So, we were really excited for Prey 2 from Human Head Studios. And then it was canceled. Now Bethesda is publishing a reimagining of Prey in 2017, developed by Arkane Studios. Arkane Studios are behind the excellent Dishonored franchise. But we found the new trailer from E3 2016 for the Prey 2017 video game rather boring. Especially compared to Prey 2.
Will the new Prey 2017 pay off for Bethesda?
It’s a shame that Bethesda treated Human Head so poorly, cruelly trying to bankrupt the studio. This new Prey has, besides the name, nothing to do with anything Human Head’s game universe. One thing to remember, Arkane Austin mostly consists of new hires who never contributed to Dishonored, Arx Fatalis or Dark Messiah. Prey 2 was an amazing concept, this reboot looks uninspired and derivative. So, if the report by gamenguide is correct, this could mean trouble for the new game.
Prey 2 was at the peak of originality. We don’t even get bounty hunting in games nowadays. A lot of people say the new PREY has a lot of area to spread their wings, experiment, and be original, yet the first thing they do is become Bioshock/System Shock with some really lame enemies.
Prey 2 explores the Prey/Hunter dichotomy, it even goes back in forth depending on the situation and enemies you encounter. Thematically, it makes sense. Feel wise, we’ve got a lot of gadgets, weird alien stuff that still looks alien to us as players, and even more alien locations. Tension wise, you aren’t really any stronger than a normal human or the alien residents so that’s why the cover system (hanging or normal) existed. If you want about exploration, Prey 2 showed lots of verticality and three regions.
This new one isn’t really convincing us, it looks uninspired, the gun designs look dated and the weapons are cliche, the enemy types even less creative. A hide and seek game? That’s supposed to be scary and tense? Maybe if the enemy designs are better. The power system is one we haven’t seen in a while at least, but again, not very many imaginative ones either.