Prey:
Last week I hinted at the general outline in Prey, and so this article will examine, among other features, the ending.
Before we arrive, let's discuss some
odds and ends. In Prey the player traverses the sizable space
station of Talos I. The splendor of the structure, and the mechanics
of travel made this experience enjoyable where it could have been
tiresome. There were many barriers to movement, like locked doors,
heavy obstacles, large holes, and dozens of enemies. Prey
says there are multiple solutions to any problem. Sometimes there
were, like key cards, hacking, super strength, advanced agility, and
combat skills, but all too often there was only one option. For
example, there were two types of glass in Prey;
regular, breakable glass, and unbreakable super-glass. While
unbreakable glass normally appeared in the places one would expect,
like any window to space, or next to hazardous materials, it
occasionally felt like super-glass was installed to artificially
prevent access to particular areas. An even more obvious contrived
construction were the electronically locked doors. Some doors were
hackable. That is, the player could use an ability, to open a locked
door. But some doors couldn't be hacked. In these instances the
player needed the proper access card. This didn't make sense, that
some locked doors could be hacked, and others couldn't. Though
barriers like code locked electronic doors frustrated the player's
initiative, it wasn't all bad. Prey
did an excellent job recording any relevant codes and data so the
player didn't have to take notes.
In Prey, the inventory of Morgan
was limited, and the player had to make use of whatever they found.
To aid them, the developers introduced the combination of a recycler
and fabricator. Any object in Morgan's inventory, empty bags of
chips, banana peals, grenades, ruined hard drives, and shotguns could
be recycled down to its basic components. The four types of
materials were organic, mineral, synthetic, and exotic. At a
fabricator the player could choose from a list of fabrication plans
they'd found in Talos, and out would pop the object. With these
machines the player could create ammunition for the weapons they
preferred by recycling ammo they didn't want. Once the player had
found the proper fabrication plans, they could create any supplies
they needed; medical kits, weapon upgrades, or even Neuromods.
The rest of this review is about the
ending of Prey, so stop reading now to avoid spoilers.
The beginning of Prey introduces
the player to two viewpoints. One is his brother, who functions as a
semi-antagonist. The other is January, a robot ally who speaks with
Morgan's voice. The latter guides the player through the initial
sequence when Morgan wakes up with the Typhon roaming Talos I. It
claims Morgan created it as a backup if the secret tests backfired.
Gradually Morgan learns that he had agreed to a series of tests on
Talos to imbue humans with Typhon powers through Neuromods. During
the tests, the Typhon escape containment, and Morgan is confined to
quarters. With the station in chaos, January frees Morgan and
reminds him that he'd spent more than half a year installing and
uninstalling Neuromods each day. During that time Alex, January, and
the science staff discovered a fatal flaw with their product:
repeatedly installing and uninstalling Neuromods led to personality
drift. Over those months, Morgan became a different person, even
though he had forgotten every experience.
In addition to January, Morgan built
two other robot allies; October and December. Neither interacts with
Morgan as often as January, but do impact the plot. January tells
Morgan that he had a backup plan. In the event of a Typhon outbreak,
he wanted sacrifice himself blow up Talos I. December rejects this
plan, and instructs Morgan to flee the station in an escape pod. Any
player who follows December's instructions will discover it is
possible to finish Prey in under five hours, but that it isn't
really an ending. No one will be satisfied with it, and will return
to the main quest.
Later in the game Alex offers an
alternative solution to January's. Instead of destroying the
station, he theorizes that it may be possible to neutralize the
Typhon with a weapon Morgan invented. Alex tries to persuade his
brother, saying that January is an impostor and a liar. His real
brother, Alex continues, would want to save their accomplishments,
not destroy them.
With these conflicting perspectives
Prey poses multiple questions about memory and identity. Who
is the real Morgan? Because of personality drift, the original
Morgan is dead beyond reach. It's freeing because the player can be
who they want to be. But which should be trusted; January, December,
or Alex's memories of Morgan?
From my perspective, Alex repeatedly
demonstrated duplicitous behavior, so I questioned his motives, his
trustworthiness, and the validity of his plan. The real choice over
the ending related to each plan's chance of success. Which was more
likely to defeat the Typhon: destroying the station, or exploding an
experimental bomb to neutralize them? Since the Typhon were
discovered in space, it was possible that destroying Talos wouldn't
kill them. They might even be ejected toward Earth. On the other
hand, can Morgan's prototype Typhon neural bomb kill all the Typhon
on the station? Alex argues for this proposal because it will
preserve the knowledge they've gain by their experiments.
But assuming both choices successfully
defeat the Typhon, I asked myself if I want the station to survive.
The player discovers, as they venture deeper into the mysteries of
Talos, that the station is like a massive Nazi science experiment.
Morgan relearns the truth of the diabolical process for creating
Neuromods. Remember, a Neuromod imprints on a brain a specific skill
like computer programming or writing poetry. To make a Neuromod the
scientists needed an appropriately skilled human. They needed
Volunteers. They found them in the gulags and prisons of Earth,
awaiting execution or experiencing a life sentence. What the
Volunteers didn't know was that they would be Typhon food. Each
Volunteer with a relevant skill was fed to Typhon mimics. Then the
scientists killed the mimics and extracted their substance to create
Neuromods. I'd gladly destroy this abominable farm, as long as
destroying the base also defeated the Typhon. In spite of these
thoughts, Prey still made the final choice difficult because
the game remains resolutely vague about what either choice will do,
or if either will succeed.
No player should find the choice
difficult, because both endings are functionally the same. They are
short, end abruptly, and offer no real resolution to the player. A
disappointing conclusion.
But then there's the after credits
game-play. Prey reveals that the player wasn't controlling
Morgan, but a Typhon, influenced by Neuromods to make it sympathetic
to humans, while under the oversight of Alex Yu. The Morgan/Typhon
was (possibly) reliving the real events of the fall of Talos I from
Morgan's perspective. The player learns that the Typhon have invaded
Earth, and Alex is working on a vague plan to save it.
The conclusion raises more questions
than it answers, rendering it more frustrating than the earlier
conclusion. One can only hope Arkane releases Prey 2 in order to
satisfactorily answer the following questions.
What happened to Morgan?
What happened to Talos I?
Where is Alex at the end of the game?
How did the Typhon get to Earth?
What is Alex's plan to save Earth?
How many humans are alive, and where
are they?
What is the situation on Earth?
What is the situation on Earth?
How far in the future is the final
scene?
Even this ending isn't the ending.
While no announcement has been made about Prey 2, Arkane released an
expansion, Prey: Mooncrash, a year later. Next week, a review
of this conclusion, (not a conclusion) expansion.
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