Prey Developer Working on Unannounced Project

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Image: Arkane Studios



Arkane Austin, the developer behind Prey, is working on a new project. The news comes from director Harvey Smith, who spoke in a recent interview (via TweakTown) about his previous work and confirmed that Arkane was making a new game.



We collaborated between Lyon and Austin for the first Dishonored and then for Dishonored 2 I moved to Lyon and was there for four years. Raph stayed in Austin and worked at Prey with Ricardo Bare and Susan Kath and the people I’m working with now. At the end of Dishonored 2, I went back to Austin. I’m not in Deathloop, I’m in something else, working with the guys who made Dishonored and Prey...

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[Dan_D]

The real Prey developer or the developer of that BS that got released a few years back?

 

[DrezKill]

I really enjoyed Prey 2006, and thought it was one of the best uses of idTech 4. Still wish we had gotten a sequel to that. Prey 2017 I played a few hours or more, but then I just kinda stopped playing it. Never really went back to it. People said it was like Bioshock, but it failed the grab and hold me the same way Bioshock 1 did (never played Bioshock 2, didn't finish BioShock Infinite cuz a crash made me lose a lot of progress on my save file). I guess I still kinda hope someone will take a stab at the original Prey universe.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

The real Prey developer or the developer of that BS that got released a few years back?

Both. Both teams are under one roof now and working on 'something' together.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

I really enjoyed Prey 2006, and thought it was one of the best uses of idTech 4. Still wish we had gotten a sequel to that. Prey 2017 I played a few hours or more, but then I just kinda stopped playing it. Never really went back to it. People said it was like Bioshock, but it failed the grab and hold me the same way Bioshock 1 did (never played Bioshock 2, didn't finish BioShock Infinite cuz a crash made me lose a lot of progress on my save file). I guess I still kinda hope someone will take a stab at the original Prey universe.

Pretty much the same for me too. I like the concept because I'm really into sci-fi horror type stuff but it didn't quite do the job for me. I think I got about a 1/4 way in before I got bored.

 

[Dan_D]

I really enjoyed Prey 2006, and thought it was one of the best uses of idTech 4. Still wish we had gotten a sequel to that. Prey 2017 I played a few hours or more, but then I just kinda stopped playing it. Never really went back to it. People said it was like Bioshock, but it failed the grab and hold me the same way Bioshock 1 did (never played Bioshock 2, didn't finish BioShock Infinite cuz a crash made me lose a lot of progress on my save file). I guess I still kinda hope someone will take a stab at the original Prey universe.

I was interested in the game when it's trailers came out, but I was still thrown for a loop on the fact that it had almost nothing to do with the original game. I was still interested until reviews and gameplay footage showed up. My interest waned almost immediately.

 

[Armenius]

I enjoyed 2017 more than I thought I would. It took a while for me to get into it simply because the beginning hours of the game are very uninteresting and it can get frustrating while you are lacking abilities. I stuck with it and it pulled me in, but it took around 4-6 hours of game time to get to that point. I had the same issue getting into the game as I did with Dishonored. If there is one thing Arkane needs to work on it's first impressions.

 

[Dan_D]

I enjoyed 2017 more than I thought I would. It took a while for me to get into it simply because the beginning hours of the game are very uninteresting and it can get frustrating while you are lacking abilities. I stuck with it and it pulled me in, but it took around 4-6 hours of game time to get to that point. I had the same issue getting into the game as I did with Dishonored. If there is one thing Arkane needs to work on it's first impressions.

If a game doesn't grab me in the first couple of hours, I'll usually punch the eject button at that point.

 

[Zarathustra]

I played the 2017 version of Prey. I didn't even realize it was a part of a series or a remake. I hadn't heard of the other games. I thought it was excellent standalone though. Very good game.

If Arkane can repeat that level of quality, it's certainly a studio I'd like a surprise from.

Really, I think unannounced games are the way to go. You avoid the nonsense CD Project Red went through in development with Cyberpunk 2077.

 

[MadMummy76]

If a game doesn't grab me in the first couple of hours, I'll usually punch the eject button at that point.

Yes that happened to me with prey 2017 as well. I find the notion of having to spend hours with a bad game then somehow it becomes good ridiculous. It's either enjoyable from the start, or it isn't. Prey wasn't.

 

[Zarathustra]

If a game doesn't grab me in the first couple of hours, I'll usually punch the eject button at that point.

Yes that happened to me with prey 2017 as well. I find the notion of having to spend hours with a bad game then somehow it becomes good ridiculous. It's either enjoyable from the start, or it isn't. Prey wasn't.

I don't recall having this experience. I found that the story sucked me in from the very beginning.

Everyone has different things that interest them though.

 

[Armenius]

I played the 2017 version of Prey. I didn't even realize it was a part of a series or a remake. I hadn't heard of the other games. I thought it was excellent standalone though. Very good game.

If Arkane can repeat that level of quality, it's certainly a studio I'd like a surprise from.

Really, I think unannounced games are the way to go. You avoid the nonsense CD Project Red went through in development with Cyberpunk 2077.

Prey 2017 is a standalone game that simply shares the name of the game with a release from 2006. Other than that the two have absolutely no relation to each other.

Yes that happened to me with prey 2017 as well. I find the notion of having to spend hours with a bad game then somehow it becomes good ridiculous. It's either enjoyable from the start, or it isn't. Prey wasn't.

I think that isn't a good attitude to have with a game that can last 20 hours or more, and especially one with RPG-lite mechanics included. Conversely, you have games like Call of Duty that have short campaigns and really grab you in the opening minutes of the game, but then fall flat by the end.

In my experience it has been the games that tend to more slowly grab my attention that have more of a lasting impact than those that grab you immediately. Mass Effect has become one of my favorite games of all time, and it took me something like 7 full restarts and a good 10-15 hours to really grab me. A similar story to Oblivion for me.

 

[Zarathustra]

Prey 2017 is a standalone game that simply shares the name of the game with a release from 2006. Other than that the two have absolutely no relation to each other.

Interesting.

Maybe expectations from those familiar with the previous title with that name served to poison the well?

I really thought it was a spectacular title. Beautiful, suspenseful, with an interesting story. Best I played that year.

 

[hubaduba]

If a game doesn't grab me in the first couple of hours, I'll usually punch the eject button at that point.

I find it's taking me longer to really get engaged in a game. It might take me 6-10 hours to feel I've gotten past the "intro" phase and really into the meat of the game, where I'm understanding the characters, story, and systems.

 

[Armenius]

Interesting.

Maybe expectations from those familiar with the previous title with that name served to poison the well?

I really thought it was a spectacular title. Beautiful, suspenseful, with an interesting story. Best I played that year.

There is definitely some animosity in the community pointed at Bethesda for effectively killing the sequel to the original game. Basically, they gave Human Head Studios very little resources while imposing unrealistic deadlines along the way, and used the excuse that the developer was not delivering on key milestones to kill the project. The saga is well-documented, and as with every story Bethesda sees things that occurred during that time differently.

It is a good game, but it seems like a kick in the nuts that Bethesda would bring the name back when people were well-aware of the goings on with the original game.

 

[Zarathustra]

There is definitely some animosity in the community pointed at Bethesda for effectively killing the sequel to the original game. Basically, they gave Human Head Studios very little resources while imposing unrealistic deadlines along the way, and used the excuse that the developer was not delivering on key milestones to kill the project. The saga is well-documented, and as with every story Bethesda sees things that occurred during that time differently.

It is a good game, but it seems like a kick in the nuts that Bethesda would bring the name back when people were well-aware of the goings on with the original game.

That makes sense. Bethesda has launched some titles I really enjoy, but the ****ty inside business politics really pisses me off about them.

 

[Dan_D]

I find it's taking me longer to really get engaged in a game. It might take me 6-10 hours to feel I've gotten past the "intro" phase and really into the meat of the game, where I'm understanding the characters, story, and systems.

It really depends on the type of game. Pure first person shooters, be it single or multi-player will have to grab me in a couple of hours or I'm out. Something like Mass Effect, Cyberpunk 2077 or the Witcher games really need a few hours of your time in order for you to learn enough of the game and give the story a chance to suck you into it. On that front, Dragon Age Inquisition didn't grab me, nor did the Witcher games. Although, I haven't played the third one.

For something like an MMO, it might really take well beyond 10 hours to get a feel for it. Hell, you probably need to get at least one character to maximum level and give the end game a try in order to know how good it is or isn't. That being said, while I understand that some game types and genres may need much more time to give them a fair shake, I am not usually capable of hanging in there that long.

 

[Zarathustra]

It really depends on the type of game. Pure first person shooters, be it single or multi-player will have to grab me in a couple of hours or I'm out. Something like Mass Effect, Cyberpunk 2077 or the Witcher games really need a few hours of your time in order for you to learn enough of the game and give the story a chance to suck you into it. On that front, Dragon Age Inquisition didn't grab me, nor did the Witcher games. Although, I haven't played the third one.

For something like an MMO, it might really take well beyond 10 hours to get a feel for it. Hell, you probably need to get at least one character to maximum level and give the end game a try in order to know how good it is or isn't. That being said, while I understand that some game types and genres may need much more time to give them a fair shake, I am not usually capable of hanging in there that long.

We must be the only two people in the entire PC Game universe who didn't really care for Witcher, probably for different reasons though.

Personally, I just struggle to get into 3rd person titles.

 

[Dan_D]

We must be the only two people in the entire PC Game universe who didn't really care for Witcher, probably for different reasons though.

Personally, I just struggle to get into 3rd person titles.

Yes, we didn't get into them for very different reasons. Mainly, I'm a simple guy when it comes to my games. I don't need or want complex crafting systems, gearing systems or skill trees. I'm not interested in "character builds" or any of that stuff. I just want to play a game, shoot some stuff and occasionally enjoy a good story and overall narrative experience. I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre. It's never grabbed me. While I enjoy some things in that genre from time to time that stuff fails to land with me more often than not. The Witcher I and II's early gameplay just didn't do it for me and the story couldn't grab me fast enough to give me the patience to sort out the game mechanics.

Cyberpunk 2077, Mass Effect, and a few other titles are exceptions rather than the rule. They grabbed me with story and had decent enough gameplay that I was able to push through all the crap I didn't like and enjoy the games in spite of those things. Gearing doesn't really matter for Cyberpunk. It's kind of a thing in ME1, but not the subsequent games. For those, I put up with the BS because of the characters and strong narratives. Hell, even GTA V falls into that category for me. It's not complicated but the gameplay isn't really that good in my opinion. It's shooting mechanics are pretty awful and the driving is mediocre at best. Yet, there is something fun about running around in that game. I even enjoyed the single player story line for that game. The characters are amazing and hard to forget.

I will say that I much prefer first person over third. Third vs. first isn't a deal breaker for me, but I have a strong preference for first person titles.

 

[Armenius]

We must be the only two people in the entire PC Game universe who didn't really care for Witcher, probably for different reasons though.

Personally, I just struggle to get into 3rd person titles.

The first game I could not get into at all. Have not yet tried the second. The third was able to grab and hold my interest from the start, though it was rough for me to get used to the combat at first.