Few ideas have as universal an appeal as the space bounty hunter: a character archetype that blends all the best bits of wandering ronin and western gunslingers and gives them a cool spaceship and a jetpack. But while almost everyone wants to be Boba Fett, videogames have given us few chances to live out that fantasy. The closest we've gotten was getting to play his briefly-capitated dad.
Around the turn of the 2010s, however, we almost saw our scifi sellsword dreams realized in Prey 2, a sequel to the 2006 FPS that would've placed players in the shoes of a bounty hunter in an alien metropolis—if it wasn't cancelled in 2014 after being mired in development hell, studio acquisitions, and IP juggling routines.
While those dreams have been dashed, a new set of supposedly leaked gameplay footage from Prey 2's development has been circulating on Reddit, offering us a chance to sigh wistfully over all the bounties on petty alien criminals we never got to claim.
This isn't the first time purported Prey 2 footage has bubbled up through the cracks since 2014, but it's certainly the most substantial. Between the five videos posted by a YouTube account named "David Hallsted," there's more than 20 minutes of in-development gameplay. And if that's the same David Hallsted who posted on LinkedIn about being caught in sweeping Microsoft layoffs after working as a lead level designer at Arkane and original Prey developer Human Head Studios, there's reason to believe it's genuine.
The best of the bunch is a nine and a half-minute Prey 2 demo playthrough video, in which the player wanders the streets of a legally distinct Coruscant undercity while chasing bounty targets, waving a gun around at cowering civilians, and casually shoulder-checking an innocent alien off a balcony to send him tumbling into the neon-hazed depths below.
Bounty hunters, generally speaking, aren't good people.
The player's able to scan nearby pedestrians to match them with bounty postings that may or may not specify whether collateral damage is "acceptable." They've got a suite of combat gadgetry fit for an enterprising Mandalorian, including micronova grenades, laser guided rockets, and electrified bolas for restraining targets that employers might prefer taken alive.
As in-development footage, it's understandably rough around the edges, and it's got a fascination with cover systems typical of the late 2000s. I don't know that I'd say it looks promising, but when the player blasts the bodyguard of an alien bigshot to simplify negotiations over information on a target, it's more than enough to make our continued dearth of scifi bounty hunter offerings feel like a near-criminal games industry oversight.
Hopefully, it's one that will eventually be set right.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
