In 2017’s reboot of the 2006 game, Prey, the main playable character, Morgan Yu, is tasked with stopping an alien race known as the Typhon from destroying the Earth by any means necessary, including at the cost of their own life. Despite being the protagonist of the game, Morgan Yu has very little in common with the protagonist of the original Prey, Domasi “Tommy” Tawodi, with the only similarity between the two being their battle against alien forces.
Not only do neither of the protagonists share a common lineage, with Tommy’s Cherokee descent being the main focus of the game’s power system, but Morgan can be either male or female depending on the player’s choice while retaining identical personality traits between each iteration of the character.
10 They’re Chinese-German
Although the 2006 Prey leaned heavily into spirituality and Tommy’s Cherokee heritage, the reboot takes the main character in a very different direction as Morgan and their family are of Chinese and German descent instead. While this means that their lineage has little to no impact on the game in general, unlike in the 2006 version of the game, this does mean that the story can focus more on the Typhon and the Yu’s involvement in the experiments surrounding them, allowing for some truly outlandish sci-fi moments.
9 They Volunteered For The Neuromod Procedure
When players first take part in the testing process at the beginning of the game, it would seem reasonable to assume that Morgan was forced into this scenario as it is quickly revealed that not only has their apartment been rebuilt on some kind of sound stage, but that they are already on Talos 1 and have been there for some time. Later in the game, it is revealed that Morgan actually volunteered for the process, being fully aware that repeated use of Neuromods would result in them having essentially no memories of the last few years of the experiment.
8 Their Parents Are The Faces Of Transtar
A recurring name in 2017’s Prey is the company responsible for launching Talos 1 and backing the Typhon experiments that the player finds themselves neck-deep in when the game begins. While those in charge of running the mega-corporation are generally unknown to the public, with the majority of their members wanting to remain anonymous, the only exceptions to this are Morgan’s parents.
While the pair are never met in person, Morgan’s father, William, after hearing of the events that transpired on Talos 1, orders all Cobalt level technology to be retrieved and all human personnel to be killed, including both of his children. Although just about everything surrounding Morgan’s mother, Catherine, is shrouded in mystery, it is known that she has a talent with firearms, as the unique shotgun, the Margrave, was once used by her to participate in the Centennial European Shooting Championship.
7 Their Name May Be A Reference To Several People
In the case of many video games, characters can often be modeled or named after people who worked on developing the game, with Morgan Yu being no exception to this. Morgan’s name may be a reference to Corrine Yu, a programmer who worked on the first iteration of Prey that was in development in the late 90s, but it could also simply be a play on “you” as the player.
6 They Can Be Scanned After Using Phantom Shift
After researching Etheric Phantoms, the player is able to gain access to the Typhon ability Phantom Shift, which leaves a decoy that attracts the enemy’s attention and allows them to sneak away undetected or attack more powerful Typhon from behind. If the player scans this decoy, it will show the player’s stats in a similar way to when scanning Typhon, though with a more comedic flair as their Strength is either Devastatingly Handsome for male Morgan and Devastating Beauty for female Morgan. This scan also reveals that their Weakness is having a toxic family, Immunity simply stating “I Wish”, and Resistance being Good Advice.
5 Their Birthday Is The Same As The Game’s Release Date
It’s not uncommon for the release date of a video game to have significance within the game world itself, with the release date of another of Bethesda’s games, Skyrim, 11th November 2011, being carved onto many of the headstones in Falkreath’s graveyard. In Prey, the release date of the title, 5th May, is the same date as Morgan’s birthday, though the year is unspecified as a result of taking place in a distant alternate future.
4 They Appear As An Easter Egg In The Dishonored Series
Aside from being the developers behind Prey, Arkane Studios are also responsible for the Dishonored series, so it should be no surprise that Morgan appears as an Easter egg in the stand-alone expansion for Dishonored 2, Death of the Outsider. In the mission The Bank Job, several names can be found on lockboxes inside a bank, including one that is labeled for Morgan Yu.
While there is no way that Morgan could appear in the Dishonored series short of time traveling or dimension hoping, it is a neat nod to another of Arkane Studio’s titles that was released only a few months prior to Death of the Outsider.
3 It Is Implied That The Real Morgan Yu Has Been Dead For Some Time
Prey isn’t the first video game to use the “protagonist was the monster all along” twist, with it also appearing in the likes of Prototype following the revelation that Alex Mercer is, in fact, essentially a glob of the Blacklight Virus in the shape of a human, though Prey did manage to scatter enough breadcrumbs throughout the game to allow players to come to the conclusion on their own. After some exploring, it is revealed that the testing done on Morgan at the beginning of the game was actually the scientists of Talos 1 implanting human memories into a Typhon using the Neuromod system, resulting in the creation of a hybrid entity that took on the form of Morgan Yu.
2 The Male Morgan Is Played By Tim Kang
Although Morgan doesn’t speak all that often in Prey, particularly in the first few hours, the AI based on Morgan’s memories and personality, January, has a large amount of dialogue to make up for this. Both the male version of Morgan and January is played by Tim Kang, an actor most well known for playing FBI Agent Kimball Cho in The Mentalist, though he has also appeared in several other TV shows, most recently as Detective Gordon Katsumoto in the Magnum P.I. reboot series. Before taking the role of Morgan Yu, Tim Kang also appeared as Dogen in Mirrors Edge Catalyst, the only other credit to his name in video games.
1 The Female Morgan Is Played By Sumalee Montano
As with the male version of Morgan, the actress who plays the female iteration also provides the voice for the female version of January as well. Morgan’s female version is played by Sumalee Montano, who has appeared in several other video games in the past though is most notable for her recent roles as the thief Yuna in Ghost of Tsushima and Mari Kosan in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
