Is it coincidence that vent-crawling is a common way to circumvent locked doors in Prey? Plus, anyone familiar with the film Alien and its gaming tribute Alien: Isolation will know how much time they show people crouching in vents. These are all traits shared by Mimic Phantoms, as well as a vaguely humanoid outline. They even subdue their victims by shoving one grotesque appendage down their throats.Īdult Xenomorphs from the franchise are the result of a takeover from a human host and can appear and disappear with startling speed. In addition to the turrets, the early Mimic enemies seem a lot like Facehuggers. And in Prey, the acidic fingerprints of that franchise look to be all over the place. Sure, in this game they’re protecting you rather than trying to kill you, but the way they talk to themselves in both games in uncanny.Īnother game that features auto-turrets is this unfortunate entry in the Alien gaming franchise. They came from a 2006 game called Prey, of which this 2017 version is an alleged reboot, although it kept almost nothing but the name.Īnother thing in Prey that looks and sounds a lot like something from Portal is the AI gun turrets. But wait: the portals that lent that game itself appeared somewhere else first, albeit not fired from a gun. Using a gun to invent ways of bypassing movement barriers is also the premise of first-person puzzler Portal. Instead, you can use the sticky blobs it fires to get creative on getting around, like building staircases or impromptu crash mats. His stratospheric career arc has taken him, currently, to being co-creative director at Prey’s creator Arkane.Īfter the wrench, the next weapon you’ll find is the Gloo Gun. One of the QA team on System Shock, who no doubt tested that door code, was Harvey Smith.
#SYSTEM SHOCK 2 FIRST DOOR CODE CODE#
And so it did: in the original System Shock game, repeated in the sequel.Īnd guess what? The same door code reappears in Prey. It’s often presumed to have come from the novel Fahrenheit 451. The use of 0451 as a door code appears in Bioshock, Deus Ex, Thief and other games, even Firewatch. Released in 1999 it’s had a big impact on generations of games, and gets frequent references. The wrench in Bioshock was itself in homage to an earlier game: sci-fi horror System Shock 2. Much like the underwater city of Rapture where Bioshock takes place. And in both games the fallout from humanity trying to play God has been very grim indeed.Īs a final nod, many portions of Talos 2, Prey’s space station setting have a distinctive Art Deco design. Later you can use them to add superhuman abilities to your arsenal, much like Bioshock’s plasmids. Not far in to Prey you’ll find a Neuromod, an item that can enhance your skills. Not something you’d usually think of as a weapon, but anything will do when you’re surrounded by mutant alien nasties.
The first weapon you get in both games is a big, heavy wrench. The designer of Half-Life 2’s City 17, Viktor Antonov, spent time at Arkane working on the Dishonored series. And their habit of hiding and leaping out right at your face makes them similar in behaviour as well.Īnd this may be coincidence, but there’s a tenuous staffing connection. Their four-armed shape and movement makes them visually similar. The earliest enemies in Prey bear a passing similarity to the horrible Headcrabs that infested Half-Life. It’s is an awful lot like the suit Gordon Freeman dons at the start of Half-Life.
It’s orange and black, with a prominent collar and shoulder pads. One of the first things you’ll see in Prey is your TranStar suit hanging on the back of the door. This is what we’ve spotted in the recipe so far. It doesn’t matter: they’re all grist to Prey’s recycling mill. Some of them aren’t sci-fi games, and some of them aren’t even good games.
Once you can see beyond that, there are a host of other references. Prey refines some of the best aspects of that game.
Dishonored is an obvious and unhelpful touching point, seeing as it came from the studio. Nothing wrong in that: some visual and mechanical cues remind us of a much-loved game while the new one builds novel concepts atop that which we love.Īfter spending a few hours, though, it’s hard not to see its influences and sources of inspiration everywhere. Amidst the acclaim, players and critics alike have pointed out that Prey has a lot in common with Bioshock.
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