The Ascent’s photo mode makes me pine for Prey 2
Dreams? Crushed, mate.
My face when the game of my dreams is cancelled. (Image credit: Bethesda, GameSpot)
We were recently treated to Griff Griffin’s video showing us The Ascent’s gorgeous world, The Arcology in intimate fashion by way of the Universal Unreal Engine Unlocker.
And now, Neon Giant has finally recognised the brilliance of this and saw it fit to include a photo mode of its own.
However, on top of being even more awestruck by the mind-boggling attention to detail from the 12-person team, I was left with an even deeper feeling of loss, remorse and yearning.
World-building at its finest. (Image credit: Neon Giant)
Seeing all the different aliens interact in the alive and bustling metropolis cast my mind back to E3 2011 and the reveal of Human Head Studios’ Prey 2. It looked so, so cool.
As a huge fan of Blade Runner, Akira, Ghost in the Shell — literally anything cyberpunk — it appeared to be my perfect game.
The grimy world of Exodus looked full of seedy ne’er-do-wells, malignant megacorps and high-tech low-life aestheticism.
GameSpot has a wonderful feature showing us a tantalising albeit rough glimpse into what could have been. It breaks my heart to this day.
Talk? We never will, dear friend. (Image credit: Bethesda, GameSpot)
Mirror’s Edge-esq vaulting, Blade Runner aesthetics and brutal violence helmed by Chris Rhinehart of Heretic fame.
A dark, unforgiving planet with one half plunged in perpetual darkness, the other in eternal sunshine, and undying dawn and dusk in between, never quite waking up or falling asleep.
Will you walk on the light or the dark side? Fall prey (sorry) to the malevolent nature of Exodus, strive to break the mould or ambivalently exist between the two? Excruciatingly, we will never know. I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Please, take me with you. (Image credit: Bethesda)
In the feature, our protagonist is presented with the option to pay 2,000 credits for information pertaining to a bounty put on one Dra’Gar from a character called Krux.
The options are yes or no, or apparently, shooting his henchman point-blank in the face sending him flying over the railing. Krux, of course, gives us the goods.
With morally-ambiguously-obtained info, the player makes their way into a nightclub where Dra’Gar and his goons are stationed.
Grabbing a hapless foe as a meatshield, the player bursts into the room and is welcomed by a volley of fire, appropriately bursting said meatshield’s head into mist.
Dra’Gar then uses a mine to stop the player, indiscriminately murdering a group of nightclub goers. The indifference to ultraviolence tugs my cyberpunk heartstrings.
Sorry, buddy. I hardly knew ya. (Image credit: Bethesda, GameSpot)
Though the ensuing gunfight and chase sequences are admittedly a little rough, the concept is still so tantalising to this day.
A multichotomy of differing expectations, mounting debts and multiple studio changeovers saw the demise of Prey 2 as we knew it.
I will never know the joy of nonchalantly shooting an alien crim’ in the face then kicking a passerby over the edge into the abyss.
This loss left the namesake for Akrane’s brilliant vision of 2017’s Prey. But, couldn’t we have had both? It’s a damn shame we didn’t.
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