Arkane's Lead System Designer Seth Shain talked in an enthusiastic way of the upcoming Prey game in a chat with magazine GamesTM (April 2017, issue #185).
The scope of it, the audacity of it, the hubris of it. I think we've made a game that is bigger than the team that we have and I think we are pulling it off. I'm thrilled with how this game has come out.
The sheer audacity of what we have dared to build in this game, it's a little bit mind-boggling to me. The fact that we were able to stuff it all into this package called Prey is kind of amazing; it's a testament to the team and the passion of the developers we have here. Everybody shared in this vision and really wanted to see this thing through the end.
While Arkane's Prey shares some elements with Dishonored, the company's first big hit, it mostly harkens back to a bunch of old-school masterpieces. On one hand, it borrows the concept of a big, singular interconnected dungeon from Arkane's own Arx Fatalis; on the other, it is a love letter to the best immersive simulations from Looking Glass, such as Ultima Underworld and System Shock.
Later in the interview, Shain didn't shy away from these comparisons at all.
I don't think I could possibly deny that assertion. It's true that we love those games. They are the games that inspire us. We're very aware of what we're building.
We carry this tradition of immersive simulations in our studios' DNA and we're not forgetting where we came from and what inspired us.
Prey, powered by the CRYENGINE, is scheduled to hit PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 5th globally. Check out our recent hands-on preview and stay tuned for more coverage ahead of the release date.