Tommy’s route through The Sphere is a stroll through a meadow full of flowers compared to the path that Prey took during its development. Rhinehart explains: “The original story of a Native American who was abducted by aliens and had to rescue his girlfriend came from 3D Realms,” the company known for the Duke Nukem games. After turnover on the development team, Prey reached 1998 with a basic premise starring “Talon Brave,” as shown in demos held during that year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) trade show.

However, that version of Prey was not to be; after another aborted effort to revive the project, 3D Realms put it on hold indefinitely. While such a fate typically means that the game will never appear on store shelves, the arrival of the Doom 3 engine from id Software gave 3D Realms an opportunity to realize its original vision with help from modern technology. The company quickly licensed the Doom 3 engine and hired Human Head Studios to handle Prey’s development.

“We started Prey in 2001,” Rhinehart recalls. “At that time, Doom 3 had been shown publicly, and it was way beyond anything else at the time. We visited id and looked at the engine. We decided that its capabilities were exactly what we wanted for Prey.”

He continues: “Over the course of the project, the full plot was fleshed out by Scott Miller from 3D Realms, several people here at Human Head, and the external writers who we worked with on Prey.”

The rumor mill began spitting out stories of Prey’s revival in 2002, and in 2005, the game was officially re-announced.

Spiritual Guidance. Enisi returns in the spirit realm to impart special powers and give you important advice.

Prey offers the usual complement of weapons, of course, in addition to Tommy’s spirit walk trick. Each weapon, even the wrench, offers two fire modes, with the second one activated by clicking the right mouse button. In the case of the wrench, the secondary attack produces a slower swing that creates more damage.

“We give out ammo fairly generously and try to give the player what they need,” says Rhinehart. “Don’t be afraid to use the weapons. Certain ones work better against certain creatures, and when in doubt, shoot it.”

• Rifle: This is the second weapon you’ll pick up in Prey. It’s carried by the hunters you find all over The Sphere, and it features rapid machine gun fire in standard mode. Press the right mouse button to bring up its sniper capability, complete with a red laser that targets your enemy. When its ammo hits zero, the rifle will regenerate a little bit after a few seconds, but you’ll still need to grab some fresh supplies if you want to completely replenish it.
• Crawler: Instead of conventional grenades, Prey includes creatures that you can pick up and throw. When you pull out a Crawler, press the right mouse button to flip it onto its back; press the button again to put it on its stomach. On its back, it explodes a couple seconds after thrown. Tossing one when it’s on its stomach causes the Crawler to stick as soon as it touches anything, including an enemy. It will then explode when any creature, including you, comes too close.

• Leech Gun: This weapon’s primary function depends on the type of ammo you load it with at a leeching station. Fire ammo produces blobs of plasma, lightning emits powerful blasts, sun shoots a beam of light that pushes you back and causes severe damage to whatever it touches, and ice freezes your enemies. Secondary fire mode allows you to leech a new type of ammo into the gun. You can only carry one form of leech ammo at a time, so make your choice depending on the enemies nearby.
• Auto Cannon: The primary function produces a machine gun effect similar to the rifle, but with a quicker rate of fire, and the secondary attack acts as a grenade launcher. However, in primary fire mode, the auto cannon can overheat if you hold the button for too long, while the grenades explode on contact, without the time delay option offered by the Crawlers.
• Acid Sprayer: The Prey equivalent of the shotgun shoots seven blobs of acid at an enemy, which makes it very effective up close. In secondary mode, it lobs canisters full of acid that break apart on contact.
• Launcher: Its rockets are the equivalent of the grenades launched in secondary mode by the auto cannon. The launcher’s secondary fire emits a cloud of gas that lasts for five seconds and repels all shots that hit it. You can step through the shield if necessary.

In multiplayer mode, which is known as Multi-Prey, you start a death match or team death match with the wrench and one other weapon. Other weapons are scattered around the map. Multi-Prey also features two items not found in single-player mode: a medicine pouch that refills your spirit energy and a pipe that doubles your health, an effect that lasts until someone frags you. You can also spirit walk in Multi-Prey, although you’ll die if anyone shoots your body while you’re wandering around with the bow and arrow.

Stumped? Then you may need some help, thanks to the cheat codes that are commonly placed in most video games. They allow you to, well, cheat and change the rules. This sometimes includes activating bonuses, unlocking secrets, and accessing new levels of gameplay.

To activate the cheats in Prey, hold down the Control, Alt, and tilde (~) keys at the same time to open the console window. Then type a code and press Return to activate it. Note that you need to renew god mode each time you enter a new level.