Prototype Gets Surprise Steam Update, Breaking Mods and Hinting at a Remaster
There are few things in this world more powerful than a man whose body is a horrifying collection of weaponized meat tentacles. Prototype taught us that back in 2009. This week, Activision taught us that not even he is safe from a surprise patch.
Out of the goddamn blue, both Prototype and its sequel received unprompted, 600 MB updates on Steam. No patch notes, no announcement, nothing. Just a silent, digital fart in the wind for a game that’s old enough to have a driver's license. The immediate effect? It completely broke the game for the hundred or so people still playing it.
A Cruel and Unusual Update
Let's be real, playing Prototype on a modern PC is an exercise in patience and community patches. The game is a crash-happy mess without fan-made fixes like PrototypeFix. So, of course, this shadow update immediately rendered those essential mods useless, turning the game into an unplayable brick.
Luckily, the modding community is faster and more dedicated than any AAA studio. The creator of PrototypeFix deployed an update almost immediately, saving the day for the devotees of Alex Mercer and his particular brand of angsty, body-horror-fueled chaos. But this whole mess begs the question: why the hell did Activision bother updating a 16-year-old game in the first place?
The Devil's in the Datamine
As you'd expect, modders immediately tore the update apart like one of Mercer's meat tentacles shredding a helicopter. What they found was more interesting than a few bug fixes. Tucked away in the game's updated credits was a trail of breadcrumbs pointing to something much bigger.
The new credits included references to a "Ubisoft Connect version" that doesn't seem to exist, and mentions of a couple of Activision support studios. But the real kicker, the name that made everyone sit up and pay attention, was Iron Galaxy Studios.
If that name doesn't ring a bell, it should. Iron Galaxy is the go-to studio for high-quality ports and remasters. They're the wizards behind the PC versions of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection. Their name appearing in the credits of a 16-year-old game isn't a coincidence; it's a goddamn calling card.
So, We're Getting a Remaster?
Obviously, this is all just speculation until Activision makes an official announcement. But you don't add one of the industry's top remastering studios to your credits for shits and giggles. All signs point to a Prototype remaster being in the works.
Of course, the community's reaction has been a perfect blend of excitement and pure, unadulterated cynicism. The general consensus? The remaster will probably be a full-priced, $50 release that completely replaces the original game on the store, forcing everyone to buy it again. It's a move we've seen a dozen times before, and it's probably what's going to happen here. Because if there's one thing you can count on, it's a big publisher's inability to leave well enough alone.