Prey (2017 video game)

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Prey (2017) is a first‑person shooter with immersive sim and role‑playing elements, developed by Arkane Austin and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released on May 5, 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.

Setting and story
In an alternate timeline, humanity has advanced space exploration, and the space station Talos I sits in orbit around the Earth–Moon L2. The Typhon, a powerful and adaptable alien species, have breached containment on the station. You play as Morgan Yu, a scientist aboard Talos I who must survive as the Typhon threaten everyone on board. The station is a single, interconnected world rather than a string of level-based areas, and what you do on Talos I shapes how the story ends.

Gameplay and goals
- You explore Talos I, collecting weapons, tools, and resources. A crafting system uses materials you recycle from objects around the station.
- Neuromods let you learn new abilities, and you can customize Morgan’s attributes and skills as you play.
- A psychoscope lets you scan Typhon to learn their powers, which you can then use yourself. This enables creative, emergent ways to tackle puzzles and combat.
- The station’s design encourages multiple approaches to problems. You can hack, sneak, fight, or outsmart enemies, and there are often several pathways to progress.
- The Typhon come in many forms, including Mimics that can disguise themselves as everyday objects. The game rewards flexible thinking and experimentation.

Endings and choices
Prey has multiple endings based on how you treat survivors and how you handle the Typhon threat. Your choices influence the final outcome, with several permutations along the way. A post‑credit twist adds a deeper take on identity and humanity.

Expansions and multiplayer
- Mooncrash (2018) is a roguelike expansion where you play a character in a series of randomized simulations aboard a Moon base. You must uncover how a Typhon outbreak happened, with repeated runs that change enemy placement and item locations.
- Typhon Hunter is a multiplayer mode (plus a VR escape‑room style set) in which one player controls Morgan and up to six others play as Mimic Typhons, trying to hide or attack the Morgan player.
- A New Game Plus and a Survival mode were added in a free update, offering longer runs and new modifiers.

Development background
- Arkane’s Prey is a reboot, not a direct continuation of the 2006 Prey. It’s described as a spiritual successor to System Shock, drawing on that lineage of interconnected, multi-solution worlds.
- The design emphasizes emergent gameplay, with an emphasis on open-ended problem solving rather than a single, linear path.
- The team integrated influences from Dishonored, System Shock, Arx Fatalis, and sci‑fi thrillers to create a living, functional space station with a believable ecology of hazards and opportunities.
- The game’s name and direction were influenced by corporate decisions at Bethesda, and the developers aimed to keep Prey distinct and self‑contained while honoring the legacy of the IP.

Technical notes and reception
- Prey runs on CryEngine, which helped address performance issues seen in some earlier Arkane titles.
- The game was generally well received for its atmosphere, world design, and freedoms of approach, though opinions on combat balance and some narrative elements were mixed.
- Over time, it has been celebrated by many critics and players as a standout immersive sim, with some calling it underrated and influential in the genre.

Legacy
Prey is remembered for its richly realized space station setting, its flexible systems that encourage experimentation, and its influence as a modern example of the immersive sim genre. Its expansions and multiplayer modes extended the base game’s ideas, and it remains a reference point for designers aiming to blend exploration, customization, and open-ended problem solving in a single cohesive world.