Previews

Our good friends at Bethesda recently invited me down to their swanky London offices to trial out their latest pairing with Arkane Studios, Prey. After their most recent collaboration went down so well in the form of Dishonored 2, achieving critical acclaim across the board and heading for prized GOTY status, Prey has a lot to live up to. But I've got an inkling that it will.

After a short introduction - and a few pain au chocolats from the breakfast spread - we were chaperoned into the boardroom. Last time I was here, this was transformed into a softly-lit boudoir with red velvet drapes and golden accents, reflecting the Dishonored sequel in style. This time around, UV lights illuminated the walls in splodges of blue and purple with large posters displaying the artwork for Prey. It helped to create a very space-like, futuristic atmosphere. Two rows of monitors, headsets keyboards and controllers flickered away, anticipating the gamers before them. Slipping the headphones on, and the outside world off - it was time to dive in.

Good Morning, Morgan

So, I'm going to try my absolute hardest not to spoil any of the storyline for you. This is something you have to experience for yourself, fully immersed, lights off and ears enclosed in a headset to fully appreciate the opening 15 minutes of Prey. But, the lowdown is that you as Morgan Yu (and yes, that means either male or female, which is awesome) are subjected to morally questionable experiments designed to improve the human race. Don't worry - you've consented to this. But, something's off. Something's wrong. And once you've, ahem, 'opened the jammed glass door' (trust me, this is important) you start unravelling more and more mysteries about yourself, your colleagues and Talos 1.

There are countless links you can make with the Dead Space series, but essentially you instinctively feel this is Arkane/Bethesda property, which makes it unique and stand out. A personal favourite aspect of mine is that you're able to interact with everything. Not a fan of that vase? Pick it up and lob it across the room, why not. Toilet looking a bit grubby? Give it a flush and watch that water swirl away. And a major part in revealing smaller stories entwined in the main narrative are the countless notes, books, emails and signs that piece together the goings-on in the background. The sci-fi setting ensures that interacting with computers and elevators is modern, intuitive and seamless. It's a never a chore, reading these transcripts. You desperately want to find out more.

Venturing further into the demo, and collecting a signature 'start of your journey' wrench to protect myself, I started to encounter the alien threat that had overrun Talos 1. Combat feels weighty - although the wrench was the first and weakest weapon, it still felt like I was grasping a solid hunk of metal that I could batter mimics with a few hearty swings. I feel like myself and Mr Wrench will be very acquainted in the full game; ammo is scarce and puts you into full survival mode rather than 'spray and pray'... or 'Prey'. Heh. Sometimes, melee is the best way.

Space Bass

Now, people, let's talk about sound design for a second. Music and sound effects are essential to pulling off the perfect atmosphere. Case in point: try playing Outlast or Resident Evil with the Benny Hill theme tune playing over the top. All fear goes out of the window. Audio is something Prey has perfected, right from the very start.

There's a scene near the beginning whereby you take a helicopter journey across the skyscrapers of San Francisco with the most wonderfully synth, spacey beat to accompany you. I found myself smiling and nodding my head to the bass, gazing out to the credits being embedded within the landscape. Pure awesomeness.

This is consistent with sound effects, too. The satisfying crunch when you whack your wrench against a mimic is ideal; the machine-like boops and bleeps that echo around the station feel realistic for the time era Prey is set in. This all adds to you being completely absorbed into the game.

The immersion factor on this game is insane. I was at the demo event for around 2 hours and I can honestly say, hand on heart, it felt as though I was only playing for 30 minutes. I can easily see myself spending days and days on Prey and not once getting bored.

I gotta be honest, Prey wasn't really on my radar before - but now I've secured my pre-order and absolutely cannot wait for May. See you soon, Morgan.