We finally have a Prey gameplay trailer and while it's short, there's actually a ton of stuff hidden away in there. Let's break it down frame by frame and see what we can find.
It's the Approach 3/origin version of the leaked pitches
The trailer opens on a man waking up, apparently in a sunny city. Although as we later learn he ends up on a space station. There actually multiple pitches for the Prey reboot that leaked several years ago, including an 'origin', 'retro future' and an 'island idea', well as 'approach 3 - Raph/Ricardo story' (director Raphaël Colantonio and lead designer Ricardo Bare).
This opening, along with what else we're about to see, seems to confirm it's that last one or the 'origin' version. Both involve a character discovering the city they're in is not real, and they're actually on a spaceship.
The 'origin' approach also has a looping element, where the character has been living the same day over and over - we've already seen that in an earlier trailer, along with a character apparently waking up in a lab with a bandaged hand as three people watch through an observation panel. The new trailer also ends repeating an opening line, "I keep having this dream". However that first trailer features glitches and jumps in reality as well, an element of 'approach 3'. Whichever one it is, or a mix, both also feature aliens which we'll get to in a moment.
We're in space
The trailer quickly cuts to space which, if the leaked pitch is to be believed, is where the player has been all along. You can see the name Transtar everywhere, while some cargo has the name 'Sphere' on the side. This area has a much more opulent feel to what comes later. Check the gallery above to see it all.
Here's your first idea of what playing it will be like
You are so going to have the option to hack or disable that security gate if you want. The sign reads 'Access to hardware labs restricted to authorised personnel'. What are the odds the right people have a key card? (A later shot actually has a key-card panel asking for verification.) Also, notice the read out on the back of the gun. Looks like Prey is going for a minimal HUD and instead putting crucial info in the world instead.
Here's the alien scanner that gives you killer pink eye
This unpleasant device is called a psychoscope. We can link that to two things. Firstly, the swirling logo at the end of the trailer is apparently a representation of how you can scan aliens to learn their abilities. When you look at it, it does seem like it's got an an eyepiece in that design.
The first trailer also showed the main character's eye getting more and more red as the day looped. Check out the skull in background with the eye piece. A training aid maybe? Clearly this thing is meant to fire those needles in your eye to do its job and... well, fuck this, basically:
The aliens can change shape (and so can you)
There are a couple of humanoid aliens in the trailer but by far the most interesting things are these little spider-morph guys. That's not the first time we've seen one of these creatures turn into a chair and, in a behind closed doors part of the Quakecon presentation, it was said that you'll be able to change shape as well using their mimic ability.
This shot below not only shows another alien type that appears to have an almost teleport like speed (so potentially another power to learn) but check out that weird lumpy rock thing back on the left - that sure looks like it's been created, grown or sprayed there. Is the ability to make bridges like that another thing you can learn?
According to director Raphaël Colantonio these creatures have broken out of containment and there's "a full ecology of them, each with their own purpose".
You're free to move about the space station
We've seen a few shots of the player in a space suit and we know that heading out into zero G is one of the ways of getting from area to area. You'll be able to run around freely rather than following levels or missions - moving to new or old areas depending on what you need. This area for example looks like the same external space from before, only now with wreckage and a body.
You're not alone
Not for a while at least. There are three other people in the this trailer: the dead body from previously, this poor chump and someone having the worst headache ever. Chances are they're on plot exposition and quest duty for as long as they live.
There's a wrench and powers
It's not super clear but that's some sort of wrench, a classic weapon for a System Shock kind of game. The original leaked pitches talked about this being a spiritual successor to that Bioshock predecessor so something to swing is par for the course.
The other image in the gallery briefly shows two aliens being highlighted by something as some sort of target is drawn on the floor before an explosion. It could be a grenade but its presentation makes me think it's some sort of ability.
Also worth noting that these images show other areas - the first one shows some sort of plant heavy zone while the second looks a lot like the posher Transtar areas we saw at the start.
The alien are mutating
This alien here seems to be merged or mixed with what looks like space station equipment. There's been mention of hybrids and experiments gone wrong so whether this is evolution or corruption isn't clear. What is clear is that you won't just be seeing the nano-swarm like creatures shown in this trailer.
That all I managed to pick up on. If you've seen anything else drop it in the comments below.
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