If you’re deep into Prey (and you should be it’s great) then names like Josh Dalton or Aaron ingram or Trevor Young are probably driving you crazy, along with a host of other notable NPCs. Prey isn’t a game that's driven by much dialogue or character interaction, but there are a ton of Missing Persons sidequests to explore by way of security stations. Every NPC can be tracked individually, but not all NPCs are equal. Here’s a rundown of some of the notable NPCs and some tips on how to find them and what they do.
Prey NPC Tips: Josh Dalton
Josh Dalton can be a real motherfucker to find. You first learn of his name once you access the Beams And Waves section of the Hardware Labs. You need the Repair II skill to gain access because you have to fix a damaged panel inside the Hardware Labs near where you find Dr. Calvino’s body (it's a main quest objective). Once inside Beams And Waves you’ll gain access to a computer terminal (and kill a nasty Phantom that overtook the body of Lane Carpenter) that will unlock the Josh Dalton side quest. Basically, he’s lost in GUTS and you need to find him. Spoiler: he’s dead already so you’re corpse hunting.
Locating Josh Dalton in GUTS is no easy task. The earlier you do the search the better; I ended up backtracking after I had advanced a bit and there were some nasty surprises waiting me in my second trip to GUTS. So I highly advise you to look for Josh while you’re in GUTS the first time as part of the main storyline. The enemies are much more sparse.
Locating him can be tricky, too. Basically, he’s in an offshoot from the main corridor around a blind curve near the exit for Arboretum. You’ll be heading down the cargo tunnel in the direction of the cargo bay. He’s located in subsection 16, but kind of in a lower portion? It’s very easy to drift past the passageway. If you’re chasing the waypoint and feel like you’re jammed in a corner while he’s only ~20m away you’re almost there. Just follow the wall (I honestly can’t recommend a direction because there’s no compass in zero gravity, sorry) and you will see the side passage just past some Cystoid nests. Again, I backtracked so those nests might not be there on your initial trip in GUTS.
Once you find Josh Dalton in Prey the game rewards you with yet another keycard for some place you don’t know how to find (Blackbox Lab) as well as a Q-Beam and some ammo for it. If you didn’t find the Q-Beam in the Hardware Lab before then you’ll be very happy with your new toy. But I recommend saving the ammo for major enemies like Telepaths and Nightmares. As tempting as it is to take out a Phantom with a quickness you will regret not having the firepower when one of the really, REALLY tough Typhon shows up.
Prey NPC Tips: Aaron Ingram
Aaron Ingram is much easier to find than Josh Dalton and almost as rewarding. You can find Aaron Ingram in Prey inside the Psychotronic’s Material Extraction lab. He’s stuck inside a holding cell controlled by a nearby computer terminal. Also on the terminal is a rundown of his criminal history, a de facto justification for the other option on the terminal which allows you to summon a mimic in the room with him and watch him die.
Should you kill Aaron Ingram? In Prey , it feels like a choice that will have a ton of weight but, without spoiling too much, if you kill him you better be prepared to kill everyone else you meet to gain the Awkward Ride Home achievement. That’s about it as far as I can tell. In a game that is already tough as hell with limited resources, I’d recommend sparing Ingram so you can get access to the security room next door. It’s got a shotgun, a turret and a bunch of other useful stuff.
Prey NPC Tips: Trevor Young
Trevor Young is kind of a shit NPC in Prey . He’s stuck behind a Quarantine Room keycode lock and seems to be generally crazy. You’d be crazy, too, if a Typhon was mind controlling you. Let me save you a TON of time and tell you something I wish someone had told me: You can’t save Trevor. I am like 99% sure of this because I scoured the interwebs guides and forums and no one has found a scenario where you can save this guy. Initially, I thought if I killed a telepath that spawned in the Talos 1 Lobby it would free him. It didn’t. You can’t stun him or anything either. Basically once the door opens his head explodes because Prey .
So, how DO you get into the Quarantine Room to sop up Trevor Young’s purple brain goo and get a little bit of loot (nothing major)? If you’re Hacking is high enough you can force the lock on the door. I really, really recommend investing in Hacking ASAP. Being able to force through security booth doors and computer terminals saves a lot of scavenger hunt backtracking nonsense. If you can’t hack it (see what I did there?) you can find the code on a computer in Dr. Kohl’s office in the Trauma Center (which can be accessed with a keycard you’ll find in the Executive Offices on level three of the Talos 1 Lobby).
There’s a pretty neat story arc associated with this guy, so no spoilers. But if you’re wondering if there’s some grand reward for killing/saving Trevor, not really. I don’t want to say it’s not worth your time, because Prey is definitely a game that gets better the more effort you put into finding the narrative hidden among emails and context clues, but if you’re desperate for resources and think Trevor Young is the solution he ain’t. Sorry.
That’s it for those NPCs in Prey . Keep an eye on iDigitalTimes as we post more useful Prey guides and tips and whatnot. And if you’ve got any questions give me a shout on twitter @mo_mozuch because I have played 18 hours of Prey in two days and it’s the only thing my mushy brain can talk about.
