New Prey trailer explores dark origins of Talos and alternate history where JFK was never assassinated

Bethesda has released a new trailer for its upcoming sci-fi FPS Prey focusing on the dark origins of the Talos 1 space station and the game's alternate history setting where President John F Kennedy survived his assassination. While the futuristic game is set in space in 2032, the new video takes gamers back to 1958 showcasing an alternate world where JFK survives the attempt on his life, triggering a series of events that eventually had significant, yet serious consequences.

"After recovering from the attempt on his life, Kennedy threw his nation further into the space race by taking control of a US/Russian joint programme and transforming a Russian satellite into a fully functional R&D facility meant to study non-terrestrials," associate content manager Anne Lewis says in a blog post.

After a catastrophic incident ended the research programme in 1998, the abandoned facility was turned into a luxurious, cutting-edge space station owned by the TranStar Corporation in 2030.

The discovery of non-terrestrial life forms in the 1950s "has all kinds of rippling consequences in our version of history, including Kennedy surviving his assassination attempt, which in turn led to more involvement from the US government in space research, and so on", lead designer Ricardo Bare said. "These ripples are even reflected in the 60s 'neo-deco' aesthetic of Talos 1."

Shortly after TranStar took over, the station was used as a testing centre for "some morally dubious experiments" using people on board as subjects, including the game's protagonist Morgan Yu.

After awakening on board Talos 1, Morgan finds that the station is overrun by a frightening, previously contained alien entity called Typhon that researchers were studying and using to "improve the scope of human capabilities."

"Aided by strange alien-based powers, Morgan must survive the incursion, uncover the mysteries surrounding the Typhon and save humanity from the impending danger aboard the station," Lewis writes.

Although Bethesda has not included any new gameplay footage in the new trailer, gamers did get a glimpse of how the new shooter will play in a brief gameplay trailer released at the Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany, in August.

Announced at E3 2016, the new game developed by Arkane Studios will also allow players to choose between a male or female version of Morgan.

"The world of Prey is not exactly as we know it," Arkane Studios chief executive and creative director Raphael Colantonio said. "We imagined how things would have gone if we had added one very significant event to our timeline: the discovery of non-terrestrial life forms in the 50s."

Prey is expected to release in 2017 on PS4, Xbox One and PC.