Having launched The Last of Us Part 2 to critical and commercial success over a year ago, a noticeable silence has fallen over Naughty Dog. Naturally, that void has prompted fans to speculate what might happen when Sony's premier studio next peels back the metaphorical curtain. For years, alleged leaks about a sci-fi adventure have been incubated in particular, often referred to via the codename Stray's Cross.
As it stands, The Last of Us Part 2's standalone Factions mode is the only project officially confirmed to be in development at Naughty Dog, alongside credible rumors of a remake of the original Last of Us for the PS5 also being in the pipeline. That means a huge grain of salt needs to be prescribed whenever 'leaks' regarding Stray's Cross pop up. With a roster of games already slated for release, questions regarding Naughty Dog's capacity to work on anything else naturally start to pop up. In the unlikely event that there turns out to be some truth to the matter, questions over if there's room in a genre packed with AAA games like Guardians of the Galaxy and Starfield will also be raised.
Naughty Dog's Narrative Focus
Ever since Naughty Dog made the transition to development on the PS3 alongside Sony's other internal development teams, the studio has focused on creating cinematic narrative driven experiences that place a heavy focus on exploring what it means to be human. Having fostered this story telling philosophy while effectively growing up with the fanbase it helped establish with the Crash Bandicoot games, it seems unlikely the studio will pivot away from that anytime soon. It's no surprise, then, that the recurring 'leaks' surrounding Stray's Cross feed into this with many suggesting that a city set within a dystopian near-future setting, influenced by apocalyptic undertones, is where the studio is heading next.
Recent Naughty Dog games have blended grounded themes with fantastical tones in order to make the events and characters they explore more relatable. While that might sound like a strange statement given the fact The Last of Us explores a fantastical zombie-like apocalypse, it's worth keeping in mind that the setting has only ever been a justification for realistic portrayals of grief, love, and revenge. The cordyceps fungus that fuels the hordes of the undead in Naughty Dog's world, while exaggerated for effect, is also based on real-life science. All of this means that the space in which Stray's Cross could theoretically occupy, could be tonally unique from a lot of other science fiction games.
Naughty Dog's dual narrative template is different enough from the comedic and serious tones that the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy and Starfield should respectively embody. Successfully tackling crowded genres while putting a new spin on things isn't a new phenomenon when it comes to Naughty Dog games. The pulp fiction-inspired genre that Uncharted has always occupied is packed with legends like Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, while The Last of Us sits in a corner of fiction that's so packed it's downright claustrophobic. Neither of those IPs struggled for acclaim or originality, so it stands to reason that Naughty Dog's track record would once again create space within the genre for Stray's Cross as well.
Naughty Dog's Mechanics
When it comes to gameplay, there's reasons to believe that the rumored Stray's Cross would have no trouble carving out some breathing space for itself in that department too. That's because Naughty Dog's supposed new IP, if leaks turn out to be true, is said to have been designed around a more personal first-person perspective. Having built a reputation for creating strictly third-person adventures, this would obviously be a radical break from tradition. Considering Naughty Dog's track record though, it stands to reason that the studio would be hell bent on putting a unique spin on the game that's unlike anything else out there.
Couple that with the assertion from leakers that the game would have dual protagonists once again, after the polarizing debut of the feature in The Last of Us Part 2, and there's already the makings of a game that's mechanically different from the majority of other AAA games within the genre. That's especially true of the likes of Eidos-Montreal's Guardians of the Galaxy which, despite likely sharing a linear level structure to Naughty Dog's titles, appears to be placing a premium on bigger third-person squad-based gameplay. Being a PlayStation exclusive is also one technical advantage the studio will have over most third-party sci-fi games in general, due to the fact that resources can be channeled more directly into making the most of tools like the DualSense controller.
When it comes to Starfield, there are admittedly a few more noticeable comparisons that could be made if Stray's Cross leaks are based in reality. Bethesda's RPG could potentially take inspiration from the likes of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, by having the option to switch between both traditional camera angles, which would cover Naughty Dog's game either way. Having championed survival mechanics like crafting and upgrading in The Last of Us, there's also a chance that the pair might share similar mechanical concept. Starfield being an open-world game packed with quests and branching dialogue will likely be a big enough factor that would differentiate the two though, as both are likely to play fundamentally different enough to coexist.
Naughty Dog's Place Within the Genre
The idea of a Naughty Dog sci-fi game has been floating around on the internet for over a decade, with rumors having been reinforced at times by the studio itself via Savage Starlight Easter eggs in The Last of Us, and cancelled projects like Jak 4. That length of pre-production time means any theoretical game currently in development wouldn't really have had the benefit of seeing the genre develop in real-time. Not only would the studio be less likely to take inspiration from contemporary new IPs, it also could be locked onto a fixed release regardless of how crowded the environment turns out to be when it drops.
As far as genres go, science fiction is arguably as vast as the backdrop of space it often takes inspiration from. That means there's plenty of room for Naughty Dog to create a new IP that's unlike anything else from the likes of Bethesda and Eidos-Montreal. Leaks surrounding Stray's Cross suggest the game will take heavy inspiration from the cyberpunk and steampunk branches of the genre, which would in a way make it a spiritual successor to Jak and Daxter. By comparison, Starfield appears to be drawing in themes from both real-world space exploration and the Star Trek games Bethesda created back in the day, which would put it worlds away thematically. Guardians of the Galaxy is similarly orbiting a star that's tonally different from either, being a comic book adaptation that's likely to be as close to a comedy game as the medium and genre can get.
With the source of the Stray's Cross 'leaks' having originated on sites like 4Chan and Reddit, the likelihood of the game being real are greatly diminished regardless of the details that are being peddled. However, whatever game Naughty Dog does ultimately decide to push once the current wave of The Last of Us content is wrapped up, there's a historically backed precedent that it will be unlike anything else currently in the works. No matter the state of the genre, fans will undoubtedly flock to the game based on Naughty Dog's pedigree and track record.