Prey is an upcoming first person shooter being developed by Arkane Studios, who had previously made the Dishonored games, as well as worked on Call of Duty: World at War and Bioshock 2. At first glance, Prey might seem to be just another action game in a science fiction setting, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Prey is a game that intends to marry exciting firefights with tense stealth sections. You are totally alone in a colossal space station, that has been overrun by a race of vicious monsters. Unlike in Alien: Isolation, you won’t be forced to hide in every corner. You will be free to tackle the Talos I space station in any way that you want.
We are here today to give you all of the information you need to know about Prey. From its previous iterations to the various ways you can finish the game.
Here is Every Update You Need To Know About Prey!
15. The Story Of The Talos I
The story of Prey follows an individual named Morgan Yu (you will be able to select the gender of the character at the start of the game). Morgan is trapped aboard a space station, called the Talos I, which is in orbit around the Earth’s moon. This station was created by a collaboration between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. It was used as a research facility, in order to study an alien race known as the Typhon, which had previously been discovered by Soviet scientists.
As of 2032, the formerly abandoned Talos I space station has been purchased by the TranStar corporation. They had refitted it to be a safe environment to test weapons and technology. The station was also made to resemble a luxury hotel, in order to entice scientists to come and stay there. Morgan Yu was a former employee at TranStar, who had previously been experimented on. Morgan is now trapped aboard an almost empty station, with little memory of what had happened to him or her. The Typhon, meanwhile, have returned and overrun the Talos I. It is up to Morgan to discover the secrets of the TranStar corporation and escape from the Typhon menace.
14. It Is A Reimagining Of A Game From 2006
The origins of Prey date back to 1995 when the first game in the series was announced by 3D Realms. The plot followed a Native American warrior, named Talon Brave, who would board an alien spaceship in order to battle its inhabitants. This version of the game would change hands and companies many times over the following decade. The first version of Prey was finally released for Windows and Xbox 360 in 2006.
Prey (the 2006 version), follows a Native American, named Domasi Tawodi, who had previously been a soldier in the army. Domasi and his family are kidnapped by aliens and it is up to him to save everyone. Prey involved Domasi exploring the spaceship and battling aliens, who pursue him throughout the game. He can use the alien’s own weapons against them, as well as a form of shamanic magic that allows his spirit to leave his body, in order to explore new areas of the ship.
The latest version of Prey keeps the same theme of being trapped alone on an alien spaceship while being hunted by monsters. It is otherwise unconnected to its predecessor - as far as we know.
13. It Is A Spiritual Successor To System Shock
The developers of Prey have listed one game as the chief inspiration for their upcoming title - System Shock 2.
For those who are unaware, System Shock 2 was a PC game that was released in 1999. It was a first person shooter, that combined elements of the horror, survival and RPG genres. You play as a soldier on a spaceship, who wakes up from cryo-sleep and discovers that almost the entire crew has succumbed to a mystery virus. It is up to you to discover exactly what happened and to find a way of escaping a ship full of monsters that want to kill you.
System Shock 2 is considered to be one of the most important video games of all time and it is still playable on modern machines. The Bioshock series is considered to be the first spiritual successor to System Shock 2, as they were both developed by Ken Levine.
12. The Death Of The Sequel
The upcoming version of Prey is not a direct sequel to the Prey that was released in 2006. It shares similar themes and gameplay styles, but is not connected in terms of story (at least not in any way that we know of currently). There was actually a Prey 2 in development at one point. It was eventually canceled, in order to make way for the new iteration of the original.
Prey 2 would have followed a U.S. Marshal, named Killian Samuels, who was trapped on the spaceship from the first game. He is eventually sent to an alien world, named Exodus, where he becomes a bounty hunter. Killian would encounter the protagonist from the first game on Exodus and the two would begin a quest to uncover the truth of Killian’s lost memories, which had been tampered with by an unknown party.
If the new Prey is a success, then we may see a revived version of Prey 2.
11. The Movie Inspirations
System Shock 2 isn’t the only thing that inspired Prey. According to Arkane Studios, the game was also heavily inspired by movies, such as The Matrix, Moon, and Starship Troopers.
Prey has taken inspiration from The Matrix’s action scenes, which are still as impressive today as they were when the film was first released. Moon is about a man who runs a helium-3 mining facility on the far side of the moon. The setting of Prey is similar to this, as it is about a person who is trapped on a space station. Starship Troopers is about an all-out war against aliens, which is also one of the main aspects of Prey.
As part of the promotion for the game, Bethesda partnered up with the Alamo Drafthouse chain of cinemas, to show a series of the films that inspired Prey. The “Bethesda Softworks Presents” film series will show The Matrix, Moon, and Starship Troopers across their line of cinemas through till the end of April.
10. It Will Be A Metroidvania
The level of design of Prey is going to be in the Metroidvania style. To those who are unaware, the Metroidvania style is named after the Metroid and Castlevania series. This style of design was invented by the original Metroid and was later refined by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. These games took place on a map made up of connected rooms, instead of different levels that you progress through in order (like in the Mario games). This doesn’t mean that you can just run straight to the end boss, however, as you still need to complete parts of the world in a certain order. This is due to the fact that there are natural barriers that impede your progression and you need to find certain items and abilities that will allow you to overcome them.
In Prey, you will have access to the whole Talos I station from the start, but you will still need to finish parts of it in a certain order. You will need to find keys and abilities that will allow you to explore the other parts of the station.
9. The Flawless PC Port
PC ports of modern multi-platform games have gotten a bad rap and for good reason. When a triple A game is set to be released across several systems, it is the PC version that usually suffers in terms of quality. This is due to the fact that consoles all share the same basic specifications, whilst PCs can be made from various different pieces of hardware and can be running incompatible bits of software. As such, the PC gamer can sometimes be left waiting for patches, whilst their console gaming cousins are enjoying their latest purchase. You only need to look at the PC release versions of Batman: Arkham Knight and No Man’s Sky to see proof of this in action.
One game that had a terrible PC launch was Dishonored 2. This was the last game released by Arkane Studios. They have promised that Prey will have a “flawless” PC launch, due to the negative press concerning Dishonored 2’s PC version.
8. You Gain Powers Through A Needle In The Eye
As you progress through the Talos I space station, you will be given a variety of methods for dealing with the enemies and the harsh environment. You could use guns and blast your way through every situation, or maybe you will hide from the dangerous monsters and allow them to pass without risking harm to yourself.
In the world of Prey, you will have plenty of options on how to progress through the game. The TranStar corporation created an item called the Neuromod, which can directly affect the user’s abilities. These will give the player access to a vast range of skills, which range from increasing their physical capabilities, to giving them psychic powers.
If you wish to apply the Neuromod, then the player needs to find them in the game world and then plunge it into their eye. The Neuromod applies its effects through a series of needles that need to be directly inserted into the eyeball.
7. The Glue Gun
Prey will offer numerous methods for overcoming the enemy. One of these is still “shoot it until it dies”, which is just as valid here as it is in so many other games. If you want to play Prey with guns blazing, then you have many options to help you on your way. One of the Neuromod paths involves repairing and upgrading weapons that you find on the station, as well as fixing the broken robots that were damaged by the Typhon.
The weapon that the developers of Prey are clearly the proudest of is their Gloo Cannon. This is a gun that fires blobs of glue, which harden almost immediately. You can use this weapon to freeze the Typhon in place. The glue can also be used to fix parts of the ship and seal up hazards (like gas leaks). You can also use the Gloo Cannon to create small platforms, which can be jumped on in order to reach higher areas.
6. The Typhon
An action video game isn’t going to get very far without enemies for you to fight. In the case of Prey, you will mostly be battling against a race of aliens, known as the Typhon. They had previously attacked the Talos I space station (when it was first created) and some of their species had been successfully captured. The TranStar corporation wanted to revive the long-abandoned study of the Typhon, which is what allowed them to develop the Neuromod. As you could probably guess, something went wrong and the Typhon have taken over the station. They are hunting the last few human beings that are still trapped on Talos I, one of whom is Morgan Yu.
There are numerous different kinds of Typhon in the game, who each possess different abilities. The smallest are the Mimics, who resemble crabs made of shadows. They can shapeshift into almost any item in the game, in order to get the drop on the player. The largest of the Typhon are known as Nightmares, which will require all of the firepower you have, in order to overcome them in combat.
5. The Timeline
The universe of Prey is set in an alternate timeline. In this world, John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt on his life in Dallas and he remained the President of the United States of America. As JFK was still in power, he drastically increased the funding to NASA and the Space Program. This is the reason that technology is so advanced in the Prey universe, even though the game is set in 2032. The human race is now a space-faring society, thanks to JFK’s influence and support.
Due to the increased importance of the ’60s as a decade in this timeline, there are still many remnants of its fashions within the design of the Talos I space station. The changing of the timeline has also allowed the developers to use more retro designs as part of the aesthetic of the game, as fashion developed in a much different way in this world.
4. The Dungeons & Dragons Monster
The developers of Prey went to great lengths in order to create the Mimic Typhon. These are a breed of shapeshifting monsters that can look like almost any item in the world. This means that you can be attacked by a Mimic at any moment. You could be picking up some ammo or a healing item and have it turn into a Typhon, which will then try and eat your face.
Mimics are based on a monster of the same name from Dungeons & Dragons. In D&D, it is possible to find a treasure chest that is actually a monster in disguise. Many an unwary adventurer has been gobbled up by one of these monsters. The design of the Mimic was later used in the Dark Souls series, where they would grow arms and legs and pursue you through the level. You’ll know when a player has stumbled across a Mimic in Dark Souls, when they emit a high pitched shriek upon seeing a treasure chest suddenly sprout a set of teeth.
3. The Player’s Path
While Arkane Studios’ last game was Dishonored, they actually looked further back into their catalog for titles that would help them with Prey. One of the games they looked at was Arx Fatalis, which was a first-person action game that used a fantasy setting. Arx Fatalis was set within one huge dungeon and the player was given numerous options on how to progress through the game.
Much like the recent The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Prey intends to give the players numerous options on how they can complete the game. You can run into every room with a shotgun and blast everything that moves. If you want to avoid combat, then you can use stealth to hide from the Typhon. You also have a vast range of powers to choose from, which can alter how a battle plays out. If you want, you can use a combination of all of these methods, and do whatever you feel is necessary to overcome the situation. Prey is all about giving the player a choice about how they want to complete the game, with all of them being valid options.
2. The Multiple Endings
The ending of a video game is only as important as the player’s involvement with the story. As such, it can be difficult to predict whether the game’s conclusion will have any effect on the critical reception it will receive. Games like Doom, Half-Life and the original Deus Ex had very brief and unsatisfying conclusions, but those are rarely brought up in the face of the other amazing 99% of the game. You also have cases like Mass Effect 3, where reviewers brought up the horrible ending to the story as one of the reasons that you shouldn’t buy the game.
In the case of Prey, the game will have multiple endings, with variations that are based on your actions throughout the story. There are two main endings to the game, which will be partly influenced by your interactions with the few other human survivors on the station. To what degree these actions will change the ending still remains to be seen.
1. It Will Soon Be Upon Us
From all we have seen, Prey is clearly an interesting and highly polished game. It has taken inspiration from some of the greatest games ever made and seems to want to give the player a multitude of options in terms of how they play through the story. Arkane Studios created the two excellent Dishonored games, so we know they have the skills to pull this one off.
With Mass Effect: Andromeda receiving a lukewarm critical reception, there is now an open space waiting to be filled by the next great science fiction/action video game franchise. Does Prey have what it takes to fill this void? It certainly has the potential to become one of the biggest and best games of the year.
Players won’t have long to wait much longer until the release of Prey. It is due for a worldwide release on the 5th of May. Prey will be coming to the PlayStation 4, Windows and the Xbox One.
