With no sign of Native American characters or unusual space doors in sight, the reboot of the Prey franchise made a big showing at this year’s Game Awards ceremony in the form of a lengthy gameplay trailer. Full of strange space oddities, morphing abilities, and a gloopy portal-like gun, it’s certainly not the Prey we knew from before.
The trailer sets the scene for the game, showing us that it all started back in the 1950s, when a strange black substance attached itself to the hull of one of humanity’s satellites, leading to deadly consequences for the man investigating. Fast forward to 2035 and our protagonist is hopping around the Talos I research station, helping to build a platform to serve as a springboard for future generations.
But all is not well aboard the station and shortly after administering some sort of neurological implant, our protagonist finds himself confronted with floating bodies and some strange, black substance that seems capable of creating all sorts of space demons to face off against.
More: New ‘Prey’ trailer shows that players can swap out male lead for heroine
Like a Middle Earth Balrog wreathed in shadow, these creatures stomp and fly after our hero, while he uses a variety of weaponry and equipment to keep them at bay and escape a perilous fate.
One interesting ability that our main character is capable of is the “mimic matter” power. Pulled up from a wheel menu, mimic matter lets a player become any sort of item they want. In one instance, our hero turns into a coffee mug, making it possible to pass through a small security hatch.
It’s not quite clear why the mug is capable of independent movement, if indeed the gun is mimicing the material structure of the mug. But this incident provides a strangely lighthearted moment in a trailer full of dark corridors, darker enemies, and an imposing, dread-inspiring soundtrack.
Aesthetically the game looks great, with a slightly retro-sci-fi feel to it, and there will clearly be a ton of weapons and mechanics to get to grips with when the game is released. In the more expanded gameplay video GameInformer has, we see enemies that can pretend to be random objects, like a Red Dwarf polymorph, and there is an open-ended layout to the station that lets you go just about wherever you want.
There’s a definite Alien: Isolation feel to the game, even if it is a little more action focused.
Prey is set to release at some point in first half of 2017 on Windows PCs, Xbox One, and PS4.
