One of the biggest reveals at The Game Awards 2024, and one that host Geoff Keighley saved for the final announcement of the show, was Naughty Dog’s next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Aside from its spacefaring setting and retrofuturist aesthetic, it was almost immediately apparent that Intergalactic was a Naughty Dog game thanks to the unmistakable flair the studio has for characters, writing, and polish. One area that remains a mystery is Intergalactic‘s gameplay, but the bits of story revealed in the debut trailer tease the main character being some kind of bounty hunter, one in possession of an incredibly cool suite of real-world “NASA-punk” gadgetry.
From the trailer’s opening shot right through to the reveal of the game being the next original IP from Naughty Dog, Intergalactic‘s debut was practically bursting at the seams with references to real-world brands and technology. The game’s protagonist, Jordan, pilots a ship with an obvious Porsche logo front and center, wears hi-top Adidas sneakers, and uses Sony stereo equipment in a subtle hat-tip to Naughty Dog’s parent company. Intergalactic‘s strategic use of licensed music, real-world branding, and a talented cast position it as equal parts Naughty Dog and Guardians of the Galaxy, together with a retrofuturist aesthetic that grounds it akin to Ridley Scott’s Alien or Bethesda’s Starfield.
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Every Real-World Reference in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet’s Reveal Trailer
Taking cues from the iconic 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner, Intergalactic presents a vision of the future with hints of cyberpunk alongside an obvious prevalence of corporate branding. It’s a common motif in the genre driven by the consumerism and rapid technological advancement of the 1980s, which has been a cornerstone of cyberpunk fiction for almost as long as the term has existed (courtesy of authors like Bruce Bethke and William Gibson). Fittingly, Intergalactic is apparently laden with plenty of references to real-world brands, complete with the game’s protagonist seemingly being a collector of 1980s pop-cultural artifacts.
The Porsche Spaceship
The first, and most obvious, real-world reference in Intergalactic comes from the trailer’s opening shot, in which the camera slowly pans out to reveal a spaceship featuring the branding of German automobile manufacturer Porsche. A well-known and respected purveyor of luxury sports cars, Porsche automobiles (particularly, the 911 Turbo) are an important piece of 1980s iconography thanks to their appearances across films, television, and music videos. Jordan’s spaceship is a not-so-subtle nod to the brand’s importance in the decade the protagonist is seemingly fond of.
Jordan’s Adidas Sneakers
A quick shot of Jordan firing up the spaceship reveals that she’s wearing Adidas hi-top sneakers which, while not a 1:1 replica of a real-world shoe, are absolutely one of the more iconic and popular brands of the decade that Intergalactic regularly references, the 1980s. Adidas has partnered with properties featuring its shoes before to release real-world models (such as Star-Lord’s iconic hi-tops from the Guardians of the Galaxy video game), so there’s a chance it might do the same with Jordan’s very cool-looking sneakers.
An Onboard Sony CD Player
Right before the trailer kicks into high gear and drops the bombshell that Intergalactic is the next game from Naughty Dog, Jordan punches in some numbers and selects a CD from a rotating jukebox-like spindle of albums on her spaceship’s stereo, complete with Sony branding. Given that Intergalactic is a first-party Sony game and likely exclusive to the PlayStation 5, it’s a bit of on-the-nose branding to hammer home that the game is a Sony exclusive.
An Iconic Pet Shop Boys Song
Before the intergalactic trailer’s licensed music starts, the camera zooms in on the CD that Jordan has selected to score her journey to the planet Sempiria to reveal that it’s the iconic synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys’ 1987 album Actually. Viewers are then treated to the rest of the trailer being accompanied by that album’s hit track, “It’s a Sin”, which could have some connection to the fact that the game’s subtitle is The Heretic Prophet. Along with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ original score for Intergalactic, it’s possible the game may include other licensed tracks.
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment