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The Predator’s more obvious hunting tools, like the shoulder-mounted plasma cannon and invisibility, are a given in Predator: Hunting Grounds. But there’s one cool trick that won’t be appearing in the asymmetrical multiplayer shooter and that's the Predator's ability to record samples of its victims, and then play them back to mess with peoples’ heads. And it's not for technical reasons either - it’s simply illegal to record people without permission.
According to Charles Brungardt, the CEO of developer IllFonic, the idea was considered as a mechanic for the game using the in-game chat between players. “We will have [voice chat] so you’re able to shit talk in a tree” while playing as the Predator, he explains, as well as communicate with teammates as the soldier team. So that obviously creates the perfect opportunity to copy the film and allow the Predator to record snippets of the other team’s voice chat to play back while taunting them. Only one problem: “we couldn’t do [it] because you can’t record someone without their permission,” says Brungardt.
It sounds like some of the iconic lines from the film might be on the table instead though, with Brungardt explaining that “you can sit in a tree and be like 'want some candy' to mess with them”. But actually throwing your rivals’ conversation back in their face to freak them out will likely never get past pesky things like ‘laws’ and ‘legal rights’. There might be some sort of interactive variation possible at least, thinks Brungardt. “Of course we want to do it because it’s so impactful,” he says, “but we’re still trying to figure all that stuff out. We might make it so it samples the thing the fireteam member say, or something like that.” There’s still some time before Predator: Hunting Grounds arrives in 2020, so we'll have to wait to see what alien mind games we can play when it arrives.
Don't want to wait until 2020 for some co-op fun? Check out our picks for the best co-op games to play right now.
