History VideoGame / Prey2006

In 1995, 3D Realms announced a FirstPersonShooter called ''Prey'', to be released in 1998, about a troubled young Native American who is abducted by aliens, gets loose in their giant organic spaceship, and must tap into his spiritual powers to [[DamselInDistress rescue his girlfriend]]. The big selling point of the game was portals; the ability to create [[TeleportersAndTransporters rifts in space]] between any two points of a level (if this [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} sounds familiar]], you are not alone).

--> ''[garbled sounds, then [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rRB5wv2N4Q Living After Midnight]] kicks in]''

** Many sections of the Sphere have consoles or similar tech tuned into a US-American late-night radio talkshow that continues to cover the alien abductions' visual clues back on Earth. The segments are pretty disturbing until suddenly the Keeper itself calls the host out of nowhere, delivering lots of VaguenessIsComing in a creepy voice. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Art Bell takes it in stride.]]

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: After the FinalBoss has been defeated and asks Tommy why he did that, he replies that [[spoiler:the Sphere had to be stopped from destroying any more civilizations. Its response is to point out that the Sphere itself is a civilization and destroying it would be no less of a crime, prompting Tommy to compare it to a parasite]]. You decide who's right.

A sequel had been announced for release in 2012, was pushed back to 2013, [[DevelopmentHell then not brought up again until late 2014.]] The game's protagonist was to be Killian Samuels, an air marshal who was on a plane that happened to be abducted by the same exact light that takes Tommy. He was to wake up on an alien world named Exodus several years later, knowing that he somehow managed to become a bounty hunter during that period but has no other memories of that time. He would convinced himself he's was the only human on Exodus... until he was to run into Tommy, who apparently knows him. The game was to feature an open world environment, and the ability to take on bounty hunting missions for cash. Unfortunately, in October 2014, Bethesda [[http://www.cnet.com/news/bethesda-confirms-prey-2-cancelled/ officially announced the project was cancelled.]]

* TheDragon: After having been built up as the BigBad for much of the game, [[spoiler:the Keeper]] is eventually revealed to be nothing more than this to the BiggerBad, [[spoiler:the Mother]], and even that's subverted minutes later when Tommy enters the very next room and [[spoiler:suddenly has to face off against scores of the things]].

** The section where Tommy encounters Jen's ripped-out-and-reassembled bar from the opening has a BlinkAndYoullMissIt moment with two hunters fiddling with the music player:
--> ***Hunter:*** Turn it off!!
--> [garbled sounds, then Living After Midnight kicks in]]
--> ***Hunter:*** Oooh! Yes! Yes!

** Since ''Prey 2'' was axed in DevelopmentHell in favor of the upcoming ''VideoGame/Prey2017'', this trope is back in full force - none of the characters or story events of the original ''Prey'' will show up in the reboot.

Has an InNameOnly successor in 'VideoGame/Prey2017''.

Has a reboot ''VideoGame/Prey2017''.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler: Where do we ''start''? The unresolved plotline regarding evil ghosts invading the mortal realm? Talon's fate? Or that "six months later" [[TheStinger stinger]] where the [[NotQuiteDead priestess Elhuit]] invites you to meet some "powerful beings".]] The game was obviously conceived as part of a series, it's just that due to legal problems, Zenimax bought the game rights. They might still be making a sequel though, since there was some artwork for ''Prey 2'' surfacing around the Interwebs in 2008. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-aV0k02PR8 Here's a video.]]
** Prey 2 has been confirmed. [[http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/03/16/prey-2-teaser-trailer Here's the teaser.]]
*** Prey 2 was axed in 2014. Life's a bitch, right?
*** ''VideoGame/Prey2017'' has been announced in June 2016 and is scheduled for release in May 2017. Problem is, it won't have anything to do with this game aside from the name and the basic premise in the broadest sense.

* TeleportSpam: Or rather, Portal Spam. Hunters and later Harvesters can and will appear out of thin air, anywhere, at any time, for the entirety of the game. If Tommy just did something halfway important like hitting a switch and/or advancing a couple steps past it, chances are good the next Hunter squad will be all over him within seconds, and from oftentimes unexpected angles to boot. Even worse are [[spoiler:the Keepers]] which can open portals at will and make liberal use of this ability to quickly move around the battlefield.

* ExpositoryGameplayLimitation: At several points in the game featuring heavy exposition, Tommy's weapons are disabled, preventing him from attacking.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Since the game doesn't feature a single TimeSkip or similar plot device, everything that's happening does so in the time you need to play through the story; that is, about eight hours on average. The PlayableEpilogue takes places six months later, but this segment is barely two minutes long and doesn't deliver more than some minor exposition on the aftermath, plus the now-infamous SequelHook.

* FlunkyBoss: [[spoiler:The Keeper]] portals in several waves of very powerful enemies including any and all bosses you've fought by that point before it finally takes to the battlefield itself.

* FullFrontalAssault: [[spoiler:The Mother, a human woman that was abducted from Earth millennia ago and eventually [[KlingonPromotion replaced the Sphere's then-master]]]] is more or less naked and has her ample, well-shaped rack on full display. It's still far away from being {{Fanservice}} though.
* GameWithinAGame: Tommy occasionally comes across gaming machines the Sphere brought aboard as bycatch. Most of them are (still) fully functional and can be used to play various card games and such, although there's no benefit in doing so aside from taking a break from the horrors that surround Tommy in all directions.

* FlatCharacter: Despite of the game's original story and setting, it doesn't make much of an effort to extend that strength to its cast. Tommy served in the Army and wants to elope with Jen because he hates living in the reservation. Jen owns a bar and doesn't see eye to eye with her boyfriend about the reservation topic. Enisi is Tommy's wise old grandpa. And that's about it.

* MacrossMissileMassacre: Both the Hunter shuttles and the black robotic attack drones are armed with rapid-fire cannons that can unleash huge volumes of projectiles in short order. The drones' even [[{{Roboteching}} home in on their target]], and since especially the latter always show up at least in pairs, be prepared to get blasted with micro-missiles from all directions.

* HarbingerOfImpendingDoom