Prototype 2
Become the ultimate shape-shifting weapon!
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Prototype™ on Steam
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You are the Prototype, Alex Mercer, a man without memory armed with amazing shape-shifting abilities, hunting your way to the heart of the conspiracy which created you; making those responsible pay. Fast & Deadly Shape-Shifting Combat: Reconfigure your body to the situation at hand.
Prototype™ is a action, open world and gore game
developed by Radical Entertainment
and published by Activision.
Released on June 12th 2009 is available on Windows, Steam Deck and Steam Machine.
It has received 12,357 reviews of which 9,896 were positive and 2,461 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.8 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Prototype™ into these genres:
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System requirements
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Windows
- OS *: Windows® XP (with Service Pack 3) or Windows Vista®
- Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4000+ or better
- Memory: Vista 2 GB RAM / XP 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: All NVIDIA® GeForce® 7800 GT 256 MB and better chipsets. All ATI Radeon™ X1800 256 MB and better chipsets
- DirectX®: Microsoft DirectX 9.0c
- Hard Drive: 8GB of free hard drive space
- Sound: DirectX® 9.0c compliant sound card
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Still a Legend. Story and Characters - A Hero or a Threat? The game begins with an amnesiac man opening his eyes in a morgue in Manhattan. This man is none other than Alex Mercer, one of the well-known legends in the gaming world. The game's story is good and intriguing. At the center of the story is the Blacklight virus and the outbreak spreading across Manhattan. As the virus spreads, military presence in the city increases, quarantine tightens, and roaming the streets becomes increasingly dangerous. Because the developer implemented this into gameplay rather than just keeping it on paper, the game becomes even more enjoyable. It genuinely becomes harder for us to navigate the streets; our abnormal movements are spotted by soldiers, and the chase begins. "Consuming" people who possess information about the virus and ourselves to see their memories in order to uncover Mercer's past is quite a creative mechanic and storytelling method. This way, we can uncover the narrative piece by piece; additionally, outside the main story, we can learn details from key individuals we encounter on the street. Later teaming up with Captain Robert Cross, whom we fight, adds a distinct flavor to the story. It shows what Alex is willing to sacrifice to uncover the truth. Robert Cross's design is also very cool; it shows he is never afraid of someone like us. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails?id=3681856775 Another noteworthy point is the scientific dimension added to the story by characters like Dr. McMullen. Dr. McMullen killing himself was a particularly pivotal moment. Because of this, Mercer cannot consume him and cannot learn what he knows. This sets a logical boundary for the story. As we also learn at the end of the game, Alex Mercer is actually dead. He is now merely a disguise for us; we all already know that the virus can adopt the appearance of people it consumes. The virus, on the other hand, is the surviving memories and remnants of Alex Mercer. Gameplay and Mechanics - Power Trip! We arrive at Prototype's greatest strength. A title remembered by most people for its protagonist and gameplay rather than its story. The game grants us incredible freedom. It's almost like playing a Spider-Man game, but you are free to do whatever you want. Everything is fair game, all the way to killing civilians :d We can pilot various vehicles such as tanks, APCs, and attack helicopters. Here, they did a neat thing that fits the game's theme. Alex Mercer does not know how to operate such vehicles on his own. Thanks to his ability, he learns how to pilot them by consuming tank, APC, and helicopter pilots. A simple but great mechanic. Tricking soldiers into turning on each other is another cool mechanic. While 3-4 soldiers are talking to each other, we can walk up to them and accuse one of being infected or having Blacklight, causing them to kill him xd. The disguise system is one of the game's core mechanics. By consuming a soldier or civilian, we can assume their identity. This allows us to navigate military bases much more comfortably. As I mentioned above, we can frame another soldier as "Alex Mercer" and watch the bots eliminate him. It creates genuinely fun and neat moments from time to time. The bots conversing among themselves and reacting is also a nice touch. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails?id=3682356483 Combat mechanics are extremely satisfying. Thanks to the virus, we can adapt and utilize giant claws, a blade arm, and a whip on our body. In a way, they are all Alex's powers. At times, he turns his arm into a shield via the virus, and at other times, he morphs his arm into a whip to grapple vehicles like helicopters toward himself. High jumps and wall-running make the gameplay even more thrilling. In short, Alex Mercer is an unstoppable force. Slicing through infected people with these abilities while seeing severed limbs and bodies cut in half was quite impressive for its time. If you ask me, it remains a successful and enjoyable mechanic even today. Lastly, as I said above, the infection level across the city directly impacts the gameplay. As the virus spreads out of control, Manhattan fills with more soldiers, making street movement progressively harder. Along with this, we shouldn't forget that hunters multiply and attack us. At times, enemies increase so much that they start obstructing mission objectives. Graphics and Atmosphere Quite accomplished for its release era. Manhattan was designed as a vast and vibrant city. Thanks to Alex's abilities, we can traverse smoothly and pleasantly like Spider-Man. I will often make Spider-Man comparisons in the review because their gameplay is very similar. In fact, many people compare it to inFamous as well. The atmosphere is equally solid. Soldiers are constantly patrolling the streets. The bots don't just wander around; they actively try to clear infected buildings and the infected. At times we help them, at times they help us. Tanks and helicopters are also elements that support the environment and atmosphere. Crows circle above infected zones and red haze spreads out. You can tell an area is infected even from a distance. Towards the end of the game, Manhattan's tone shifts drastically. A gloomy atmosphere takes over the once-vibrant Manhattan feel. Red smoke drifting around and circling crows summarize the state of affairs brilliantly. In short, the city descends into utter chaos. Soldiers desperately trying to control the city and using disproportionate force enhance the atmosphere even further. Technical and Performance https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails?id=3682355774 It runs with a few hiccups on modern PCs. Personally, I was able to play without issues by installing two fix files: one for the WideScreen Fix, and the other a DLL file that resolves all stability issues. Players encountering problems can easily find them by searching online. Aside from that, it is quite a stable game. The frame rate is steady with no stuttering. Hundreds of NPCs, soldiers, and infected creatures can share the screen simultaneously, yet the game manages to remain smooth. I think the AI is well done; even when it acts silly at times, it keeps up with the gameplay tempo. Music and Sound Effects The game's sound effects support the atmosphere nicely. At the very least, they even paid attention to the track sounds while driving a tank. Weapon and creature audio are sufficient. Overall Prototype is genuinely ahead of its time mechanically for its release era. It holds a special place for many gamers, including myself. Before jumping back into it, some missions I played during my childhood were still fresh in my mind. Moving so freely in an open world, tricking soldiers, hijacking tanks and helicopters, and wreaking absolute havoc in the city is immensely impressive and satisfying. With Alex Mercer's reactions, his personality, and fun gameplay, Prototype delivers a great experience. I think it still holds up today and offers an enjoyable playthrough. Lately, there are rumors circulating about Prototype 3; I hope those rumors are true. Yonderly Score | S+ (90) [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45377045/] Follow My Curator Page For More Reviews
I first played Prototype when I was probably around 10 years old, and I fell in love with it immediately. At the time, I was just having fun playing as a superpowered grandma or simply roamed around the map mindlessly killing people and doing parkour. And now, I've finally beaten the game and I was amazed how well it stands up to this day. First of all, the game is edgy. Which is cool. You play not only as a villain, but a superpowered one in a world with no superpowers. It's a teenage boy's wet dream really, and it's a great one at that. You have 5 different main powers with dozens of unique abilities, hand-to-hand combat abilities and different weapons and vehicles with upgradable skills. The arsenal is so vast it's kind of mind boogling, not to mention that you can use any of them to complete almost any mission. On the other hand, there are a few missions, plus dozens of side challanges, that will force you to use all of these tools, so they are not going to waste. You will use all of them, as long as you are willing to do the challanges around the map. The movement is also amazing, one of the most satisfying ones I've seen in a game like this. The story is interesting. It definitely kept my attention for the entire game, especially with how almost every single missions was unique and different. There was some overlap, but overall, each story mission felt fresh. Which is not something games like this achieve very often. And the mentioned optional challanges sprinkled between these missions makes it even better. There are like 10 different types of them and with a lot of variation even within the same type of challanges. I also greatly enjoyed how the story was told from fragments of other people's memories, little by little. The progressions is also phenomenal, both in terms of unlocking your abilities and also how the difficulty increases by new enemies, or the map becoming more and more dangerous. I always liked when the map changes as the story goes on in a game, so I especially enjoyed seeing the infection spread in the city, building being destroyed and the military trying to fight it off. I wish I could end this review here, but unfortunately Prototype suffers from some great issues that will make the experience very, very frustrating at times. First of all, while the movement itself is satisfying and amazing, the controls are sometimes horrendous. I can't even count how many times I died or failed a challange because I jumped the wrong direction, grabbed the wrong thing, or simply did something I didn't mean to do. Some of it I can understand, because there are so many abilities, tying them to only a few buttons will result in using the wrong one sometimes. But some is just plainly bad, especially when you would want precise movements in challanges. Second, the game sometimes makes absolutely zero sense. For example, there is a stealth mechanic, which is very cool. But pretty early on, it becomes essentially useless, as the military will gain the ability to detect you anyway. With this, the best tactic to infiltrate a base will be to run in like an idiot, kidnap the commander who you need to gain access, absorb him and lose the military, then run back AS THE COMMANDOR YOU KIDNAPPED 30 SECONDS AGO LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED. Like, really? There was no better way to do this? Not only that it makes no sense, the stealth mechanic becomes completely irrelevant at the middle of the game and onwards. I also hate whoever thought the knockback mechanic was a good idea. Despite being the strongest being in the world by far, you will constantly get knocked around and stunlocked by even some of the early enemies. Or even by yourself, as shooting anything within a 10 meter radius with the grenade launcher will cause you to be knocked back. I know it's an explosion, but really? It makes the weapon completely unusable and extremely frustrating when you have to use it in some challanges. As the last thing, I will have to say that despite how varied they are and how much I loved them, there are some serious balance issues in missions and challanges. Some of them will be patheticly easy, while others will be the hardest thing you will ever do in the game for seemingly no reason and also no middle ground. A lot of the challanges will simply become a luck thing, where you pray for enemies to spawn in the right place or it will be impossible to complete them with a high rating. I really cannot fathom that anyone actually played through all of them in testing, because it's so blatantly obvious. Not everything needs to be the same difficulty, but at least they could've tried to keep it reasonable and not be an rng thing. The cutscenes in this game are something out of this world, and I really can't decide if they are the most brilliant things ever or the most pathetic example of cinematic storytelling I've ever heard of. It's very hard to describe, one would have to play the game and experience it for themselves. But a lot of them have no correlation to the actual gameplay before and after them, they end in very awkward spots almost as if they were cut short and the whole thing just feels very amateur and weird. Overall, I can't help but recommend this game. It has some glaring problems, problems that will sometimes make you laugh or scream in anger. But it's not only one of the best edgy power fantasies out there, but it's one of the few examples where they managed to packs so much into a game not only without feeling overwhelming, but actually being purposeful.
I swear, if this game got remade or they ever made a Prototype 3 it would probably be the best superpower simulator ever. I feel Prototype takes some Batman Arkham/Spiderman, takes some Just Cause and a sprinkle of malice and then becomes this power-fantasy heaven. It's a little bit outdated, but there is still a lot of fun to be had for sure. The whole idea and art design is so metal and just slamming through cars and busting out skyscraper windows at breakneck speed will never not be awesome.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Prototype™ is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.
No, Prototype™ is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.99€ on Steam.
Yes, Prototype™ received 9,896 positive votes out of a total of 12,357 achieving a rating of 7.83.
😊
Prototype™ was developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision.
Yes, Prototype™ is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, Prototype™ is not playable on MacOS.
No, Prototype™ is not playable on Linux.
Yes, Prototype™ is playable on Steam Deck, though it might require a few minor tweaks. Make sure to check the Steam store page and community feedback on ProtonDB for exact compatibility details.
Yes, Prototype™ is playable and fully supported on Steam Machine.
No, Prototype™ does not support VR.
Prototype™ is a single-player game.
No, Prototype™ does not currently offer any DLC.
No, Prototype™ does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, Prototype™ does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Prototype™ is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Prototype™.
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The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 22 September 2026 20:21 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 14 October 2026 19:42 UTC |
| Steam price | 18 October 2026 03:03 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 17 October 2026 06:09 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Prototype™, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Prototype™
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Prototype™ concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Prototype™ compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
100
Developer
Radical Entertainment
Publisher
Activision
Release
12 Jun 2009
Platforms
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