PREVIEW – Ah Prey, you loveable little weird trippy FPS. The first Prey was developed by Human Head Studios who created such games as the Rune series, and later on, they would go and make Batman Arkham Origins. However, when dabbling with non-established IPs, Human Head Studios were able to create fun, albeit weird experiences.

Prey back in 2006 was a rather well-received game with okay sales. The studio was working on a sequel that would have been published by Bethesda Softworks, however after struggles between the development team, and the publisher, the sequel was shelved. Prey 2 was to have a new main character on an alien world taking up the role of a bounty hunter. E3 demos were released, and it looked great, but sadly it never came to fruition.

Now after many years of slumber, the IP has been brought out again, revamped, and rebooted by Arkane Studios. The first reveal was at E3 2016, but finally after a CGI trailer we seen more details revealed and even gameplay trailers.

Some fans of the original are hurt because of the reboot, but is this new Prey good, or should it have been buried?

Aliens, and Inception

The story for the reboot is the following: JFK never died, and sped up the development of technology, which results in a boom for humanity. In 2032 aboard the space station on Talos I where all hell has broken loose. The station was built during Kennedy’s term and has been expanded ever since then, which means that the location will have great variety within the design of the levels.

We play as Morgan Yu, a scientist who is stuck on the station, and aliens have taken over the station. Sounds a bit cliché, right? Well, it might be, but luckily we have one of the best story writers in gaming working on the project, aka Chris Avellone who worked on Fallout New Vegas. We will also be able to choose our own gender for the character, and some decisions will affect the game’s overall storyline.

The gameplay though is a bit of a mystery, and while sounds straightforward based on the footage, and interviews it seems like it might be a roguelike? The levels will be interconnected similar to a Metroidvania and based on the CGI trailer the gameplay upon death will do a Groundhog Day-esque loop. Our character can also mimic items, and other abilities will unlock later down the line.

While the original Prey was more shock/body horror, the new Prey according to Arkane Studios is much more psychological horror. The player will fear the unknown, and the station’s surroundings as the enemy can be everywhere.

X-Com The Bureau is that you?

The original Prey, and even the second unreleased game had interesting visual themes, and atmosphere. The new rebooted Prey, looks like a mix between Dishonored, Bioshock (in terms of lighting and aesthetics shown from gameplay trainers), and X-Com The Bureau in terms of enemy design.

Black shimmering aliens or black polyps that can morph into furniture seems to be the main enemy. We also seem to have certain “Technowizard” abilities that allow us to destroy multiple enemies with one “spell.” While the station looks good, unfortunately, if this is all the enemy types we get that will be a bit of a disappointment.

Some footage did show the enemy possessing other humans, so there is hope that the enemy will not be one note.

A lot of heart, but a lot of risks

The weapons were shown off range from simple pistols to freezing rifles, and we will also have the opportunity to go outside the space station to explore a bit in the cold depths of space. There are a lot of risky variable for this reboot. Arkane is a talented studio, and the writing team behind the game seems to know what they want to accomplish, but due to the limited footage, and interviews, it is a bit difficult to see whether Prey (2017) will be a blast or a bargain bin version of Bioshock in Space.

We will have more on Prey (2017) once further information is provided by the developers

It does not look like a cynical cash grab of an already established IP since the original Prey was never that popular. Hopefully, this reboot will have a lot of depth, and craziness that we are so used to with the name Prey.

-Dante-

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Developer: Arkane Studios

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Relase date: TBA 2017