Leaked Prey 2 development footage shows scifi bounty hunter gameplay that our cold and uncaring univ

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.

P2 demo playthrough - YouTube P2 demo playthrough - YouTube
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While those dreams have been dashed, a new set of supposedly leaked gameplay footage from Prey 2's development has been circulating [[link]] on Reddit, offering us a chance to sigh wistfully [[link]] 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.

Prey2 agile combat - YouTube Prey2 agile combat - YouTube
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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 [[link]] 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.

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