Why Prey 2 ditches portals and gravity

Prey 2 developer Human Head Studios ditched the portals and gravity puzzles that fans of the first game loved so much because it wanted to create a first-person shooter with never-before-seen elements.

Prey 2 is inspired by Mirror's Edge, Mass Effect, Riddick, Red Dead Redemption and Blade Runner, and features open world gameplay that revolves around using wide-open spaces and shadows to sneak up on enemies.

It's a very different game than Prey – and some enthusiasts are yet to be convinced.

But Human Head co-founder and Prey 2 project lead Chris Reinhart assured press at Bethesda's showcase event last week that fans will once again be wowed by the series' originality.

"Portals and gravity were functions of The Sphere itself. So, the way we used them there was tied to The Sphere. That is not part of Prey 2," Reinhart explained.

"We wanted to take players to some place new again and have them experience something new in the world. That was a big thing with Prey. We took players to The Sphere and gave them gameplay they hadn't seen before in a first-person shooter, although afterwards I had a number of people come up and talk to me and say, 'This is interesting, why has someone not done this before in a game?' We want the exact same thing with Prey 2.

"When people see this and they play the open world shooter we've created, using the different gadgets and player abilities, I want people to come up to me afterwards and say, 'This is interesting, why did someone not do this before?'"

In Prey, players assumed the role of Cherokee Domasi "Tommy" Tawodi, who battled aliens on a space ship.

In Prey 2, the main character is Killian Samuels, a sheriff and prison guard. He is nimble, and can perform Parkour moves.

Explaining the decision to ditch Tommy as the playable character, Reinhart said Human Head wanted to expand Prey "into more of a franchise".

But, "Tommy is still very much part of the Prey universe and Prey 2," he said.

"We want to explore other parts of the Prey universe and expand it out. Obviously we're taking you to a different place here than Prey 1, 90 per cent of which took place on The Sphere. We wanted to explore the Prey universe and push out into different areas.

"We still keep Tommy in the game and we wanted to explore other parts of the universe."

Perhaps surprisingly, Prey 2 does not feature multiplayer. "We're focused on making it a strong, powerful single-player experience," Reinhart said. "And we're tied with Bethesda, which has proven they are the masters of making awesome single-player experiences."

Eurogamer's Prey 2 preview went live yesterday.