Alex Mercer (Prototype) Character Research

Alex Mercer is the main protagonist of the first Prototype game developed by Radical Entertainment, with him assuming the role of the villain in the second instalment. The game itself is an open world action game in which you travers an infected Manhattan using the various abilities at your disposal to defeat you enemies.

Alex Mercer serves as an antihero in the first game as he starts it out with no relocation of his past and strange abilities. The player is given one clear enemy at the start of the game in the form of Blackwatch and the infected and they follow him on his journey to reclaim his memories. This, whilst a cliché, largely works for making Alex Mercer an effective antihero as he effectively starts of victimless and with the world as his enemy. This essentially excuses a large majority of his immoral acts as they were mainly in the name of survival. This is also helped by the dark tone of the world and themes which does a good job at normalising the evil acts performed by the character.

Towards the end of the game however, this is revealed to not necessarily be the case as Alex Mercer was shown to be responsible for the infection outbreak that was destroying Manhattan. This was because Alex Mercer was the head researcher for the virus and found out with the help of his sister that members of the scientist team were being disposed of to cover the companies tracks. Fearing his life, he stole a sample of the virus and tried to flee, resulting in him being caught and releasing the virus out of frustration. Whilst this act is very villainous, the game makes an effort to show that there is a clear separation between Alex’s previous identity and his new one. This plus that fact that the player was given ample time with Alex Mercer before the reveal emphasis with him on a much deeper level than they otherwise would have if they knew his past from the get go.

As for his character design, Alex Mercer looks overall very mundane as a direct contrast to his visceral shapeshifting abilities. He is also shown to wear a leather jacket and hoodie, making his character feel appropriately edgy for the grim and corrupt world that he inhabits. In relation to the hoodie especially this helps to conceal his face and provide a sense of mystery about the characters identity, in direct connection to the major conflict in his arch. Finally, there is an irony presented in his character due to his ability to consume others along with their memories. In the narrative this serves as a plot device for him to find out about his past but for his character is servers as irony that he is stealing from others what was stolen from him.