The demo consisted of three parts: We showed a portion of the single-player game, showed a short bit of the 360 version in action, and then a hand-on demo of Prey multiplayer deathmatch.

Nearly all the features in singleplayer (wallwalking, gravity flipping, spiritwalking, the vehicle, etc) show up in multiplayer. When designing the maps, we ran into issues where the levels became really dense and chaotic due to all of these gameplay elements. Eventually, we decided to selectively emphasis elements in each map. So, for instance, we have maps that focus on wallwalking and other maps that focus on flying around in vehicles.

We showed the journalists three of the multiplayer maps, each based around different Prey gameplay: wallwalking, gravity flipping, and spherical gravity (where the combat takes place on giant spheres). Lots of swearing and smack-talk around the table. Again, very interesting to see how quickly they picked up on the design of the maps and the mechanics of the gameplay.

In fact, towards the end of my time with Prey, I realised something. In my line of work I get to see a lot of games, and they invariably lay all their cards out on the table. All the Unique Selling Points in a pretty little marketable row. On the several occasions I saw Quake 4, it was always balls-out: "Look, vehicles! Look, Strogg! Wow, gun emplacement sections! Man, how cool!". And it was. It was all there on the table for me to see and recount. But with Prey... Well, Prey is acting remarkably coy. I've seen a great deal of its manifold innovations, but I can't delineate more clearly the absolutely whacking amount of it that's intended to be shrouded in 3D Realms mystery (ever the masters of secrecy) until the day you play it.

And that's the beauty of it - its real joy will be in discovery, in working out its nuances and clever riffs on the genre on your tod, without the hype machine having filled you up to the brim with prior knowledge first. This, for me, was what made the 3D Realms masterpiece Duke Nukem 3D such a truly wonderful game - and is what I believe will put Prey (and, for that matter, Duke Nukem Forever) in such good stead when its time comes. There's nothing in a game quite like being surprised, and if it isn't a surprise, then Prey doesn't seem to be interested.