Why was a decision that saved Borderlands such a dumb one to make? What was it like to play Prey 2 at E3 2011? Will Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 eventually come to Switch 2? Welcome to the latest edition of Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news and culture. Yours truly is still recovering from the weekend’s PAX West marathon and I have a bunch of interviews and previews still to publish on the site throughout the week. In the meantime, let’s take a short walk down memory lane.
Watch someone play Bethesda’s canceled sci-fi shooter Prey 2
Let’s talk about Prey 2. The short version is that Prey 2 was a sequel to a popular 2006 shooter by Human Head Studios about solving puzzles on an alien spaceship. It got a big blowout showing at E3 2011, including a playable demo that generated a ton of buzz. As a bounty hunter in an alien city, players used guns and parkour to chase suspects and choose how to apprehend them. A robot punished you if you caused too much immersive sim chaos, Grand Theft Auto style.
The game was supposed to come out in 2012 but never did. What was most surprising of all was that Bethesda never provided clear reasons for why the project was suddenly scuttled. There were reports of contractual disputes and Bethesda leveraging the Prey 2 publishing agreement to try to fully acquire Human Head Studios. Ultimately, Arkane began working on a reboot of the game that would become 2017’s very different sci-fi immersive sim Prey. This is where the term of endearment “press sneak fuck” was born.
Now fresh footage of the original Prey 2 has leaked on YouTube under the account “David Halsted.” There are five videos totaling just over 20 minutes of gameplay showing off different features as well as the E3 demo. “I remember when they revealed this at PAX back in the day,” wrote one fan on Reddit. “The whole con was buzzing about how cool it was and how hype we were for it. And then we got whatever it rebooted as. Dream revival game though.”
Borderlands devs reflect on its “insane” art style overhaul
Gearbox’s loot shooter series is known for its Diablo-style loot, rude attitude, and bubblegum wrapper cel-shaded art style. But it was not always thus. Early in development, the first game in the shooter series looked like a broke knock-off of Fallout 3 and Rage. That’s how it appeared in a demo at E3, and on the cover of a 2007 Game Informer containing a deep dive on the game back before anyone had ever even heard of Claptrap.
The magazine is back with a new series of interviews about Gearbox’s race to overhaul the grim, gritty, and dull look of the game to help it stand out and eventually become the mega-hit it is today. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford gave members of the art team permission to look into overhauling the art style, even as milestone deadlines were breathing down their necks:
It was, like, five guys with two weeks to go mess around with the look and the feel, and I immediately knew I made a mistake. I was like, ‘S—. We’re trying to get to Alpha, dude. There’s a business here. I’m responsible for other people’s money. I’m going to let these guys spin for two weeks, which means they’re going to be even more invested in what they’re doing, and then I have to go in and look at what they did, and I have to shoot it in the head. That’s what’s going to happen here. Son of a b—-. I’m an idiot. Why did I do that?’ But there was something in my heart that knew that we had to at least look at and explore. I knew we weren’t right.
There’s another 28 Years Later movie coming in just a few months called The Bone Temple
Ralph Fiennes got so ripped for 28 Years Later that they made him the star of the sequel just 12 months later. The Bone Temple will briefly have Cillian Murphy return as Jim from the original movie as well. He’ll have a much bigger role in a trilogy-capping third movie arriving after The Bone Temple.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a Switch 2 port
The turn-based GOTY contender seems like a perfect fit for Nintendo’s new handheld hybrid. Will it get there sooner or later? Sandfall Interactive isn’t saying. “We have some possibilities that we will explore, but at the moment we cannot confirm anything,” the studio told Nintenderos. That sounds like a studio who promised not to disclose that they have a Switch 2 dev kit.
Stellar Blade 2 is fully in development
That’s according to developer ShiftUp’s latest financial report. “We are actively pursuing the franchise development of the ‘Stellar Blade’ IP and are currently developing a sequel to ‘Stellar Blade.’” The game is supposed to have a bigger world and some additional action mechanics. In the meantime, the first game is another candidate ripe for porting to Switch 2.
