Prey gameplay preview: Bethesda reboot looks set to live up to expectations

So-called development hell – into which games can fall when they just, for whatever reason, aren’t coming together – can, it seems, sometimes be a good thing. That’s certainly true in the case of Prey – originally mooted as the sequel to 2006’s well regarded first-person shooter of the same name, the rights to which were acquired by Bethesda Softworks as long ago as 2011.

Somewhere along the line, Bethesda embarked on a major rethink, decided that Prey 2 would instead simply be dubbed Prey and handed the development reins to French outfit Arkane Studios, of Dishonored fame. Despite that chequered history, the resulting Prey, due to hit the shops on 5 May, has managed to retain the status of one of 2017’s most-anticipated games.

We managed – at Bethesda’s London office – to play through the first hour or so of Prey, a tantalising session which confirmed that it looks well set to live up to its considerable expectations.

The hands-on session also comprehensively demonstrated that the only thing Prey has in common with its 2006 predecessor is its name: it’s very much an Arkane Studios project, rather than some sort of reboot, and while it does contain guns, to describe it as a mere first-person shooter would be far too simplistic.

Prey review: An alternate reality

Prey’s action starts with a choice: your character has the usefully unisex name Morgan Yu, so you must decide whether to play through as a male or female Morgan.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

Morgan, you instantly discover, works for a space-exploration company called TranStar. Prey posits an alternate reality in which President John F Kennedy was never assassinated, so by the time 2032 – when the game is set – comes around, mankind has conquered space much more comprehensively than it is likely to have done in real life.

Morgan is being prepared for a stint on the TranStar space station Talos I, so your first task is to get her (we chose to play the female character) to TranStar’s office in preparation for final tests before blasting off. Which involves leaving her agreeably flashy apartment and taking a short helicopter ride, revealing an imaginative take on what San Francisco’s skyline might look like in 2032.

After a brief encounter with Morgan’s brother Alex, we begin the test – involving answering faintly ludicrous psychological-response questions. But then disaster strikes: through the test area’s glass a coffee-mug magically appears. One of the TranStar scientists picks it up, at which point it morphs into a small black alien, which attacks the scientist. Security arrives, gas flows into the test-chamber and we pass out.

Prey review: The initial twist

Upon awakening back in our apartment, a massive story-twist kicks in – sorry, but there’s no way of dealing with this without a spoiler. We’re informed by an artificial intelligence called January that we’re in danger and must escape from the apartment.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

In the corridor outside, a dead maintenance employee holds a wrench – which becomes Morgan’s first weapon. We use it to smash the apartment’s window, and instead of finding ourself on a balcony overlooking San Francisco, we gain access to a lab. Morgan had been on Talos I all along; a bit of exploration revealed the “helicopter” we had previously travelled in to be a sort of mock-up firmly tethered to the ground.

Next task is to reach the space station’s lobby. Having passed through various areas familiar from the testing session, and being given a hint by a moving element of the film set-like environment, we call the lift, which reconfigures the scenery, opening a path to the lobby. As we continue to explore, Prey unveiled its main gameplay mechanics.

Prey review: Play your way

Before even reaching the lobby, we encountered the odd alien – January informs us they are called Typhon, but are generally known as mimics. They certainly don’t like a wrench to the face.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

In the lobby, we discover a key gameplay element, called a Neuromod – a liquid that cab be injected into the eye, bringing a new ability. Neuromods are clearly at the heart of Prey’s gameplay – later on in the game, they will allow you to take on the mimics’ shape-shifting abilities.

Initially, the Neuromod abilities-tree has three branches: Security, Engineer and Scientist. We played it safe by bumping up our health in the Security branch – which also governs weapons-related abilities. The Engineer branch improves mechanical repair skills – we swiftly encountered various objects like pipes leaking gas and a sparking control panel that were begging to be restored to working order. Bumping up your Scientist abilities will clearly allow you to do things like acquire the mimics’ attributes.

Prey review: Weapons and ammo

During play we started to accumulate some weaponry, which had the feel of signature to them. The GLOO gun, for example, shoots out foam which hardens instantly, so can be used to immobilise enemies before you batter them with the wrench or shoot them, and can even be used to build platforms allowing you to get to out-of-reach areas. Indeed, we were able to use it to access the Security area via a vent we wouldn’t otherwise have managed to jump up to. We were also told that the GLOO gun can put out fires and temporarily extinguish sparks.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

The scene is definitely set for some elaborate puzzles, but unfortunately in the early stages to which we were confined, puzzling merely involved accessing new areas.

Prey takes pains to point out – typically for an Arkane game – that it sets great store in allowing you to play however you choose. Clearly, the play-off between Security, Scientist and Engineer abilities will be at that heart of that ambition, as well as being able to build platforms with the GLOO gun.

We also found a Fabricator: a kind of 3D printer which turned the junk we collected (like burnt-out circuit-boards and rubber piping) into objects like health packs and wrenches. It had loads of empty slots, so obviously operates with a blueprint-style system.

Plus there was a machine which generated a hovering, robotic medical assistant, and we found movable turrets which automatically shot at aliens.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

You’ll need these weapons and upgrades for what’s in store. As well as the mimics, we encountered a larger, bipedal alien, which could have been a mutated human. And ammo seems to be in conspicuously short supply: dead mimics often yielded a handful of shotgun shells.

Prey review: Use your brain

Prey is clearly a game that demands you use brainpower, rather than fast-twitch skills. It feels more BioShock than first-person shooter; and unlike Dishonored, there’s no evidence of any need to employ stealth.

Vibe-wise, it has bags of promise. The game looks fabulous, with a graphics engine that is clearly more modern than that of Dishonored 2 and some neat art-direction touches: although Talos I is suitably futuristic in many respects, it also has plenty of Art Deco-style interior décor.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

The creepy, oppressive atmosphere generated by being trapped on an empty space station with nothing but robots and a fast-multiplying population of shape-shifting aliens comes through loud and clear, even in what was effectively an extended tutorial session.

The control system, too, feels spot-on – it was noticeably more minimal and less fiddly than that of Dishonored 2, with a fast-access wheel for weapons, objects and abilities, and the chance to map key weapons and abilities to the d-pad.

First Impressions

Our brief experience of Prey has left us itching to be able to immerse ourselves more comprehensively in the game.

While we merely had the chance to scratch its surface, it feels like a title that contains a treasure trove of horror-inflected sci-fi, along with some potentially imaginative and distinctive gameplay.

Thankfully we’ll only have to wait a couple of months for it to reveal its full glory. Here’s praying it doesn’t get delayed, because Prey looks like one of 2017’s sure-fire successes.