Prey developer Arkane Studios has spent the past few weeks teasing some sort of follow-up to its 2017 sci-fi shooter, but the latest tease may be the most telling yet.
On March 15th, the day on which Prey‘s story begins, Arkane tweeted a photo of the development team pulling open one eye, channelling main character Morgan Yu in the game’s debut trailer. At first glance, it might just seem like an innocent way to celebrate the fictional anniversary, but if you look closer, there are a few obvious clues buried in the image.
"Good morning, Morgan…"
Happy #PreyDay! pic.twitter.com/pm3PLvwiJe
— Arkane Studios (@ArkaneStudios) March 15, 2018
A few of them are clear hints at story details fans have already picked apart from the earlier teasers. The whiteboard on the back references the Moon, widely believed to be the setting for the game, and Kasma Corp, a company tied to an apparently official Twitter account. Two team members also hold signs with the Kasma Corp logo.
The exciting bit of new info, however, is a date hinted at twice in the image: once on the calendar held by a woman in the second row, and again on the whiteboard. Both point to June 10th, 2018. That’s the same date as Bethesda’s E3 2018 showcase. That means one of two things: We’ll either get a definitive announcement during the showcase, or this new Prey content will be released then. Well, I guess the third option would be both of those things: an announcement and a surprise release all at once.
Personally, my money’s on just an announcement at the showcase, with a launch in late summer or early fall. I’d also bet we’re dealing with a standalone expansion in the vein of what Arkane did with Dishonored 2 and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. After all, if we’re heading to a completely different station on the moon, there’s not going to be much of a direct tie to the existing game. Plus, if you’ve already beaten Prey, you know it wouldn’t make much narrative sense for any progress to carry over directly into another story. We’ll know for sure soon enough.
Prey is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: Arkane Studios on Twitter