A new Prey trailer introduces the 'alien ecology' that is trying to kill you

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Bethesda has released a new Prey trailer that turns the spotlight on four members of the shadowy, creepy alien species known as the Typhon: The Mimic, the Weaver, the Telepath, and the Phantom. Collectively they form the basis for a "full alien ecology" that's going to do its very best to kill you over the course of the game.

“The Typhon species starts with the Mimic,” creative director Raphael Colantonio said in a new blog post. “The Mimic’s role is to scout. It hides and it gathers energy by feeding on living things—in this case, humans. When there’s enough energy, a few Mimics come together and create something called a Weaver.”

Weavers are larger creatures that spawn Coral—"a colorful thread-like substance with a purpose that will be revealed later"—and also Phantoms, which it creates from the human husks left behind by Mimics. Because of their origin, Phantoms are the most humanoid of the Typhon, and will occasionally carry weapons, keycards, or other items that can be recovered once they're brought down. They'll also sometimes be heard muttering random words, as fragments of human memories float to the surface of their alien consciousness.

Weavers can also create Telepaths, floating balls of alien tendrils that can control other living creatures with the power of their minds. "The Telepath is often surrounded by a pack of possessed humans. And they know that they're possessed. They’ll move toward you, moaning and complaining, saying things like, 'Get away, run. Get away from me. I can't control myself.' It's a pretty terrifying encounter," lead designer Ricardo Bare said. "First you have to decide, ‘What am I going to do with these people? They're clearly innocent. The Telepath is forcing them to attack me. Do I kill them? Do I find a way to disable them?’ Then once you get past them, the Telepath is really destructive and powerful too."

Other creatures, who don't appear in the trailer, include the Technopath, which wields Telepath-like control over machinery, and the Nightmare, an evocatively-named beast created specifically to hunt you down. And in case that wasn't bad enough, some Typhons can evolve into more powerful "elite" forms or take on "wildly different powers," and there's also one called a Poltergeist Typhon, which mixes things up by being invisible.

Raphael and Ricardo recently joined us for a playthrough of the first hour of Prey (minus the intro, to help minimize story spoilers), which you can dig into here. Ricardo and Arkane's Harvey Smith also joined us, along with Deus Ex designer Warren Spector, to talk about the process of creating immersive sims like Prey and Dishonored. Prey comes out on May 5.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.