Just before Prey officially launches we will be able to play the opening hour of Prey to get a better feel for if we will want the game
If for some reason you have not been sold on Prey as of yet, it looks like there is going to be another great stab at that to get you to make the purchase. It looks like Bethesda is setting up an hour long demo of the game for us all to try for free just before launch. That’s right, you’ll be able to give Prey a solid try before you officially settle in to give Arkane Studios‘ new title a purchase or if the game isn’t for you. Of course the hope is that it will secure the purchase, but it can go either way and is generally why most games don’t get a solid demo before launch. They don’t want to scare people off after all.
In terms of the Prey demo here it looks like we will have access to the opening hour of the game. At least that is the assumption as the official sub title for it is Demo: Opening Hour. They could go down a different path as we saw with Resident Evil 7, and I hope they do, but that is the easy assumption. I guess we’ll all see on April 27th when it becomes available. At least available for the PS4 and Xbox One gamers out there as it looks like the PC version will be missing out this time around. I’m not sure what that means for that version of the game but I’m guessing it is to limit data-mining before launch.
Prey — Play The Opening Hour
The Prey Demo: Opening Hour puts you in the role of Morgan Yu, lead scientist aboard Talos I, working on a scientific breakthrough meant to alter humanity forever. What starts off as an exciting first day of work very quickly takes a dark turn. You find yourself alone on board Talos I, a lavish but abandoned interstellar research facility. Aliens have overrun the station and are hunting down any surviving crew members, including you. Should these creatures reach Earth, life as you know it will end. It’s up to you to uncover the mysteries of Talos I, fight the alien invasion and save humanity.
I have a bit of mixed feelings about this demo for Prey here though; even with all the excitement. If Bethesda is just giving us the first hour of the game to play to get a taste for it all, then this is going to lead to some slow start up for those who are looking to play the full game. It would be the easiest way to get a demo out for Prey but I hope it isn’t as cut and dry as that. Given a few games here recently that a hard time capturing players in the first hour, I know this could lead to a similar issue for Prey if we are just repeating the motions for the first hour of the game again and again.
How do you feel about getting the chance to play Prey about a week before launch? Do you think that it will ruin the overall start of the game or did Arkane Studios mix things up enough to the point where it will be very small slices of a few spots so we’ll keep guessing in the full game? Do you think this could just be a demo of mechanics and possibly touch on some of the events before the game actually starts? Let us know what you are thinking down in the comments though. We are still in the mix of the huge Prey push so I know we’ll be seeing a lot more of the game in the coming weeks and days. Be sure to keep checking in here to see and hear it all.