Prey (2006) - Dodging The Reaper 

"Prey will continue..." Still hurts.

One little detail I found while playing this game: Did you ever notice how the keypads on the Sphere only have digits 0-7? No 8 or 9. I thought I was going crazy for a little bit until I realized that the aliens you fight have 4 fingers on each hand. They're using base-8. Human Head didn't have to bother with such a tiny detail, I can't imagine most people even notice it. But they did it anyway and I love that.

Tommy's VA did a seriously awesome job. He's campy when he wants to be, and when he's yelling at the Mother about immortality, that's some of the best voice acting I've heard from a pissed off and emotionally broken character. He's awesome.

What's hilarious and so ironic is that in the context of the game, Art Bell is for once receiving genuine alien and human abduction calls but figures they're hoaxes. lol

Sad thing... Arkane's Prey got equally dicked over Bethesda, despite being an arguably truer successor to System Shock 2 than Bioshock...

can't believe civvie didn't mention the part in the game where you enter a dark room and tommy says "man... it's dark in here. I'm DOOMed."

The inclusion of Native American spiritual themes is such a strange choice for a sci-fi shooter, but it's undeniably unique. I'd love to see something like this done again.

I miss Art Bell. I remember him coming back on-air after a break to announce he nearly killed himself. Deck construction, took his beverage, forgot there was no deck, and Wile-e-coyote'd himself into the dirt exiting his front door.

Prey was my “bro, you *need* to see this” game in middle school.

that political bit at the end is probably a big reason why Raven does COD stuff now. A nice steady job for industry veterans

Fun fact, (if I recall correctly) the kids were originally intended to be just possessed corpses at one point, turning them into ghosts was a concession to get a rating in certain countries.

What's really bonked about Prey 2 is that it's already about 95 percent complete. So these guys were basically given a nearly impossible task, with next to no funding or time, and still managed to get so close to the finish line. But Bethesda only green-lit it to put Human Head into a position for a buy-out. And now we'll never get it.

the new dungeon unironically looks better than my room.

Civvie didn't waste time at 40:18 assembling the montage of Bethesda game bug clips because he knew it appeared in all our heads the moment he said that sentence like a communal Direct X supported 'Nam flashback.

The one thing I absolutely love about prey is how Tommy decides to go full vengeance against the aliens, no "Don't get driven by your emotions" garbage! PURE UNADULTERATED VENGEANCE and even inisi is up for it, no bullshit here just KILL THEM ALL!

Rest in Peace John William Galt. Voice of Grandfather.

What Civvie doesn’t know is John Carmack & John Romero are the ones keeping him locked up in the dungeon.

29:50 True Pro FPS Player is saving ammo even when mercy killing his mutated girlfriend. Wonderful.

The idea of using ghost powers to fight against an alien invasion is rad as shit.

A fun little quirk of Prey '06 is when you could walk away from NPC's during a conversation, and they tell you to come back.

Civvie: Needs to mercy-kill the protagonist's girlfriend in what is intended to be an emotionally harrowing scene Also Civvie: W R E N C H

about that "plot hole" about mother having made the deal and the earth still being harvested: I think what this means is that there are countless planets where the sphere has seeded humans for harvesting, so she might be human, but her people are not terrans.

20:25 The enemy AI can in fact pick up health! I started playing Prey after watching the video and yes, they can...I started to formulate a theory that the AI understands the player can find those health circles so when the player is close enough and distracted by others...one of them will run over to health circle and take it...I have seen it a couple of times now but I don't know...could just be coincidence

I've worked nights for about 20 years now. Coast to coast and Art Bell were my overnight companions when I started. There was something neat back then These calls all came in on his talk show coast to coast. He helped with the promotion. Essentially he told them to just call the show without telling him in advance He could treat it as a real caller and it would feel authentic while also buildin hype. I legitimately remember some of these calls coming in while I was alone doing security for a construction site

So, between the body horror, the pushing balls to activate doors, and the conclusion where you don't save the girl... Was Duke Forever trying to do a parody of Prey and nobody recognized it?

It’s nice hearing something wasn’t delayed or overshadowed cause of half life

I think having the protagonist and central story themes revolve around a Native American perspective was very refreshing considering that it's not often seen in media, ESPECIALLY in 2006. I think the opening segment centered around Tommy arguing with his grandfather about rejecting his heritage and wanting to leave the reservation most likely deeply connected with a lot of Native American youth considering the conditions of most reservations are very sub-par. I'm not a Native American myself, but the whole entire cultural identity struggle just resonated with me.

The original Prey 2 sounded amazing, a genuinely innovative and fresh idea.

Always glad to see Prey getting more love. I still firmly believe it's the best shooter on Idtech 4 and one of the most underrated FPS of its generation.

As good as Arkane's Prey was I'm still salty we never got Prey 2.

Gotta say, the voice actor for Tommy in this game absolutely fucking kills it. You absolutely believe that rage, it's perfect.

I'm rewatching this, and I just realized that proposed ending for prey 2 where you grow old and die and then wake back up as a clone on exodus was reused for the game Returnal.

Prey was the first "NeXt GeN" game I ever saw back then. That opening act was one of those few moments when you can't even believe what you're seeing.

I just gave up waiting for Prey 2...

I love when the games industry isn't interested in making games.

One thing that stuck with me in this game was near the beginning navigating the ship, you hear a child crying asking where he is, only to be eaten by some monster

"Programming overlord and nigh-invulnerable Nexus-VII prototype John Carmack"

Art Bell sounds genuine because he's heard things exactly like the script for this game, only in real life. It was just another day at the office for him, and including him in the game was a genius idea.

First, the enemies absolutely do heal themselves, I'm not sure if they seek out healing or just happen to get it when they run across a health pickup. Second, did you ever wonder if Randy is just rendered using idTech 4?

I actually played Prey 2017 first, love that game to death, it's super fucking good. Only a week ago I beat Prey 2006, I was impressed by its quality, quickly became my second favourite Id Tech 4 game behind only Quake 4. Guess the one thing the two games have in common, despite being completely unrelated aside from the name, is the fact that no matter which one you play, you're gonna be in for a great time.

Prey is, in my humble opinion, the most underrated FPS ever made. It's frustratingly good and it deserved a fuck ton more recognition than the cult status it developed along the years.

I guess Civvie wasn't kidding when he said he was doing Prey 2006 after Alien World Order. Also love the new setup, Civvie.

I've played this game so many times of the years. I think that the cancelled Prey 2 was the most heartbreaking game cancelations for me. I liked the new Prey, but I really hate how it pushed this gem out of a much deserved spot in gaming history.

Such a great and underrated game. I'm so glad I actually bought it on original CD in it's time and still have it. The CD-key even worked for Steam activation! Still replay it from time to time.

Civvie has now covered half of the games John Galt voice acted in

Civvie's got a shiny new toilet. He's moving up in the world.

"Remember when there was mirrors in video games?" Arkane Studios remembers. At least, I *think* that's why Prey (2017) has Yu check out his eye in the mirror towards the beginning of the game - like an homage. That'd be cool, wouldn't it?

The first boss in this game is by far one of the most genius boss-fights I've ever faced. Seriously thought I was a dead man till you cut the things arm off, the grin and hype on my face was just bright. Absolutely a blast of a game!

Civvie got a toilet! Biggest lore update since the new “computer”

Civvie: "It's a shadow RU-vid... I promise." Also Civvie: "Oh hey girl did you get waxed?" Seamless, Civvie.

Despite not having Prey 2, if the story that we’ve been told is what was actually gonna happen, the absolute nuts on those guys for doing it woulda been huge. Absolutely love the concept that in the end, dying in a fulfilling life, you wake back up in your apartment, on to start the cycle again.

Prey 2 was at the time my most anticipated game, although I have played the first part only at a friends house. The trailer was just anything I wanted in a game, the sci-fi noir scenario, the bounty hunter premise with gadgets, the Mirror's Edge like platforming with sliding and everything. It's such a shame that this did never see the light of day. I hope there will be a leaked version like with Duke Nukem Forever 2001 that is playable on modern hardware.

You know we live in fuked-up world when during alien invasion, murdering, gore and destruction your first thought is "Oh shit, copyrighted music... need...to...turn...off..."

It's so sad that this game was basically brushed under the rug. I was so amazed by it as a kid. Severely underrated game.

18:54 *Stops fighting mid battle to turn the damn music down* lmao

I remember this game, my best friend growing up was Navajo so he picked this up and then played the shit out of it. The scene where u have to kill Jen was the most memorable for me. Love u civvie

It's amazing how many people I've shown this to get creeped out by the murdered kids. Civvie didn't even show the part where you find a school bus and all the windows are covered in blood.

Judas priest AND blue oyster cult?? This game has a top tier soundtrack from the looks of it

I was about 16 when this came out. And me and my buddy got a computer to finally run. What an awesome experience. We stayed up so late for a few weekends working on the campaign. Good memories. Creative game in my opinion. Fun level design and the weapons were a lot of fun. Good review

Ended up circling back to this after the awesome movie "Prey" reminded me of the other awesome movie about Natives fighting aliens. That's a **weirdly** specific peanut butter/jelly combo to have worked so well twice.

The story of what happened to Prey 2 will forever make me spontaneously cry in frustration in the dead of night.

You said it the best: "all killer, no filler" - this game was so COOL and FUN, and I'm actually glad that it was successful at the time. It felt and played like a big budget sci-fi/horror blockbuster and not seeing a sequel still stings to this day.

I LOVE that game. It has a slew of it's issues, room for improvement, but there's something captivating about the audiovisual design that made me love the game as a teen and still makes me come back to it nowadays.

I'm gonna be honest here. The intro got me into "Don't fear the reaper" which led to my eternal love for rock music and this game.

The entire Prey 2 thing drives me insane. I have a handful of games that have really truly meant something to me over the years (Killer7, Beyond Good And Evil, etc) and Prey is one of those games. When I heard they were making a sequel I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe it. Development hell ensues and we end up with a new game called Prey (that I will FOREVER call Prey 2) that has absolutely nothing to do with the original game. And because Bethesda owns the name, we all know that we will never receive the legit Prey 2 we always wanted. Despite my hatred of the fact that they forever cancelled Prey 2, I gotta say the game they ended up making with Arkane Studios actually IS quite amazing. I'll never forgive them for naming that game Prey though because it means we can never get the sequel to the original game we've all wanted for so so long. :'(

Not only did Prey and DNF suffer development hell, it seems they may be in the same cinematic universe with all the similarities on the alien ship

The creators of this game must have been big art bell fans, don’t fear the reaper is one of the songs art played before his shows a lot. Maybe that was the inspiration. May art bell Rest In Peace btw

"We must hurry. The path before you is long. It will not be easy." After Enisi said that, he also said: "Seven trials await you, Domasi-- one for each of the sacred clans. Go now to the spirit cave." That part always bothered me about Prey. Why say that you're going to have a seven trial training sequence, and not have it? I wonder if the seven trials were planned to be in the game, but the developers ran out of time, and had to cut it out, but forgot to change or cut the lines that indicated that there would still be seven trials. It led me to believe that Prey was incomplete because of that. It's a shame, because I really would've liked to have experienced more elaborate training sequences in the Land of the Ancients. Maybe Human Head was planning on more Cherokee-based spirit weapons, but didn't have time, and so cut the trials that would showcase those weapons. I'm guessing Human Head was also planning on explaining how the dark spirits from the Land of the Ancients came to possess the souls of school girls, but didn't have time for that either. It is interesting that after Tommy goes to the Land of the Ancients, Tommy's mind automatically translates the Mother's transmissions when he couldn't before. Interestingly, in the radio segments with Art Bell, a caller claimed the aliens looked like creatures from Cherokee mythology, and Enisi called the aliens the Mountain Spirits in the old trailer, On the whole, Prey is still a very solid game. Tommy's dialogue and voice actor were inspired. Prey took the Doom 3 engine, and made an even more interactive and immersive game with that engine. The first boss fight with the Centurion was inspired. The Keeper and Mother boss encounters were also inspired. I like the implementation of the bar and the Oklahoma desert canyons, which made Prey stand apart from Doom 3's level design. I even got classic Apogee game vibes from playing Prey: it reminded me at times of Duke Nukem 2's plot taken to 11. I originally thought Prey would be just a be Quake IV-styled variation of Turok based on the trailers, but I saw Prey was more than that, and it left quite an impact on me. I wish they were able to do more with the game, and I still wish the original Prey from 1998 had been completed as originally intended, but I still love Prey 2006 as is. I sometimes wonder if it was thanks to the portal system in Prey that the Portal games came to be. The whole debacle with Prey 2 is just so bizarre. I like very much Prey 2's ideas, and wish it was released. At the same time, I wonder who the idiot was in charge who requested that Tommy not be the main character in Prey 2, because Tommy's character and Cherokee abilities helped make the game. If the bounty hunter turned out to be Cherokee, and used similar abilities as Tommy, that would also be something. Still, the pettiness of the people in charge that led to Prey 2 being shut down is unbelievable. The pettiness to passing the Prey title to another game with no connection the original was also pretty weird. The original Prey deserves so much more, and I can think of countless ways its universe could be revitalized.

The fate of Human Head is like straight out of a M. Night Shamaladingdong plot

I really love games that mix the fantasy/ancient tradition and sci-fi elements together and have them clash. Doom, Quake, and this really show how awesome it is to face cosmic horror and alien intruders with a shotgun to the face.

Loved Prey. Had a few nightmares after playing this as a kid. Loved them, it was more Prey!

Thank you so much for covering this forgotten gem, Civvie! I still love this game so much and it is nice to see it getting attention

Civvie describing John Carmack is always enough to brighten up my day

One time my friend just went to his grandmother's funeral and came over so I fired this up to take his mind off it. Kind of forgot you watch your grandfather get murdered in the opening sequence

I remembered the trailer for this Prey from way back and thought it was awesome. Years and years later, I find out that only the Arkane Prey exists. I got that and had a GREAT time (seriously, it's like the original System Shock on steroids. I couldn't put it down). But I realized that it wasn't at all the same as the Prey I remembered. I found out that it was discontinued and the only way to get it was through a used box copy. I got it on ebay, and yeah, it's basically like Doom 4 on steroids, as you've thoroughly covered. We need more Prey!

Best episode yet, this is a criminally underrated game

"It wasn't up to our quality standards." - Bethesda LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

"Bethesda" and "Quality standard" are two things that should never be on the same paragraph unless it's insulting Bethesda's incompetence

Props for the "Don't Fear the Reaper"! Excellente!

10/10 perfect use of Dr.Evil at 24:45~ Nicely done as always Civvie!

Legitimately one of the most consistently killer FPS games I ever played.

"Tommy... You've gotta let me go... Wrench me. It's the only way."

I still have my collectors edition of this amazing game back in the day i was blown away by the history, character and setting. A couple of years ago i replayed and still is amazing.

Great video as always and this shows your excellent narration skills work great with good games too and not just bad ones

A guy with long hair called Tommy, surprised of not seeing a single The Room joke

My group of friends used to do bi-weekly lan parties, and we got this as something to try. It was one of the most unexpected gems we ever had the pleasure of playing for both multiplayer and single player. It's hard to be impressed by a new FPS game, since nothing experiments as hard as prey did and succeeds.

man... this is one of the few youtube channels i can count on delivering quality entertainment. automatic like on every Civvie video from me!

I know this is a 2 year + old video but two things. One is that the voice acting in parts really elevates this game. The other is I really love cancer mouse and would love to see more of his goofy ass in as many videos as possible because it's one of the goofiest but funniest gags going.

A room with a view. ...of other rooms. You've earned it, Civvie.

Learning about this really puts a lot of the aesthetics of SCORN into context. It's a lot more understandable now. Let's hope when it eventually leaves it's secret cult developer's hands, it'll be fun.

Holy hell. I'm sooo glad that it's finally being talked about it. And it's a recent video, too! Thank you, Mandalore!

You can tell this started out as a 3D realms game. The main character's last name is "Tawodi," which is the cherokee word for hawk. So the main character is... Tommy Hawk. Yep, that seems right for the studio who created "Lo Wang."

Oh right, you just reminded me, Pro-Turok Series when, Civvie?

"Other" Prey really isn't bad - pretty great, I think. Maybe the only decent modern immersive sim I've played. It just had the misfortune of carrying a name heavy with different expectations.

Civvie 11, plz know you help me get through the day. Thank you for your videos. Especially the pro doom series.

Vicariously experiencing old games I don't have access to through Civvie. I enjoy your vids. Thanks.

Holy shit this game does exist still! I remember when the "new" Prey came out, and I assumed it was just a glitch in the system and an Agent just violently murdered someone.

I like how the ending in Prey 2 was a cool and organic way of initiating the game's New Game Plus mode.

thank you civvie for all these insights into the gaming industry! I would be too lazy or too uninformed to even know to google that - I love it! More from the gaming industry pls!!

"I'm so sorry I bashed you in the face with a wrench. There was probably a better way to do that."