Rock, Paper, Shotgun had an opportunity to preview Prey 2. If you're going into the "sequel" believing it will play like the original, prepare to put on your disappointment hats.
With the removal of Portals, the removal of the first game's main character as the main playable character in Prey 2, and the removal of the corridor style gameplay, this may have been better served under a different title.
Opinion: Perhaps it's just me, but this game should not fall under the "Prey" title. It just feels to me like they're slapping the name on for a bit of recognition. The game sounds great, but not as a sequel to the original, not by any means.
With the removal of Portals, the removal of the first game's main character as the main playable character in Prey 2, and the removal of the corridor style gameplay, this may have been better served under a different title.
Killian Samuels, then. He’s a US AIr Marshall, who was aboard a plane back when the alien invasion of Earth in Prey 1 ocurred. The game opens with him the apparent lone survivor of the resulting crash, staggering to his feet amidst the wreckage of his plane. But he’s not on Earth. The ground is organic, pustulent. Drawing his military pistol, he wanders forward. It’s not long before he finds life, but it’s not human. It’s one of the Prey 1 aliens. Shooting ensues. You know the drill. On the run, hunted by monsters, blasting your way to freedom.
Except Samuels doesn’t find freedom. He finds a brutal punch in the face, and unconsciousness.
Years later. Samuels is working as a bounty hunter on the planet Exodus, a metropolitan hive of scum and villainy, occupied by multiple races living in relative peace, everyone finding some way to make a living. He’s not being hunted. In fact, he’s a hunter – a bounty hunter forever in search of the next paid contract.(...)
Exodus is described as ‘alien noir’, with Blade Runner a screamingly clear influence. There’s some Mass Effect in there too – multiple alien races and an air of ubiquitous criminality. The area Samuels is currently turning a buck in is the Bowery, a down-at-heel zone dominated by ne’er-do-wells. It’s the red light district, the crime lord district, the drugs district. It’s perhaps leaning towards the wrong side of dystopic sci-fi stereotype, but again – I’ll take the hovercars, vast, odd-angled skyscrapers and seedy neon over corridor-pounding any day.
When Samuels takes a contract, he’s assigned a target. How he kills or captures that target is your choice. Direct action has its merits, but if you barge into a nightclub and start spraying bullets everywhere you’re going to end up with a lot of heat – both from your target’s allies and potentially from Exodus’ security. So you could try stealth – using an Assassin’s Creed-esque parkour system to clamber over roofs and through windows. Or you could simply try threats, frightening your target into surrender or into fleeing to a less populous area. In Prey 2, you choose whether or not you hold a gun when you approach people. Maybe it’ll help. Maybe it’ll just raise hell. Your call.
Except Samuels doesn’t find freedom. He finds a brutal punch in the face, and unconsciousness.
Years later. Samuels is working as a bounty hunter on the planet Exodus, a metropolitan hive of scum and villainy, occupied by multiple races living in relative peace, everyone finding some way to make a living. He’s not being hunted. In fact, he’s a hunter – a bounty hunter forever in search of the next paid contract.(...)
Exodus is described as ‘alien noir’, with Blade Runner a screamingly clear influence. There’s some Mass Effect in there too – multiple alien races and an air of ubiquitous criminality. The area Samuels is currently turning a buck in is the Bowery, a down-at-heel zone dominated by ne’er-do-wells. It’s the red light district, the crime lord district, the drugs district. It’s perhaps leaning towards the wrong side of dystopic sci-fi stereotype, but again – I’ll take the hovercars, vast, odd-angled skyscrapers and seedy neon over corridor-pounding any day.
When Samuels takes a contract, he’s assigned a target. How he kills or captures that target is your choice. Direct action has its merits, but if you barge into a nightclub and start spraying bullets everywhere you’re going to end up with a lot of heat – both from your target’s allies and potentially from Exodus’ security. So you could try stealth – using an Assassin’s Creed-esque parkour system to clamber over roofs and through windows. Or you could simply try threats, frightening your target into surrender or into fleeing to a less populous area. In Prey 2, you choose whether or not you hold a gun when you approach people. Maybe it’ll help. Maybe it’ll just raise hell. Your call.
Opinion: Perhaps it's just me, but this game should not fall under the "Prey" title. It just feels to me like they're slapping the name on for a bit of recognition. The game sounds great, but not as a sequel to the original, not by any means.
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