“Cherokee garage mechanic is forced to embrace and weaponise his spiritual heritage to combat the various aliens, ghosts and robots that inhabit the planet-sized spaceship that abducted him and his girlfriend.” That just makes it sound weird, doesn’t it? Like the Sphere itself, Prey represented a collection of disparate elements strung together into a mishmash design. The 2006 shooter was enjoyable at the time, but hasn’t really gone down in history as a classic.
Prey ended on a cliffhanger that left things wide open for a sequel, and Human Head Studios have decided to take it in a completely new direction. Remember the plane that was taken aboard the Sphere during one of Prey’s earlier levels? That’s the starting point for Prey 2′s new hero, Killian Samuels. Seems the name generator was set on ‘ridiculous’ for that one.
Killian is an air marshal aboard the hijacked plane and gets knocked out while trying to defend himself from the Sphere’s guards. Fast-forward a couple of years and he finds himself tracking down bounties on the distant planet Exodus. Wait, we’re who in the what now?
That’s exactly Killian’s reaction, since he has no memory of the intervening years. All he knows is that suddenly he’s a bounty hunter chasing after the lowliest scum of the criminal underworld on behalf of that same criminal underworld. Where Tommy was the prey, Killian is a predator, an intentional reversal of the predation relation.
Exodus is a tidally locked planet, with one side always facing its sun and the other permanently bathed in darkness. Killian is operating inside a massive city built on the line where the two sides intersect. Night and day are therefore not instances of time, but of place. Human Head Studios have dubbed the city’s aesthetic ‘alien noir’, a further indication that Blade Runner’s iconic vision of 2019 Los Angeles is a major influence.
The city is inhabited by a wide variety of alien races that don’t always get along with each other, which means plenty of business for a bounty hunter like Killian. He’s gotten himself a reputation for always finding his targets and soon he turns himself into one. Then about halfway through the game, he runs into Tommy, now a non-player character.
Let’s face it, Tommy was kind of a dick. “I don’t believe in all this religious nonsense,” he stubbornly blurted out while being blinded by the ethereal glow of his dead grandfather in the Cherokee afterlife. Exactly what role he’ll fill in Prey 2 is unclear, but it will involve Killian’s mysteriously impacted memories and their eventual recovery.
Let us prey
That’s how the main storyline unfolds, but the city will be entirely open, offering plenty of diversionary quests and missions. This approach of an unrestricted world that funnels the player down a predetermined path at times is what we know from games like Far Cry 2 and Batman: Arkham City, and it should work well here.
One example involves ‘ambient bounties’, which dot the cityscape and can be freely engaged by Killian. Clearing such missions nets him more dosh, allowing him to buy weapons, tools and upgrades. Shoulder-mounted rocket launchers and anti-gravity boots are but a few potential tricks up Killian’s sleeve.
Killian has also become skilled in parkour, which comes in very handy when chasing down a bounty through alleyways and across rooftops. Mass Effect meets Mirror’s Edge, then – a self-admitted combination of influences for Human Head Studios.
But where Mirror’s Edge had a strict separation between exploration and combat, Prey 2 looks set to combine them. Whether he’s dangling from a ledge or sliding over a piece of cover, Killian can always pull out his weapon in what is called ‘agile combat’. These and other abilities are teased in the official ‘Bounty’ trailer.
Letting guns do the talking might not always be the answer, though. Objectives can always be tackled in one of several ways, including stealth and bribery. Killian’s actions will gain notoriety if they become overly and overtly brutal, which can result in the city’s security systems bearing down on him. Perhaps there will be a rating system like those in the Grand Theft Auto games?
Prey 2 looks to be a completely different game from its predecessor. We’re admittedly not talking about a franchise with a clear identity that would send its most fervent adherents in a frenzy at the first sign of change. Still, Human Head Studios are risking the alienation of those who enjoyed Prey for what it was, which is a bold move in today’s landscape of conservative sequels that bank on an established fanbase.
Open-world games may be all the rage now, but their popularity makes Prey 2′s new direction no less a gamble. Like Killian for every one of his bounties, here’s hoping it pays off.