Prey gets a demo on April 27

The lost art of the demo seems to be coming back in style. Some games do it the right way, prior to launch, to generate even more hype, such as Nioh, Nier: Automata, or Resident Evil 7. Some games do it to increase post-launch sales or get new players involved, such as Mafia III and Dishonored 2. Prey is opting for the former with its demo scheduled for April 27, mere days before its official launch date of May 5.

From what is known about the demo, it will feature the first hour of the game. In most cases, it is exactly this first hour that seals the bond with the player, and if you can just hop into the full game after purchase without losing your progress, all the better. Here is the overview of the game, in Bethesda’s own words:

Morgan Yu is about to have a very bad day. Aliens have escaped containment, dead bodies now litter the hallways of the Talos I space station, survivors are huddled together for safety, and the Typhon aliens are threatening to destroy everything you hold dear. As Morgan, you’ll have to fight the invasion in order to save humanity. But it all begins with what should have been a typical first day on the job for Morgan. And now you can experience the game’s thrilling first hour in the console-exclusive demo for Prey.

It has to be said that the console exclusivity of the demo does not bode well for the PC crowd. It could be that Bethesda just doesn’t want people datamining the demo days before the release. Or it could be that the game does not perform all that well on PC, which is a real fear for many people. Bayonetta came out on Steam yesterday and it is an example of a port well done, especially considering that game’s age.

Prey has so far proven to be a very interesting, story-driven action adventure game in what little we have seen so far. The mimic ability is probably the weirdest thing announced so far and it is going to be very interesting to try out.