Announced in 2011, Prey 2 followed US Marshall Killian Samuels after he was abducted from an airline mid flight, only to be taken to a strange alien world Killian. Suffering from memory loss, he has taken up work as a bounty hunter, and it was up to the player to decide how to take on every mission they where given. Originally promising a an experience that would be shaped by players choice, allowing them to be as impulsive or level headed as they wanted.
The concept was something that had fans and critics a buzz, especially after they had seen the trailer and gameplay example that Bethesda demonstrated. Sadly after the short section was shown off, the game went silent. After years of development hell, what many people had feared had come to pass, Prey 2 has been officially canceled.
At PAX Australia Bethesda Vice President Pete Hines let everyone know the title was dead. He went on to elaborate with the statement:
“It was game we believed in, but we never felt that it got to where it needed to be – we never saw a path to success if we finished it,” Hines said.
“It wasn’t up to our quality standard and we decided to cancel it. It’s no longer in development. That wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s one that won’t surprise many folks given that we hadn’t been talking about it.
“Human Head Studios is no longer working on. It’s a franchise we still believe we can do something with — we just need to see what that something is.”
This was a title we at CGMagazine were excited about. Giving the player many ways to go forward and explore a sprawling complex world was interesting and new. Such a complex and elaborate game was not something that would be easy for any studio to bring together. The prospect of so many choices in such a large world would make any development team shiver. Yet I can’t help but hope someone else takes up this concept and brings such a game to reality. With the current generation of consoles, it has never been a better time to go beyond the linear stories and shooting galleries and bring us truly unique and exciting experiences.
What do you think, was Prey 2 a game you where excited about? Sound off below!
