Prey Lead Designer Ricardo Bare Gives COGconnected Some Juicy Details
Last week COGconnected had the opportunity to attend a Q&A with Prey Lead Designer Ricardo Bare. During the Q&A Bare confirmed several interesting little nuggets we previously did not know about the game. Everything from some of the weapons, abilities, upgrades, aliens and hacking abilities were confirmed during the session. Bare also discussed how your interactions can impact the ending and how this game has “no link” with the preview Prey games.
Before the Q&A, we played the demo and you can read more about our hands-on preview here. In the demo we used five weapons: the wrench, Gloo Cannon, the shotgun, the pistol and crossbow. Bare confirmed during the Q&A that the crossbow actually requires one of three skills to access. The crossbow is an example of a weapon/tool that can actually be used to access more areas. Judging by what the Bare told us, the crossbow fires a projectile that triggers mechanisms like door access and more.
Prey also has abilities which are part of skill trees called ‘Neuromods’ and consist of hacking, repairing, and leverage points you need to access areas and move containers. Bare alluded to the ‘hacking’ skill and how it could affect level progression. Later in the game, players gain access psychic abilities which affect not only combat but narrative progression. There are also friendly automated in-game turrets.
Check out the first 60-minutes here:
In terms of aliens, Prey features creatures called “mimics” which are spider-like species that players will always have trouble sneaking up on since you never know which way they’re facing (no eyes or ears). Moreover, they can change into any of the movable objects in the game (hence the name). Bare informed us that Mimics will, at times, sense the player’s arrival and change form to blend into the room. Phantoms are the humanoid xenos that are a lot tougher and deadlier than mimics. And like mimics, they can appear in one place and suddenly appear behind you or to the side when striking.
We were also told the entirety of the game will take place on the space station, Talos-1. But it is a very big map to explore. Bare confirmed that the outside of the Space Station is traversable in its entirety, allowing players access to other levels from outside.
In terms of the story, Bare confirmed there are multiple endings to the game. Your decisions and interactions affect the outcomes. Moreover, Bare stressed that interactions with characters have lasting consequences. While there are two general endings, these outcomes have their own derivatives. It also has to do with how you interact with characters and who you find.
Lastly, when asked how this Prey might be linked to previous installments, Bare made it clear: There is absolutely no link between this Prey and anything that came before it. “It’s only the name.”
Prey will release worldwide on Friday, May 5, 2017 for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.