Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz)

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.

• The study argues that Arkane Studios' 2017 game Prey largely avoids stereotypes of scientists (mad scientists, absent-minded geniuses), instead portraying most characters as ordinary corporate workers within an industrial and economic system.
• Science is structurally integrated into Prey's narrative, setting, and mechanics through scientist skill trees, analysis of the alien Typhon, and the Psychoscope, rather than serving as mere backdrop.
• The game presents science with a deliberate duality: Alex Yu embodies it as a noble necessity, while the game foregrounds ethical costs such as the deaths of prisoners used in neuromod production.