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Prototype™
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.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “Power fantasy with satisfying combat” (61 of 104 reviews) and “Intriguing conspiracy and character arcs” (16); the most common complaint is “Repetitive missions and unfair bosses” (17). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-10-22 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
61 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“its a must play and hella fun the story is also great but this game falls into a catagory of forgotten ips like allegedly revealed by court documents a couple years ago activision was gonna do a infamous crossover with…”
“They really don't make games like this anymore. If you've never played this than you're missing out. This is basically the best super power based fantasy game you could possibly get your hands on. You don't play this…”
“Graphics- Good Gameplay- Amazing Story- Good Overall- Great ! this is a must play!!”
16 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“its a must play and hella fun the story is also great but this game falls into a catagory of forgotten ips like allegedly revealed by court documents a couple years ago activision was gonna do a infamous crossover with…”
“Graphics- Good Gameplay- Amazing Story- Good Overall- Great ! this is a must play!!”
“Completed the game on my PS4 a few years back now. Honestly I really enjoyed this game. I loved playing as Alex and feeling like a tank that moves super fast. Tearing through all my enemies like they were made of…”
11 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Despite how cumbersome it is to run on modern machines, it somehow works absolutely flawlessly out of the box on the Steam Deck. No idea what kinda black magic is going on there, but I’ll take it if it means I get to…”
“The game still stands strong even today, if you download the fix from nexus the game will run just fine, the gameplay is still good, combat it's unique, one of the best older action game.”
“This is an old school hack and slash, played it when had X360, worth checking the hints when unlocking skills, otherwise can be confusing to master the combat. Game is fine if you just want to relax for a few hours.…”
9 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“This game is a gem that has stood the test of time in the graphics department, but it's hard to run it on modern systems. There is a mod on nexus called PrototypeFix and helps run this game without problems. I hopped…”
“Graphics- Good Gameplay- Amazing Story- Good Overall- Great ! this is a must play!!”
“i just can't believe this is a game that came out in 2009, i feel like we have lost the ability to do animations like this especially for open world games. the black magic done on the parkour is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good. it can…”
4 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“They really don't make games like this anymore. If you've never played this than you're missing out. This is basically the best super power based fantasy game you could possibly get your hands on. You don't play this…”
“This is an old school hack and slash, played it when had X360, worth checking the hints when unlocking skills, otherwise can be confusing to master the combat. Game is fine if you just want to relax for a few hours.…”
“Had been thinking of this game recently and didn't even know it was on Steam, even better it was on Steam and on sale as a package with the second and the DLC for £10. Snatched it up and been playing the first one and…”
17 of the 104 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“I keep seeing that all of the negative reviews of this game are about it crashing. I have had no such problems, so they must have patched in the meanwhile. That being said... JUST PLAY PROTOTYPE 2 I find it baffling…”
“Ridiculously over the top, mindless fun. Prototype is the definition of power fantasy. Every hit you land feels immensely satisfying. Also a simple yet very engaging premise involving government conspiracy. Controls are…”
“Great aesthetics, a lot to love, but this is a run away and heal simulator. This has to be the weakest super powered being ever. The amount of stun locks and animations with zero iframes is ridiculous. The controls…”
12 of the 104 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“This game is a gem that has stood the test of time in the graphics department, but it's hard to run it on modern systems. There is a mod on nexus called PrototypeFix and helps run this game without problems. I hopped…”
“Despite how cumbersome it is to run on modern machines, it somehow works absolutely flawlessly out of the box on the Steam Deck. No idea what kinda black magic is going on there, but I’ll take it if it means I get to…”
“fun game.the port really kills it.expect crushes and the game crushing everytime you load a save.”
10 of the 104 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“i just can't believe this is a game that came out in 2009, i feel like we have lost the ability to do animations like this especially for open world games. the black magic done on the parkour is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good. it can…”
“cool story and gameplay concept, gets increasingly more frustrating the further you play, unbelievable”
“when you're bad, you're very bad. when you're good, you're still bad. there were two fights that had me genuinely mad but now that I've crossed the mountain, i get to enjoy the view. buy this game when it's on sale, it…”
8 of the 104 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“ABSOLUTE PEAK. NEEDS A THIRD GAME NOW. But to be honest it still has that charm of playing as a shapeshifter even though it is very clunky by the metrics of modern gaming. There is so much knockback and stun i thought i…”
“Ridiculously over the top, mindless fun. Prototype is the definition of power fantasy. Every hit you land feels immensely satisfying. Also a simple yet very engaging premise involving government conspiracy. Controls are…”
“Great aesthetics, a lot to love, but this is a run away and heal simulator. This has to be the weakest super powered being ever. The amount of stun locks and animations with zero iframes is ridiculous. The controls…”
5 of the 104 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“This game is a gem that has stood the test of time in the graphics department, but it's hard to run it on modern systems. There is a mod on nexus called PrototypeFix and helps run this game without problems. I hopped…”
“A Zombie virus oubtreak, Manhattan, Superpowers and You. Yes, yes, and one more time; YES: First things first; the game's graphics have DEFINITELY not aged well and leave a lot to be desired. That being said, the…”
“This game does not age well. This is a game from 2009. One of the best years for gaming. I saw this game everywhere when I was growing up. Gamestop, game informer, the mall, TV ads, even my local grocery store sold it.…”
Counted across 104 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 80.5% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“(first of all install the PrototypeFix from nexus then everything runs smooth even on modern hardwares) this fu***** game has been my number one favourite video game since childhood, maybe it's nostalgia talking maybe not but i still love it very much. the change of atmosphere…”
— a player, Steam review · 16 hrs played“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…”
— a player, Steam review · 7 hrs played“Not only do you need a fix to play this, but controller doesn't even work with it. Don't even bother, just go emulate it.”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-23). Relative comparison only.
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Action, Adventure |
| Player tags | Action · Open World · Gore · Singleplayer · Third Person · Adventure · Superhero · Parkour · Violent · Hack and Slash · Zombies · Action-Adventure (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English, French, Spanish - Spain, Italian |
| Official site | http://www.prototypegame.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
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