Beyond Mad Scientists and Distracted Geniuses: Images of Science and Scientists in Prey

Arkane Studios' 2017 game Prey offers a sophisticated and largely non-stereotypical portrayal of science and scientists, according to this study. Rather than relying on familiar figures such as the mad scientist or the absent-minded genius, the game presents most of its characters as ordinary corporate workers operating within an industrial and economic system. Science is central to the game's narrative, setting, and mechanics, appearing through scientist skill trees, the analysis of alien Typhon, and the Psychoscope. The authors argue that this integration makes scientific themes a structural component of the experience rather than mere backdrop.

The analysis identifies a deliberate duality in how science is depicted. Alex Yu embodies science as a noble and necessary pursuit, yet the game also foregrounds its serious ethical costs, including the deaths of prisoners used in neuromod production. Protagonist Morgan Yu is portrayed as both courageous and self-sacrificing and as reckless in self-experimentation, a combination of admirable and flawed traits that drives both story and gameplay. The game critiques corporate control of research, unethical human experimentation, and the prioritization of profit over human welfare, while also presenting science as a potential source of empowerment and survival.

The study's scope is focused on a single title, analyzed through exploratory qualitative methods combining autoethnographic play sessions with discourse analysis of a popular Brazilian streamer's "Let's Play" videos. Using a nine-aspect analytical framework drawn from prior research on game stereotypes and procedural rhetoric, the authors note a near absence of social scientists and of significant mental atypia among scientist characters.

The authors conclude that the game situates science within industrial, economic, and social systems and suggest future research on science, capitalism, and labor. They acknowledge a key limitation: because no player survey was conducted, how audiences actually interpret these representations remains untested.