After literally years of rumor and speculation, Bethesda finally announced at E3 this year that the alien incursion-slash-talk-radio FPS Prey is coming back. But what we saw in our brief glimpse at the show appeared to be very different from the original game, and also nothing like the teaser for the aborted Human Head sequel. And in a "What is Prey?" video released today, Arkane boss Raphael Colantonio confirmed very explicitly that the new game has absolutely no connection to the old one.
“Prey is not a sequel, it's not a remake, it has no tie with the original,” he says in the video, which was actually recorded in June at E3. “You have to look at it like a re-imagining of the IP.”
That's a little disappointing—Prey wasn't a huge hit by any means, but I quite liked it—but also exciting, because it means the studio has free rein to do pretty much whatever it wants. And it sounds like the new game will be very much in line with Arkane's previous offerings, which include Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and Dishonored.
“It's not just shooting. It's more like a hybrid game, where narrative meets with action meets with a little bit of an RPG layer. You have some weapons, but you also have lots of other things, including powers that you can learn from the aliens,” Colantonio says. But there will be plenty of alien-shooting, with both conventional weapons and gadgets “that are not meant for combat, but somehow work out in combat.” He also noted that players will have the option of playing as a man or woman, which is why Arkane selected the gender-neutral name of Morgan for the lead character.
Prey is currently slated for release sometime in 2017. There isn't a whole lot to see just yet, but you can keep an eye on what's happening at prey.bethesda.net.
