Watch nine minutes of Prey gameplay
I'm a little teacup...
Dishonored developer Arkane has been rather cagey about its upcoming Prey reboot, but now the Austin-based studio has spilled the beans on what its sci-fi horror/stealth hybrid is like to actually play.
We already knew that you could morph into a coffee cup, (as could your alien adversaries, for that matter) and use a "Gloo Cannon" in a similar capacity to Metroid's iconic Freeze Ray, but now we've seen a whole new host of powers on display.
To wit, you can summon a "Superthermal" pillar of heat to melt enemies, manifest a "Kinetic Blast" to repel them, or learn the telekinetic "Leverage" power to move large objects about.
Interestingly, the developer noted that "weapons are rare", so this won't be a shooter, as some may have expected given the series' legacy. Instead, you'll have to get creative in how to defeat (or avoid) foes. One example shown above involves mimicking a grenade, rolling across the ground, then using a Kinetic Blast to propel oneself onto a ledge. Clever!
You can't rely on alien superpowers too much, however, as using such abilities too often will attract more monsters.
There will also be a crafting component to Prey, as you can throw a "recycler charge" to convert surplus office paraphernalia into matter that can then be converted into items at a "Fabricator".
It all looks very Dishonored, with an almost identical power select wheel, ledge-climbing maneuver, and lean function (right down to the text prompts), but unlike Arkane's former first-person immersive adventures, Prey will offer a less linear campaign as players will have greater freedom in how they explore the space station of Talos 1. In other words, it's a Metroidvania game through and through, only with mechanics more akin to System Shock than Samus Aran's exploits. In fact, the upgrade tree should look familiar to anyone who faced off against Shodan back in the Looking Glass days.
Prey will launch in early 2017 on PS4, Xbox One and PC.