Before jumping in and reading this preview, please be aware that I’ll be talking about the events that unfold in the first hour of Prey so, if you’re trying to avoid spoilers – turn back now!
Arcane Studios’ new game, Prey, is a first-person shooter with a sci-fi thriller theme. If you’ve been tracking Prey as closely as I have, you’ll know that the game is set in a space station, known as Talos I, orbiting the moon, in the not-too-distant future. Players take on the role of Morgan Yu: an important subject in an experiment that will supposedly change humanity forever, but something terrible occurs on the space station, leaving Morgan in a pretty sticky situation.
After selecting either a male or female version of Morgan Yu, the game opens on the morning of 15th March 2032, where we prepare for our first day working for a company called TranStar. After taking a sweet helicopter ride over to the TranStar building, we meet Alex Yu outside a Testing Facility, where he informs us that we have a few tests to undergo with a man called Dr. Bellamy. It’s at this point that our day starts to take a turn for the worst. While completing some tutorial-type activities such as carrying boxes, jumping over obstructions and attempting to hide from the TranStar employees, we start to hear snippets of Dr. Bellamy’s conversation with the other workers. Before we know it, we’re witnessing a horrific ordeal in which a leggy alien species launches itself from a seemingly empty coffee cup at the doctor. We then pass out as a result of inhaling some strange green gas. After overhearing a sketchy exchange between Alex and someone called Marco Simmons, we’re then thrown back to the beginning of the game, waking up once again on 15th March 2032. Although it’s very clear that something’s up.
After searching our apartment, we head out into the corridor where we discover that the once friendly engineer now resembles a screaming remnant of a human being. Thankfully, we can make the best of a sad situation and take her wrench – we’ll probably need this later. We then a receive a strange call from a person who refers to themselves as ‘January’, who appears to want to help us. We’re told to get out of our apartment building, but all the doors are locked and the game’s music is also making us feel a bit panicked, so we smash through the glass door that leads to our balcony and step…into a simulation lab. After sifting through some emails, we learn that TranStar has been testing us daily, potentially inflicting serious long-term damage by installing and removing Neuromods (an invention that allows you to learn new skills) into Morgan’s brain. What’s even stranger is that apparently, Morgan agreed to taking these tests indefinitely.
Wandering around the Simulation Lab is rather eerie as we search for more answers. We’re able to log into Marco Simmons’ email account to find that recent test results were negative, which seems to have created a huge problem. Everything we’ve seen up until this point has been part of a test within a simulation and now that that illusion has been shattered, you can feel the tension building by the second. I was fully expecting something to jump out at me while wandering around the lab and the game continued to keep me on edge by spiking the audio every now and then with strange noises. The lab is in disrepair after the alien attack, so it’s difficult to tell which noises belong to the things that are going to hurt you. For this reason, I felt like I had to keep moving forward until I reached a lift that granted me access to the Testing Facility that we saw earlier on in the game.
The further I explore the building, the more suspicious I am of Alex Yu; we may be related but I’m unsure whether I can trust him, at this point. Anyway, we head over to the Control Room and catch sight of the enemies for the first time. It turns out that they’re called ‘Mimics’, which makes them sound even creepier. When you kill them, you can remove ‘Typhon Organs’ from their corpse, along with a ‘Mimic Tumour’ – although it appears as though you’ll need to acquire something else before being able to extract the tumour. Unfortunately, we run into the Mimics again very quickly where we helplessly observe as one takes down another TranStar employee, before multiplying into four. Pushing on, we learn that Dr. Bellamy’s corpse is in the Trauma Centre and that we should probably head there soon to retrieve more data on what he was working on. We find some shotgun shells and a keycard that grants us access to the next area. Even though it’s quite early on in the game, you’re made aware that you can complete tasks a variety of ways. For example, gaining access to a room can be achieved my using the keycard or finding an alternative path. As players progress, more options will become available, too.
Shortly after entering the next area, we encounter a chilling sight. It seems as though the Mimics have already started to evolve into bipedal forms, known as ‘Phantoms’ which are far worse than the enemies that we’ve seen up to this point. Luckily, we won’t have to rely on just our wrench for much longer as we’re now given the GLOO (Gelifoam Lattice Organism Obstructer) Cannon, which can be used for immobilising targets, extinguishing flames and can even be used to construct climbable platforms. This weapon looks awesome to use and I can’t wait to see more of it, later on in the game. Players will quickly find a shotgun too which is great against those Phantoms. The preview build concluded with us heading to Morgan’s office to watch a video recorded by Morgan. Here we learn that January is a trustworthy ‘Operator’ which is sort of like a back-up of Morgan. It should be able to fill in the blanks of our memory. Unfortunately, just as Morgan is about to disclose exactly what has happened to us, Alex interrupts the video and for now, we’re left wondering what will happen next.
Despite spending such a short period of time with the game, I’m ridiculously excited to see more of it. From what I’ve seen so far, Prey moves at a swift pace, ensuring that its players will be engaged while creating a tense atmosphere that keeps you on your toes. I’m curious to learn more about what has happened to Morgan and cannot wait to use the GLOO Cannon again. Everything that I saw in the preview build felt so fluid and interesting to explore and I’m pretty sure that this is the next big game that you’ll want to watch out for.
If you haven’t already, check out our video to watch my gameplay footage from the preview build. Once you see Prey for yourself, I think you’ll instantly understand why I’m so excited about it.
Most Anticipated Feature: Finding out more about Morgan and using the GLOO Cannon again.
System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements: TBC
Recommended System Requirements: TBC
Release Date
Prey is scheduled to release on May 5th 2017 and will be available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Price & Purchase
You can pre-purchase Prey on Steam for $59.99. Those that pre-order the game will receive the ‘Cosmonaut Shotgun Pack’ which consists of: Margrave Shotgun & Ammo Plans, two Medkits, Starter Fabrication Materials, three TranStar Neuromods and one Recycler Shielding Chipset.
