Prey Endings Explained
Developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda, 2017's "Prey" follows researcher Morgan Yu as they fight to survive an alien invasion aboard the Talos I space station. The FPS survival horror game from the co-creator of "Dishonored" loads players up with a variety of weapons to help them win the day. "Prey" managed to escape from development hell and received positive reviews at the time of its release, but it didn't gain much popularity, selling a relatively low amount.
"Prey" gives players a very high level of choice, allowing for quests to be tackled in a number of ways and for the game to be finished with a couple of different endings. One player even managed to figure out how to complete the game in 20 minutes, just three days after the game launched.
Regardless of how long the game takes you to complete, the campaign allows for any of the other survivors to be killed or saved by Morgan, and you can choose how many of the game's Neuromods can be used to augment Morgan's abilities, if any at all. "Prey" has three main endings, plus an additional choice after the end credits.
Abandon Ship
From the start of the game, Morgan is tasked by January (an A.I. replica of Morgan) to blow up Talos I (and everyone on it) in order to stop the invading Typhon from making it to Earth. After progressing far enough in the game, Morgan's brother Alex will ask them to instead neutralize the Typhon with a prototype device and save everyone aboard Talos I. However, December, another A.I. copy of Morgan, offers the chance to escape Talos I aboard Alex's personal escape shuttle.
Alex's shuttle is available atop his office in the station's Arboretum, and it can be accessed anytime after getting his escape pod access card. While the pod can be used by Morgan to escape after setting the station to self-destruct, it can also be used to end the game early, prior to completing either main mission. This ending does not roll the game's credits, but it is considered a completion.
Destroy the Typhon and save Talos
After meeting up with Alex in-person for the first time, Morgan will receive the fabrication plans for the prototype Nullwave Transmitter, which Alex believes will be able to destroy the Typhon. After attaching the transmitter to the heart of the Typhon infection in the containment area, Morgan must return to the command deck to activate it. Here, both Alex and January will be waiting (assuming you didn't kill them earlier), and Morgan will need to kill January and activate the Nullwave Transmitter.
As soon as the transmitter is activated, one of the ending cutscenes will begin to play, showing the destruction of the Typhon. Narration follows from Alex, implying that he was able to salvage the research on Neuromods and return them to Earth. It's unclear if this ending prevents the Typhon from reaching Earth, one of the main goals of the game. This ending also doesn't explain how everyone escapes Talos I, or if they even do.
Destroy Talos and the Typhon
The other ending involves setting the station to self-destruct by using Morgan and Alex's arming keys. After incapacitating Alex (or killing him), Morgan can activate the self-destruct sequence, which results in an 8 minute countdown. From here, there are a couple of different options. Morgan can choose to escape alone, using Alex's escape pod. Morgan can choose to wait for the timer to end, which will result in Morgan's death. If you choose to have Morgan stay and die, then you have to decide if everyone else aboard will die as well.
Of course, you can also organize a great escape for Morgan and the other survivors. All you have to do is perform brain surgery on Dahl, an operative who is out to eliminate Morgan and everyone else on Talos I. Easy, right?
Assuming you have removed Dahl's Neuromods so that he forgets why he is on the ship, you can have him fly a shuttle, flying Morgan and any other surviving person on Talos I to safety. This ending shows the shuttle rocketing back to Earth as Talos I explodes.
Play nice or kill everyone
After the credits roll in both of the prior endings, it is revealed that you are in fact a Typhon, reliving the reconstructed memories of Morgan Yu as an experiment designed by Alex. It is at this point that Alex reveals that the real Morgan failed to stop the Typhon from reaching Earth, which caused the planet to be overrun with Typhon.
However, Alex believes that Humans and Typhon can co-exist and wanted to test if they were capable of empathy. While fans have noted that its is possible to outright fail by going on a murder spree throughout the game, most players will pass Alex's test.
After Alex goes over your actions in the game, you are presented with the choice to either join Alex or kill everyone in the room. The two different options only offer a short cutscene of the Typhon either shaking Alex's hand or killing him with its shadow tentacles. Either way, the game fades to black after both endings, sending you back to the title screen to contemplate what you've just seen.