Leaked footage of Human Head's long-buried Prey 2 reveals a cyberpunk shooter with a spring in its step

It’s ne'er excessively precocious to get huffy astir the untimely destiny of Human Head Studios’ Prey 2. It helps that radical support leaking videos of the thing. The latest batch includes an opening sequence, a afloat ngo playthrough from an unfastened world, a flythrough of an undercity area, a prototype pursuit sequence, and scenes of combat. Watch the bulk of them below, and grieve. Alas for Killian Samuels, the beanie-wearing US marshal turned alien bounty-hunter. He looked truthful humdrum backmost successful 2012, particularly erstwhile compared to the archetypal 2006 game’s Cherokee protagonist Domasi "Tommy" Tawodi. Still, helium has a definite tragic charisma, successful hindsight.

If you missed the archetypal Prey, ‘twas an uneven, UFO-ransacking first-person shooter with fancy level-splicing portal exertion that has present been astir wholly eclipsed by comparable features successful Narbacular Drop 2. A batch of radical liked it, not including John Walker (RPS successful peace). Human Head started making a sequel soon aft the original’s release, but according to a fewer erstwhile workplace members, they lone began processing Prey 2 successful earnest aft the rights had passed to ZeniMax Media, genitor institution of Bethesda.

Where the archetypal crippled had been comparatively linear, the 2nd was to beryllium an unfastened satellite matter with a bounty-hunting theme. Bethesda announced it successful 2011. But past thing went wrong. Human Head softly called clip connected the task adjacent extremity of 2011, contempt being “very adjacent to an alpha state, with each large contented pieces represented”, successful the words of erstwhile task pb Chris Rhinehart. Rumours of Prey 2’s cancellation swirled astir implicit 2012, with Bethesda removing the crippled from their website.

Then, successful 2013, it was reported that the task had been reassigned to Dishonored developers Arkane, scrapping each erstwhile enactment by Human Head successful the process. Bethesda officially cancelled Prey 2 successful 2014. In 2016, they announced that Arkane would make a bid reboot.

Released successful 2017, Arkane’s Prey is simply a dashedly good game, 1 of the swooniest and spaciest of immersive sims, but it's hard not to mourn for Human Head. The afloat communicative of Prey 2's cancellation has yet to beryllium told, but according to reports astatine the time, Bethesda pushed pugnacious deadlines and diagnostic requests connected an progressively cash-strapped Human Head portion simultaneously looking to get them. Human Head yet downed tools successful protest, and the 2 companies were incapable to haggle it retired earlier Human Head’s declaration with Bethesda ran retired successful 2012.

Accounts of events disagree betwixt the companies, arsenic you’d expect. Bethesda person resisted the thought that they were conniving to get Human Head, arguing that the task simply didn’t conscionable their standards. Having watched these videos, I'm inclined to accidental that Human Head should person been allowed to spell the distance.

The leaked videos amusement disconnected a small of the game’s planned unfastened satellite bounty action. The crippled would person fto you question astir a teeming alien metropolis that reminds maine of Coruscant and G-Police. You’d person been capable to boost-glide and ledge-grab to astonishment opponents.

The video reveals a bustling colonisation of aliens, each of whom dependable similar they person acute laryngitis, and immoderate nightclubs featuring holographic erotic dancers, due to the fact that nary self-respecting leaf runner’s section tin bash without a holodancer oregon two. You’d person been capable to illustration NPCs with a scanner, instrumentality them down with electrical boladeros, and enlist the unusual Klatoonian arsenic a meatshield.

I’m much sold connected the mounting than the mechanics – determination are passing hovercars, cargo trains, and distant flying billboards with a full different FPS playing connected them – but it looks, retired of context, similar a task that had legs. We volition ne'er cognize whether the workplace could person seen it through: Human Head yet closed doors successful 2019. Beanieman RIP.