The Making of PREY - Documentary

We talk to the team at Arkane Austin about the design of their immersive sim cult classic, Prey.

Noclip's work is 100% crowdfunded.

Edited, Filmed & Colored by Jeremy Jayne
Written & Hosted by Danny O'Dwyer
Gameplay Capture by Frank Howley
Captions by Megan Carnes

0:00 - Intro
1:58 - Why call it "Prey"
7:22 - Creating the Space Station of Talos 1
22:22 - Managing Player Choice
31:15 - The Mimic
37:06 - Trouble with GLOO Cannons
43:45 - Harvey's Thoughts
45:35 - Mooncrash
51:55 - The Ending (Spoilers)
52:35 - Prey's Reviews & Legacy
57:22 - Credits

[Leonn]

R.I.P Arkane Austin. This is the game we will remember. 😞

[fatalmokrane]

You can feel the pain in Raphael Colantonio's voice in the end. So sad. This game deserved so much better.

[BizKwikTwist]

In my eyes, Prey is as iconic as Half-Life and System Shock, possibly even Deus Ex when it comes to this style of game. I loved it.

[davidvu]

I envy everyone who has never played it: exploring the station for the first time was so intense.

[Patterrz]

One of my favourites games of the past 5 years, wish more people had played it

[slapzech]

This game will always remind people that even an absolutely GREAT game can flop when the marketing team will not do their job. As a fan of the genre, I had NO IDEA that Prey is an immersive sim, how good the game is (imho it beats even System Shock 2), or - for the matter of fact - that PREY EXISTED. I only somehow discovered the game by accident, because of negative feedback from people who wanted a continuation of 2006 Prey, and got something utterly different. Had Bethesda used 1% of money used to promote Doom Eternal to promote Prey, this game would sold far, FAR better.

[timandafish]

RIP Arkane Austin. I'm replaying Prey again, and its a masterpiece. A game like this would have a very hard time getting made today. That spirit brought be back to this documentary.

[Smkturt]

The mimics being able to turn into people is something I wish made it in. That animation is terrifying.

[TheCritty]

Prey is the most immersive, thoughtful, and intricate game I have ever played, and I cannot praise it enough.

When I consider replaying wonderful games that I have already enjoyed, I often find myself growing bored early on, feeling like I've already done this.

With Prey, I remain excited about discovering that space station in a new way.

Every inch of Talos is lovingly curated, yet the player has so much agency.

A masterpiece.

[nipunjayatunga]

This game didn't get the recognition it deserves, thanks Noclip for doing this 🙌

[peterring]

Prey is an absolute masterpiece in level design. The 50 hours I spent exploring Talos I were some of best I've ever experienced playing a video game. I implore those who haven't played it yet to give it a go. That goes for Mooncrash too.

[forestfire]

I still can't even express how much Prey means to me. A masterpiece on every level, I can't thank the team enough for pouring their hearts and souls into this art piece.

[elmonarcoful]

This documentary actually made me tear up a bit at the end where Raphael Colantonio looks very sad when he says that it really hurts when you work on something for 3-4 years, you've put so much passion and hard work into this project that is also very risky because of its triple A budget...
And a journalist just gives you a 4/10 because of one bug/glitch or something he just didn't like and they write off the entirety of the game.
And because of this and the negative PR it creates, your game isn't a commercial success anymore.
I wouldn't know how to deal with that to be honest, I mean you work so hard and put all of your ideas and unique concepts into a project for years and have people casually dismissing your work because of a few small minor issues.
God bless these people for the hard work they've put into this game and for all of their past and future projects, your games have helped me overcome a lot of difficult moments in life and I am really grateful for that.
Also thank you to Noclip for making this hour long documentary, you guys are awesome!

[DeadWhiteButterflies]

"The Level Architects ", sounds like an ominous secret society, and I'm here for it 😆

[SticksAandstonesBozo]

This is possibly the most slept on masterpiece of a game of all time.

[GassyMexican]

Finally got around to finishing this Doc (started it a bit ago and meant to finish it sooner). Absolutely stellar work again guys. This game was definitely something special. It's a shame it didn't do commercially as well as they would have hoped (or it SHOULD have done). Being able to see how the team came to different solutions/creative decisions when facing problems...or really just wanting to make sure a feature/mechanic they loved made it into the final cut was fascinating. Thanks as always for fantastic work.

[apenneukende]

Well, that left me with a bitter sweet feeling. Arkane is one of my favorite development houses but their titles always seem destined for some heavy set-back. The strength they show when pushing through, and the games the produce when doing, so is truly amazing!

[tarekhabib]

It's absolutely mind boggling the amount of creative work that goes into a game like Prey, and more so the fact that these types of games fail to attract the attention of the general gaming audience. I struggle to find any game, no matter how good it's visual fidelity is, as impressive as a virtual space that I can inhabit and interact with in meaningful and interesting ways.

[PABLOGELO]

This part about the architect explains why Arkane games are on a different level to any other games I've played in the missions feeling like someone lives there, no game accomplishes that level of immersion through enviromental design alone, big congrats to the team I get mesmerized

[MrMisterNameless]

This game is a masterpiece and I wish it had gotten the sales it deserved. Hearing the team talk about how in the future they'd want to scale things down, but damn if those aren't why I've loved and replayed it so many times. It makes every replay a treasure, and every step feel like actually carving out my own path.