Setting Sights on Prey 2

Anyone who played the original Prey video game is in for something completely different with this sequel. The first game took place on Earth and focused on a Native American, Tommy Tawodi, who is abducted by aliens (the Keepers). Prey 2 shifts the action to outer space on the planet Exodus.

Tommy is still in the game, but the main protagonist is now U.S. Marshal Killian Samuels. The gameplay has also evolved from a linear storyline to an open-world experience, where Killian plays the role of a bounty hunter. And Killian's abilities as a sharpshooter and law-enforcement agent open up a completely new experience compared to Tommy's mystical abilities, like spirit walk and death walk.

Chris Rhinehart, co-founder of Human Head Studios, says the development team wanted to explore more of the Prey universe, including both sides of the predator/prey relationship. The new game answers questions like, "What happened to the other people on the alien sphere?" and "Where do spheres come from and what happened to Tommy?"

PC gamers will explore an open-world game that has the look and feel of something out of Blade Runner. Rhinehart compared it to an Alien noir visual style. Exodus is a planet with one side always facing the sun, one side constantly cold and dark, and a center that is perpetually at dusk. Players will be able to explore all areas of the planet as they hunt down alien fugitives. One area that was a focal point for Gamescom's demo was the Bowery, the planet's red light district, where drugs and crime are prevalent, along with casinos and seedy night clubs.

"Players have a choice of which jobs they take and even whether they kill bounties or send them in alive," says Rhinehart. "Prey 2 is all about player choice. We've expanded the player's movement set to accommodate this and introduced gadgets."

Armed with a gun and capable of shooting numerous other weapons, players will be able to pick up or buy any of 20 gadgets in this game. Hover boots allow you to jump from high up and glide around the world. Limusite allows you to see in dark places. The antigrav wave allows you to pull enemies into the air and out of cover and briefly incapacitate them.

Gadgets tie in to how one plays the game: going in, guns blazing, or taking a more stealth approach. One of the handiest gadgets is a scanner that will go through any aliens in a room and immediately alert you if there's a bounty on their head and whether they're wanted dead or alive, and for how much money.

Player choice is mitigated by an honor system. Gamers can play as a good bounty hunter or a bad one. They can mug people and steal money from them, or do favors for people and earn money in-game. Police can be your friends, or you can try to take them out. To balance gameplay, there's a security system set up all over the world. This serves as an eye in the sky, and if you kill a lot of people, security will hunt you down and the gameplay will become more challenging.

One example of setting off alarms in the game world was Killian pulling out a shoulder-mounted rocket and firing it at a security drone. These types of actions will alert the security taskforce. And once they're unleashed, they'll hunt you down and make life much more difficult. The first-person perspective game keeps your weapon holstered by default, which keeps security away. The moment you pull out your gun -- which can be used to threaten people in addition to shooting them -- your actions start to attract attention.

PC gamers will be able to explore all of Exodus, and uncover the secrets of the Prey universe, beginning March 12, 2012.

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