How Prey's Mind-Bending Opening Level Was Designed | Noclip
Vložit
- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- SUBSCRIBE for More Free Game Docs ► bit.ly/noclipsubscribe
Become a PATRON to unlock more videos ► / noclip
We talk to the developers at Arkane Austin about the design of the opening 30 minutes of Prey.
Noclip's work is 100% crowdfunded.
Patreon: / noclip
Website: www.noclip.video
Store: store.noclip.video
Instagram: / noclipvideo
Twitter: / noclipvideo
Twitch: / noclip
Podcast: noclippodcast.libsyn.com/
Podcast Channel: / noclippodcast
Hosted & Edited by Danny O'Dwyer
Filmed by Jeremy Jayne
Gameplay Capture by Frank Howley
Closed Captions: Megan Carnes
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
01:40 - [Spoilers] The Opening Level
03:42 - Setting the Scene
7:04 - The Commute
9:11 - Testing the Player
11:19 - The Reveal
16:55 - Credits - Hry
We have more videos on Prey and Dishonored in the pipeline - we just knew this one needed to be separate and wanted to get it out early. We hope you enjoy it!
NO! NO! NO! Many people say I am sick in the head. NOOOO!!!! I don't believe them. But there are so many people commenting this stuff on my videos, that I have 1% doubt. So I have to ask you right now: Do you think I am sick in the head? Thanks for helping, my dear noc
Fantastic as always. Would love to know however opening of prey 06 or 2017? Both are stellar.
@@Ashamedofmypast Don't Fear the Reaper
I WANT MORE!!
Great video
I can't wait. Arkane has become one of my favorite studios over the past couple years, and more glimpses behind the curtain at the inner workings of their games are *always* welcome.
going into this game blind was one of my favorite gaming experiences this generation
Total agree. Solid and electrifying. At first I was a little frustrated that it wasn't like Dishonored but then I got over myself and realized that it far exceeds Dishonored in many ways I never thought possible.
Same, I picked it up really cheap on a steam sale thinking it was gonna be a fun little shooter/rpg to play through. I don’t think I’ve ever been more pleasantly surprised by a game before
Same I wish I could experience it for the first time again. That moment I realised that Morgan is actually on a space station blew my mind
I especially loved whenever you had to enter zero gravity. Very immersive experience.
Yesss baby ... you and I are REAL gamers. None of that fortnite / warzone crap
If for whatever reason you've jumped to the comments before watching the video and still haven't played Prey, you should know that Prey has a free trial. You can play the intro and first two areas for free. Go do that and come back.
Right. The game is underwhelming at best and boring at it's worst.
i enjoyed the game a lot, wasn't that bad.
@bigevilworldwide1 another member of the prey 2 contrarian brigade
@bigevilworldwide1 maybe because it's not a shooter?
My favorite part of this opening level is how when you sit in the helicopter during the credits and the music plays if you look down you will see Morgan tap their foot to the music.
never knew so cool
Well, then Alex Yu could have just stopped the simulation right there. Spoilers ahead. Any Typhon that can appreciate music should automatically pass the empathy/humanity test!
Yo, thanks for this comment. Did another playthrough just to see it
I also loved the fact that they included the helicopter blades being able to "kill" you.
I was entranced with the opening, but upon leaving the helicopter, the dark side of my mind went, "I wonder what would happen if I jumped into the helicopter's blades". So happy they included that as a possibility and an achievement, and then slightly annoyed when I realized I had to go through the cutscene again. >.
Stage fright, anyone?
I got annoyed cause I did that the first time I played too, then later learned there was an achievement for it that FSR didn't trigger when I did it so I had to start a new save to get it
Well you failed the simulation.
Imagine being the poor fucking scientist observing you trying to make sense of you randomly jumping into the helicopter blades.
Arkane are incredible at what they do. That reveal will stick with me for a long time.
I was blown away that they challenged the originals opening. It was a strong opening statement for sure
They just won't settle for boring ideas that have been done before. I love them so much for pushing the envelope with each game.
I'll never forget how my brain almost broke when I smashed that glass with the wrench for the first time going in blind knowing nothing about this game. It was utterly masterful the way they led you into thinking the game would be some kind of timeloop thing and instead you're now out on your own exploring the space station where they've been running experiments on you and oh also there's Typhon everywhere lmao. Such a fantastic and underrated gem of a game! I personally enjoyed Prey far more than any other game in 2017 (yes, including Breath of the Wild, Mario Odysse, Horizon, P5, etc.) and Mooncrash somehow even eclipsed that even further to cement this as my favorite game ever. Can't wait for the rest of the series!!
I'm actually someone who went through the aquarium, and I'd argue that it was a better. Sure there's drama to smashing glass and seeing a set, but I loved walking around dark and eerie hallways only to turn around and see the room I was just in. It works both ways.
Oh my god, I never even realized you can smash that aquarium. But yeah, as many have comment already, going blind into this first sequence was mindbending. Really well done. Shame this game just kinda vanished from people's radar. It was a really awesome experience to play through, multiple times.
Funny! my reveal was through the aquarium, and I didn't realize you could smash the windows until I revealed the whole thing :D
I just realized that you can smash the aquarium today. Always amazed by this game even after many deep playthroughs.
Complete opposite here: in all my (many many) play-throughs I always smashed the aquarium. I didn't know about the big glass walls before watching this video. This game is so good, it shows you new things even after you've stopped playing it.
@@MrJavielfo2 hahah totally me!
I smashed aquarium on my second playthrough. I was just very curious if I could do it. I was VERY pleasantly surprised.
Oh hell yeah. Prey 2017 is one of the most underrated games ever. Such a creative, unique, fascinating game.
World design was the best. Everything felt connected.
I agree wholeheartedly. I think it got dismissed for being slow and boring because the beginning is indeed a bit slow. I just see it as tension filled world building but I can see why some were turned off early on.
Same can be said for 2006. Almost wish arkane had gotten the system shock ip just so human heads prey 2 got a second chance damn it look ambitious and clearly wasn't working out but damn it looked cool. Prey 2006 or 2017 are 2 of the best opening to a game ever
I wouldn't call it unique, it's basically a system shock 2 clone, but yeah it's an incredible game
@@d4n5t3p3 It's like System Shock 2 on steroids. It overwhelms me so much!
love the "canonization" of "it's not a bug, it's a feature" regarding the one-frame Looking Glass bug around 8:00...
There's an actual small update to Prey shortly after release. I believe it adds an email dialogue that refers to the one-frame bug. Basically stating that the in-game bug, is actually lore-wise bug of the looking glass. I play the game on release date so I dont have any memory of reading such email. I thought the one-frame thing is due to my old laptop. And the release trailer of the game basically spoil the first 5 minutes, also sold the premise and setting for me.
@@lehoangminh Which email is this? I can't find any articles about this.
I love the love you are giving Arkane and specifically Prey.
I actually ended up going the "fish tank route" of escape on my first play through. I can't remember the exact details but the reveal ended up being much more of a slow creep rather than the suddenness they intended. I think it is telling that I feel like I got the same sense of awe regardless of the vastly different (and admittedly maybe stupid) approach I took.
I took the "fish tank route" too. And for me worked as they intended, because I remember I was "wait a minute..." and instantly tried to break the balcony glass as they designed and got the sequence. When I destroyed the fish tank I was afraid to go forward on that path. My sensation on the first seconds was like "am I doing something wrong...?". Then when I broke the balcony glass I was "wow, ok, now I get it"
Same here. When I broke the fish tank I was like "Ahah! I knew something was wrong!" and went out to explore.
Then I found myself on the other side of the "balcony" glass and went "wait a minute" as I realized how fake it really was. Slow, creeping reveal indeed.
That was my exact experience I had. I ended up breaking into my room instead, from the other side of the glass. It wasn't until I was literally on the other side of the windows that it even occurred to me the city wasn't real. Absolutely mind blowing.
Looking glass screens are basically how they film The Mandalorian, and the actors indeed see the world warp in weird ways as it adjuats to always look correct for the camera.
oh that's true that's probably really trippy
Stagecraft! It's possibly a huge asset for film production and could completely change how some features are made. You're totally right. I never thought about how similar this is to the in-game tech.
Crazy how impossible sci-fi technology becomes functional real life devices.
There was also a scene like that in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I never realized how quickly it could become real.
WTF are you talking about?!
I almost managed to break out of the matrix with this game before they even introduced it.
It happened by chance, I took an object (a lamp) and happened to leave it outside the elevator.
After I reached my floor, I saw the exact same object in the exact same position outside, but on a different floor.
I had an X-Files moment, thinking this was somehow a bug or a glitch.
I also thought that the devs could be swapping the entire map or loading a different one without reloading the entities.
Hitting Morgan's room window was a huge surprise and totally unexpected.
This game really nailed everything: Story, Game Engine, Level Design, Voice Acting, Music, Art, Characters, Enemies, etc.
The mind games were very strong with this one.
The most interesting mechanic for me was the Looking Glass.
I can't believe they managed to build an entire fake virtual room inside a virtual room, not many appreciate the engineering that goes behind this.
I'm pretty sure that this Looking Glass concept is the first of its kind, just like Valve pioneered in the Portals and Portal Gun concept.
I wonder if one day we can also achieve that tech.
I'm pretty sure I instinctively hit the glass as soon as I got the wench because I was conditioned to by half life
My System Shock 2 instincts were tingling.
I went to the glass door, found it was locked, looked at my wrench...
I thought “WELL THE DOOR IS WHAT I MAKE”
I knew that level was cool but I had no idea just how deep into the rabbit hole it went. Great video!
Would you believe that there's still more to it?
Prey is an amazing game. Played it 5 times already. Such a shame that it just never got the praise it rightfully deserved.
It actually ended up getting a lot of hate because of "Prey 2006" fanboys being salty because the sequel to that game got cancelled like 10 years ago and they thought this was going to be a sequel and so when they seen that it wasn't they just immediately disliked and spread hate about the game.
Ugh this masterpiece didn't get the love it deserved
Too many people angry about what it wasn't that didn't take the time to actually see what it actually was.
@@n1lla Spot on. The game was amazing but fell hard because of negative press. Forever a classic for me.
Don't worry, it will be a classic for sure.
@@lot-lotmariloualbiso1296 Everything becomes a classic with time. The problem is the game needs to be remembered. It was a classic for me pretty much right away.
@@n1lla Yeah, the uproar over the name was so stupid. It was made clear this was Prey in name alone, and not a sequel to Prey 2006. I think IGN also gave this game a ridiculously low score because of a glitch that would have affected almost nobody since it was patched before consumers could even purchase the game.
Arkane is amazing at level and world design.
When i smashed the looking glass and discovered that all was a simulation it blew my mind
The glass technology it's what blew my mind... Don't remember seeing it on any other game really...
unfortunately, I was one of those that broke the aquarium and nothing blew my mind. I just thought that in the future they have Tv screens with moving images instead of actual photo frames etc.. Not a big deal. Looking glass only really hit me fully in Dr. Calvino's lab.
Prey (2017) is one of my all-time favorite games. Going into this game blind was hugely rewarding and not just at this opening reveal. It’s also one of the best examples of environmental storytelling. I frigging love Talos I even though - well, I won’t spoil it. Thank you for showing this game some love.
Devs: "It's a bug."
Players: "NO, it's a feature!"
Feel bad for people who got the game spoiled to them before they played. That first moment when you break the looking glass, and the realization of how much bigger this whole situation is slowly sinks in - one of my favorite moments in gaming in nearly 25 years I've been playing them. It's quite something. And the way it leads up to that moment is so delicately thought out. What a masterpiece.
I'd love to see more on the level/environment design as a whole-one of the most impressive things, for me, was the ability to traverse the entire station from the outside. How did they go about developing a unified & coherent game world? What were some of the technical challenges involved with that? (And were there hardware limitations that necessitated the unfortunate use of loading screens?)
I was remembering looking out of the window of the helicopter and seeing how low polygon things were thinking "what a bunch of lazy pricks".
LMAOOO
It was the birds for me.
R.I.P Arkane Austin. This is the game we will remember. 😞
Just got Prey with the Moon Crash dlc on sale for $12. I love Bioshock so thought I would give it a try and wow I was missing out. So glad I stumbled on this even if a couple years late. It's so good, I can't put it down now.
One of the best games of the 2010s, absolute masterpiece.
i feel like this level was the love child of Dishonored 2's "A Crack in the Slab" and Jindosh's Clockwork Mansion. I absolutely love the thought of Arkane incorporating elements of one of their masterpieces in a new game.
i don't know why. but everytime I watch a Noclip short documentary like this, I get this nortalgia rush of going to the supermarket, wallmart, or whatever while i was living in LA in the 90s and going through all the gaming magazines and not actually buying it. Good times.
I remember thinking "wait this music is amazing who made it?... mick gordon? oh that makes sense"
Holy shit no wonder I booted it up and immediately loved the menu music.
Man, that speaker theme is a
Welp, time to play Prey for the millionth time. That game is a damn masterpiece.
I don't remember why I broke the glass but I remember the feeling being incredible
I was one of the people that hit the aquarium instead of the balcony glass. Such a groundbreaking masterpiece this game.
It sucks that a lot of people gave up on this game before they got to know just how bloody brilliant it really is, I had expected this game to be more like the Dishonored games which happen to be some of my favorites of all time, so I had almost given up on the first hour of my first playthrough but I came back to it a short while later and tried to enjoy it as its own thing, and I completely fell in love with the game's atmosphere and story, it's obviously a game that had a lot of passion behind it.
I really hope we get a new Prey sometime in the future even if it's unlikely to happen anytime soon.
My first time in the apartment, I tried to open the door to the balcony, only for it to read "jammed", so after I got the wrench, I immediately thought back to that door - "I can finally go there!" I actually thought they prototyped the city... or rather built a carboard cutout of the city. Even if it was a skybox, I thought I could break the glass and step out into the balcony, then find a ladder or something to get to the roof, but no - that just breaks the simulation. Was quite a surprise playing this without knowing.
That moment where you get the wrench, I knew exactly what I needed to do. Truly the most magical experience I've ever had, smashing that looking glass. That's when I knew, Prey (2017) is a goddamn masterpiece.
My second favourite game of all time. It's a brilliant masterpiece. I hope we'll eventually get a sequel.
What game is first?
Is Witcher III the first? 😛
I wonder if it's System Shock 2, or Thief..or Deus Ex? Out with it!
@@CaveyMoth Deus Ex: Human Revolution is in my Top 10, but my favourite game is Castlevania: Lords of Shadow... or Metro: Exodus. I can't really decide.
An underrated masterpiece. The very best parts of Half Life and Bioshock married together in 2001 esque sci fi horror thriller
The best LookingGlass experience? The part where you fond a transcriber where 2 people talking about calibrating a screen, a second later you find it and, naturally, you start calibrating it...
Good stuff :) bpBut the whole game is amazing experience.
I just played Prey for the first time in prep for this documentary.
This game is incredible, and it really bothered me to hear that it didn't get the success it deserved.
In my opinion, it was a better game than the 2006 fps by human head.
As someone who recently tried it out before it left game pass (though never got to finish), I was floored by that twist. I nervously thought I was about to make some daring escape down the side of a high-rise, but then was like "....wtf..." when the slo-mo kicked in.
I showed the whole sequence to my family not long after I processed what happened, and they were equally shocked and amazed.
The aquarium as an option would have never crossed my mind. Interesting fun fact.
Great video, and insight.
This truly is a mind game
I always love it when teams really try to pour all their creativity into a game.
Prey was the coolest first person sci-fi experience i had since HL2. Everything is Going to Be Ok means as much as Triage at Dawn to me now.
Every time I play this level and still surprises me the open in all the different mechanics introduced
I think this game is brilliant! The opening is not only a great twist, but it supports an interesting theme of the game - how are you supposed to make ethical decisions when your perspective could be based off of something that isn't real?
PREY is an underrated gem ♥
It got great reviews, deservedly so.
When you can make a 20 minute video about the first 10 mins of a game, you know it's good
This is a MASTERPIECE which deserves more LOVE from gamers. Thanks NOCLIP for reminding people about PRAY. They should do an Ultimate edition with the DLCs and release it on PS5 and XBOX/GAMEPASS.
The first hour is arguably one of the best hours of any game made. That section was flawless game design. It might have been the most rewarding and surprising part I've ever played, and it didn't play any cheap tricks it worked for it all.
Good morgan Morgan. One of the few time's a game has genuine surprised me in recent years. Hoping Arkane is given the green light for a sequel with even stronger and more elaborate level design. Something like Metroid Prime 2 was to Prime 1.
I did really like the opening level. Especially that reveal.
you are a waste of life
@@bobsagget823 agreed
For me (a jaded long time gamer) my first reaction to "escape" was smashing the glass. I expected to find a fire escape or something like that... boy was I surprised...
I went out through the aquarium, just to see if the water would spill out.
Jaw hit the floor.
I'm still playing this game, it is phenomenal.
Wait... Dr. Bellamy was voiced by Stephen Rusell!? I didn't recognize him! I guess I'll always asociate his awesome voice to Garrett (and Corvo). That man is pure gold.
I’ve been watching all the back catalogue- man, every video is fantastic. Thank you!
Fun memories. When I first played it, I took a lamp from the hallway with me and carried it to the helipad. I left it there couldn't take it into the helicopter, and was surprised to find it after the helicopter ride on what was supposed to be a different rooftop. I laughed to myself, thinking the devs probably reused the same area for both rooftops for some practical level design reasons.
I also noticed a few other things, but didn't realize their significance until later. Like, "that looks like an expensive hotel, so what's up with all the black streaks on the floors?", "this suit looks worn-out, they didn't even give her a new suit?". Or how if you keep talking to the maintenance worker, she starts lowering her voice and saying things like "you're supposed to keep going", "I'm not supposed to talk to you", etc.
Surprisingly, despite how dense I am, I didn't have trouble with breaking the glass. There was nowhere else to go, I had a wrench and the balcony was right there, so I figured I was supposed to go there. Half-Life logic.
On the other hand, I totally missed the cup mimic scene because I was looking at the test screen.
I'm about 2 hours in and loving Prey. You can tell its gonna go full god tier. It feels very special.
this is one of the best opening scenes to a game
i remember how i went into it was i noticed the door was jammed so i thought ill break the glass to get to the balcony and the grand reveal just worked, i really loved it.
I love it when games work the titles or the credits into the world of the game.
Hellblade did that great.
Splinter cell.
Bayonetta.
The moment I got the wrench I thought "Can I break the glass now?"
"I will break you!"
Oh man I didn't even go back into he main room to smash that window. I picked up that wrench and Bee-lined for that fish tank. Arkane games are genuinely fun, not just addictive. Props to the team.
That reveal was amazing... second only to The Witness in terms of the magnitude of the "a-ha! moment". I remember waking up my GF and replaying the entire first 30 mins just to show her that awesome moment of first walking down the stairs on Talos 1. Unfortunately the game's bugginess made it impossible for me to finish. Tried twice, but the final area would always glitch out. Even tried editing save files per suggestions found online with no luck. Too bad, because it was a great experience up to that point.
Best video game documentary Channel on CZcams bar none.
One of the top 5 games of all time for me. The window smash being one of the most genius moments. To still surprise a player like that in 2017 took some proper creativity.
Oh to play it all again for the first time..
Now I wonder whether the pilot's final announcement was specially crafted that way: "Mind the glass on your way out!" (can be heard at the end of the video, 18:40 )
I missed all these details like the skidmarks and probably "the glitch" (if I even had it) - I'm very gullible in these games :) Yet, at least I did take the intended route. Great game!
Even if you consciously missed those details, you may have unconsciously picked up on them in a way that contributed to a vague sense that something was a bit off.
One of my favorite gaming moments of all time. Everything from the helicopter ride and that Mick Gordon song, to the big early 'twist' I was just smitten. And then the Mooncrash trailer is probably my favorite game trailer ever.
I just played through Prey a week ago for the second time . Such a tasteful, and smart game.
I finally bought the game yesterday after your video came out and immediately got sucked in for 3-4 hours and only got to the video now. Once again good job with these, I would not have found out about the aquarium.
One of the best intros to video game, if not the best. What a game, I really, really hope we get another Prey in this style. The intro actually slightly reminds me of The Truman Show, which is a movie I also really like.
Well-made documentary as always. I'd like to see a video in a similar style on either "The Clockwork Mansion" or "A Crack in the Slab," both of which are levels from Dishonored 2. They're pretty mind-blowing as well when it comes to technology.
The Clockwork Mansion from Dishonored 2 is one of my favorite areas from a game ever. Such a brilliant concept.
@@n1lla The execution of it is brilliant too. When you first enter, the layout is confusing to navigate, but as you slowly figure out the ins and outs of the mechanisms everything becomes clear. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for the devs to fit everything together.
This is one of THE most underrated channels on YT
Danny, I love your passion, your curiosity, and your precious ability to ask the question that these developers desperately want to answer but think no one will ask them. You bring joy - to games documentation as science and art, to your fans, and hopefully to your interviewees as we get a glimpse into their passionate moments of creating an experience for US to play with. I really appreciate NoClip more than I can make monetarily evident. Thank you, Danny.
I know it was mentioned briefly but that music really set the tone for me.
The way how they tell about the opening playtesting reminded me of how valve did their tutorials for their games. Going through their developer commentary is really fun.
Huh... I just started replaying the other day! Going into this game with no knowledge was amazing, definitely the way the game should be experienced first time around.
I liked Dishonored 2 and I'm looking forward to Deadloop but honestly, I'm more interested in what the Austin studio is working on. Fingers crossed for a sequel. Hope they can pull it of without Raphael though.
The intro to this game was awesome, but if I recall, the surprise was spoilt by gameplay they release months before the game launched.
Looks like part of a word was cut off in one of the bottom left tags. 4:17, "Looking Glass Works.." Looks like it might have meant to say "Workshop"? Just something I noticed. Keep killing it Danny!
If there was one studio I could work for/with it would be arkane. They are gamers at heart and much more creative and original than most studios out there.
Very under appreciated.
Just now playing this game in 2024 and really enjoying it! Almost 40 hours in without even noticing its been that long
I just finished Prey yesterday and god damn Arkane NAILED it! I will have to revisit this gem in a few months/years.
Seriously one of the most underrated games of this generation...
That Intro scene. I re-loaded the game to watch the helicopter scene and listen to that song again. It was soooooo gooooood. And then when I cracked the glass, my jaw just dropped, i felt an awe in my stomach that I havent felt for quite a while. Great, great game :) definitely one or my favs now.
Still feel like this game is underrated.
I love the theme that plays in the speakers.
I gathered a bunch of them up from the atrium and placed them around my office/hallway. (They stayed there my entire playthrough).
Game let me do it. Thanks game. These details regarding player agency/immersion/interaction are missing from a lot of games these days. Prey remains one of my favorite games in many years.
@16:33 That tech prototype using the WiiMote was really cool. Basically he made the sensor bar with its two LED lights into a pair of glasses which you wear and the Wiimote is sitting on top of the television watching the two lights with its infrared camera. And this is what it normally does. But usually the sensor bar and the television aren't moving around. Hah. So the data gained from the two lights on the glasses allowed the software to track m the sides of your head at eye level. This was used to create a really convincing sense of depth in the image on the television. It truly looked like you were looking through the screen into a space behind it. But it was purely subjective for the viewer only. And interestingly enough, it worked even when it was a camera "wearing" the glasses.
Putting this in my "Watch after Playing" playlist and liking it!
I bought the game like two years ago but haven't had time to play because of university. I finally played it during the quarantine and holy shit was I mind blown. The attention to details in this game is incredible. My only regret is that I can't have the "mind blown" experience ever again in a game. Truly a work of art!
Incredibly underrated game. A really impressive blending of genres and a really nice evolution of the "Arkane Game". Also nice edit sync when all the lights turned on.
I loved Prey but seeing just how much detail went into selling this whole thing is amazing, the subtleties like the marks on the floor is so cool to see.
"...through the Looking Glass we go."
My favorite gaming studio of all time
I miss TTLG, man.
Please make more videos on prey! It is so criminally underrated
Seriously one of the best soundtracks in a video game.
I feel like this game is extremely underrated and not enough people is really talking about it. Great that you're giving more insight into this project. I loved Prey and still hope for getting a sequel one day!
Wow I was literally just about to start a new playthrough! What timing!
Mad creative geniuses work in Arkane.
The utterly crazy rearranging Jindosh mansion and the surreal time travel device in Stilton Manor and the way the player could travel across different time periods was incredibly wild and creative in Dishonored 2.
Prey with it's lab rat simulation with the glitches that one observes has a very quientisential Arkane wild/weirdness stamp.
Very much looking forward to DeathLoop.
One of my favorite games of the generation. Great video!
I just picked this up on sale and started playing. Love that you dropped this video for it when you did.
Also, I went through the fish tank =)