, check out how Mega Hawlucha and Mega Victreebel are coming to Pokémon Legends: Z-A. 

What do you hope to see during Friday's Nintendo Direct? Let us know in the comments below!