Prey’s opening hour is available now as a demo for PS4 and Xbox One. You can, and should, download it right now to play through. It’s a section of the game we were lucky enough to play a couple of months ago, and without wanting to toot the horn of the hype train too hard… it’s really bloody good. You play as Morgan Yu, and you find out that your life as an employee of Transtar (you’re based at the Testing Facility) isn’t quite what it seems. Ok, no more spoilers - the beauty of Prey is discovering things for yourself. Having said that, there are some things you might miss or just forget to do in this opening hour demo. That’s why I put together this list, to help guide you towards some of the cool features you might miss. Enjoy, and look out for a review of the full game real soon.
Minor spoilers for the first hour of Prey ahead.
1. Find the cool little video game controller in your apartment
There are loads of things to pick up and play with in your apartment. They range from random crap that you’ll probably find a use for later, to neat little Easter eggs and cool sci-fi ephemera. Sure it’s fun to pick up mugs and throw them at the maintenance worker in the corridor, but you should definitely head over to the TV by the window and find the gaming controller. Kinda looks like an Xbox 360 pad, which is the format the original game finally released on in 2006. I could, however, be reading waaaaaay too much into this.
2. Get drunk
As with any game where the booze is quaffable, you can make a weird attempt to get drunk in Prey. There’s a bottle of celebratory sparkling wine in your kitchen - which makes a great breakfast - and a handful of bottles in the next area you visit, after getting hold of the wrench. Necking a few bottles in quick succession will blur your vision for a while, before returning to normal. If only that’s how it worked in real life.
3. Figure out the twist before it happens
Ok, there’s a big twist in the Prey demo - you’ll know it when you see it. However, very eagle-eyed players can spot it before it happens. When you’re riding the chopper to the Transtar testing facility, you see the beautiful city skyline rolling past you. No more spoilers, but it’s during that bit. It happens so, so quickly you’ll barely see it, but once you’ve played the demo once you’ll know what to look out for. Above, there's a handy video to help you spot and spoil it.
4. Take the secret route through the office
Sure, you could just grab the keycard from the director’s desk and open the door to access the rest of the testing facility. It’s the obvious route, and it’s very valid. Or you could be a smarty pants and take the hidden tunnel to the next area. There’s a bookshelf underneath a vent, just opposite the area with the safe in it. Hop onto the bookcase and you can open the vent, and crawl through to the other side. You gain absolutely nothing other than the smug satisfaction of knowing that you figured out something really clever. Yes, you definitely didn’t just read about it on GamesRadar.
5. Hack a turret to make it work for you
In my opinion, the hacking mini-game in Prey is a little dull. However, it’s a necessary evil, because bypassing locks and overriding machines is a handy thing to do - opens up lots of secret areas. Perhaps the best use of the hack in this opening hour demo is reprogramming turrets to help you counter any random Mimics that chase you. Saves your ammo for sure. Later in the game you can actually mimic a turret and fire it off, which is a cool little feature.
6. Build a bridge of GLOO
Ok, so you’ve figured out how to hack your way into Alex’s office via the front door. Well done, you - that’s the demo over. However, did you know that you can actually build a bridge from one of the staircases across from the office window? Using that GLOO gun you found? Yup - simply splatter a load of GLOO over the wall, hop onto it, and smash your way through the big window using your wrench. It’s all about arriving in style! Just, er, don’t fall off your makeshift bridge…
7. Put out some fires with GLOO
GLOO isn’t just for building platforms and freezing weird space-beasts. Did you know you can also use it to put out fires (to reach new areas), to cover faulty electrical junctions (to avoid getting zapped), and to block off areas and trap enemies? You totally can. Try to find as many uses for GLOO as possible in the demo, and you’ll be in a great position to unearth many of Prey’s deepest secrets when the final game arrives.
8. Make your own ammo
At the end of the demo you’ll find a recycling machine. You know all that junk you’ve been picking up and stuffing into your pockets (because video game wisdom teaches you it HAS to be useful at some point)? You can shove it into this machine to earn crafting resources. There’s one right there in Alex’s office. Now, take those resources and shove them into the crafting machine next to it. Voila! You can now create ammo for your GLOO gun. Or any other weapon you’re carrying.
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