- "To make this right... someone has to die."
- – Morgan during gameplay trailer. [src]
Morgan Yu is the main protagonist of the 2017 remake of Prey. The player can choose Morgan's gender at the start of the game depending on their preference.
History
Background
Morgan Yu was born on May 5, 2005 as the second child of Catherine Yu, a German businesswoman, and William Yu, an accomplished Chinese neuroscientist and is the sibling of Alex Yu. In 2027, Morgan was employed by TranStar industries, their parents' company in the testing of an experimental item known as a Neuromod. In 2032, Morgan was transferred to its orbital space station, where over the course of the next three years they would become part of the leading scientific team inventing the Psychoscope.
Morgan volunteered to be the main test subject in the experiments to grant humans Typhon abilities, fully aware that as part of the trials his/her memories would be erased over and over again as the Neuromods are installed and then removed. Towards this end Morgan was placed in a simulation of their apartment while they were still on Earth and made to relive the same day of their life over and over again.
Subsequent removal and adding of various neuromods showed a previously unknown side effect of personality drift as well as slowly influencing various portions of their mind in different directions. This caused Morgan's personality to completely change in a way that their previous opinions were wiped away and was left mentally unstable, resulting in violent outbursts.
At some point in time, Morgan figured out what was happening and escaped, but foreseeing that they would be captured again, they reprogrammed an Operator named January to help the future amnesiac self by planting Neuromods that would be able to help Morgan fight their way out of the station and telling them what they have forgotten due to the removal of Neuromods when Morgan was testing the Neuromods. However, Morgan was eventually recaptured and only to have their memory erased once more. Morgan's main goal at this point in time would be to destroy Talos I, and with it the Typhon and the threat they presented to the human race.
Prey (2017)
Morgan wakes up what seems to be an apartment on Earth. They are contacted by their brother, Alex Yu, who tells them that they need to travel to the TranStar building. They put on their TranStar uniform and are taken to to the TranStar building by helicopter. They meet their brother and partake in a series of tests until a Mimic takes the form of Dr. Bellamy's coffee cup and begins to attack the scientists. The staff use a gas to sedate Morgan, who is knocked out.
Morgan wakes up from their apartment and are contacted by a Science Operator called January. It tells Morgan that they need to escape from their apartment. In doing so, they find themselves in a lab and learned that the "apartment," the helicopter and the lab was just a series of carefully disguised sets, which led them to believe that they were still on Earth. As Morgan escapes from the lab, they witness and battle against Mimics and Phantoms. They learn that they are on a space station, Talos I, which is owned by TranStar.
January makes contact with Morgan and leads them back to their office, and to more neuromods, where a video explaining part of the situation plays, before being abruptly cut off by their brother Alex Yu. After being cut off they go to find Dr. Calvino's office to restore the connection to the Looking Glass servers which Alex had cut them off from.
Upon returning to their office and resuming the video, Morgan is informed by their past self that they must destroy Talos I stating that nothing can survive, including themselves and all research, to ensure the Typhon never reach Earth.
Post-credits scene
After the credits scene (credits scene is skippable) the player will be transported to a "Secret Office", regardless what fate for Talos-1 the player chose and who they saved, they will be faced by Alex Yu and operator versions from four main supporting survivors, Dayo Igwe, Mikhaila Ilyushin, Sarah Elazar and Danielle Sho that the player has the option to save and help during the course of the game. It is revealed at this point that the player is in fact not Morgan, but instead a special type of Typhon that possesses a human-like physiology. Alex shows to the player that Earth is now filled with Coral, and that humanity has spent years using Typhon-based upgrades, but that they never considered putting human traits into a Typhon, apparently the reason why they created the player - a hybrid of Typhon and Human, with the hopes of finding out if it possessed such traits as empathy using a "complex simulation" based on a reconstruction of Morgan Yu's memories. It turns out that the real Morgan is implied to be long dead and the player will be given a choice either to take Alex Yu's hand, at which point the dark hand of the player will grow Human-like skin to grab Alex's hand, confirming their hopes that the hybrid would be able to empathize and relate to ("see") humans. The player may also choose "kill them all", which will result in the player's dark, Typhon-hand forming a sharp tentacle, which will then impale and kill Alex Yu.
There are keywords to determine if the simulation was a failure or a success. The operator version of Igwe will say if the activation of mirror neurons is promising or not promising. If Igwe says the mirror neurons are not promising, Alex says they have failed and the operator version of Mikhaila will say to start over, and the player will fail to complete the simulation. If Igwe said the activation of mirror neurons is promising then the player has just successfully completed the simulation.
Personality and skills
Morgan is a highly intelligent and resourceful person, being able to hack various devices on Talos I and even reprogram an Operator for their needs. They are also adept in various weaponry and tools ranging from a wrench to a firearm and a GLOO Cannon.
Morgan also assisted in creating a major amount of advancements seen on Talos I such as the Psychoscope, Typhon modifications, and others.
Before Neuromod removal, Morgan was quite cold and professional, distancing themselves from the subjects they experimented on.
Trivia
- Morgan Yu's last name might be an indirect reference to Corrinne Yu, American game programmer that on one point worked on the iteration of original Prey in 1998.
- Morgan Yu's last name may also be reference to 'you,' as in the player.
- Even though Morgan can be heard talking in the trailers, the only times they speak in-game are in prerecorded messages.
- The 'Red Eye' trailer for Prey shows the male Morgan waking up with a slightly red eye on 'Monday March 15th, 2032.' He's then shown waking up again on 'Monday March 15th, 2032' with a more red eye. He's shown doing this several times with the date never progressing. This represents him being trapped in the constant loop of tests the player finds themselves in at the beginning of the game.
- The name 'Morgan' was likely chosen as it is unisex, making it a plausible given name regardless of the gender chosen for the character.
- Strangely enough, concept art for Female Morgan shows her suit being green and white and Male Morgan being red and black, however in game it is red for both characters.
- When scanned (If you used Phantom Shift that leaves their double behind), Morgan Yu will be listed as: Strength: Devastatingly Handsome ('Devastating Beauty', if female). Weakness: Toxic Family; Immunity: I wish; Resistance: Good Advice.
- Morgan shares their birthday (5 May) with the release of the game.
- Dishonored: Death of the Outsider contains an Easter egg referencing Morgan Yu. In the mission "The Bank Job", you can access a lock box room in a bank. Each lock box has a name, one of them being Morgan Yu.
Gallery
Promotional
