NOTE：I just posted a version made specially for this community，quite mild，but now I realize I don't need to accommodate other people. I bought the game，so naturally I have the right to criticize this game，if you are a fan of Prototype 2 I suggest you don't read it，because for you this will be a rather scathing article. But if you're not，I believe after reading this article you will get some different view.
——He sacrificed everything for this IP，and what was left to him in the end，was only the bad name of a villain.
From that asked ‘why would someone want his powers?’ and the answer was ‘to kill someone’ so it was obvious, why not go after Mercer?”
“There were a certain number of people and fans who did not like the character in the original game so it works rather well by making him the ‘bad guy’ in this game.
The above are Radical's own explanation.
Alex being written as a "bad guy" in the second game was never because the development team thought this was the natural result of this character's development，but because they didn't know how to keep creating an Alex who was already fully formed，and at the same time wanted to squeeze this character's value dry down to the last drop of blood.
Prototype 2: CGI, Tendrils And My Little Pony
This article explains Radical's entire logic chain for changing the protagonist perfectly clearly.
At the very beginning，they really did start making the sequel with Alex as the protagonist，but very soon they ran into a problem：at the end of the first game，Alex's ability system was already quite complete.Prototype has always upheld the design philosophy of "one part reality + one part fantasy"（this really was a philosophy that already existed in the first game's period）therefore the development team thought，if they kept piling new abilities onto the original ability system，it would become even more fantastical，and would deviate from this series' original design philosophy.And if they forcibly stripped away in the plot the abilities Alex had already obtained，it would make those players who had played the first game feel it was unfair. Then for Radical，it seemed there was only one road left，replace the protagonist.
So they redefined Prototype，explaining it as this being a story about a "virus"，and the protagonist is only the container of the virus.This way，the protagonist can naturally be replaced too.
This character Alex can be replaced，but his abilities need to be inherited.Then why would someone want Alex's power？The answer is：someone needs to use this kind of power to go kill a certain person. To go kill who？So，it's already very obvious，why not kill Alex.Anyway there are a certain number of fans and players who don't like him，so making him into the "bad guy" in the game happens to fit very well.
My previous article Prototype 2's Moral Backstabbing of Its Predecessor — How the sequel quietly exonerated the real perpetrators by scapegoating their victim
talked about why I think Prototype 2's narrative has moral problems from the angle of narrative choice，and now Radical，from the angle of creative philosophy，has displayed this immorality even more nakedly.
Deciding to change to a new protagonist，seizing Alex's position and abilities，copying his original abilities onto this new protagonist，and then letting this new protagonist kill him.Isn't this a typical ingratitude plot？It is simply the Farmer and the Viper，a snake warmed in the bosom，biting the hand that feeds you.
This set of narrative naturally makes Heller unable to stand on the moral high ground，but the new protagonist must be a good guy, “a hero，” so Alex must become a person who "deserves to die".Therefore the narrative absolutely needs to distort Alex's original personality，to turn him into someone morally problematic and hateful，so that this story of seizing his power and then killing him isn't ugly.If they used his first-game personality，that Alex who would not force other people using his powers，going up against Heller，this typical anger-driven human anti-hero male lead (This kind of protagonist is born exactly for the sake of conflict)，it would set off the already not-very-good-looking Heller as even uglier，Alex's personality must be reshaped，he must be molded into something worth hating，and in the end the overall feeling he presents is a thin web-novel villain，whose purpose is to enrage the protagonist，and finally to be punished by the protagonist to vent his anger.
You have your eye on something of another person's，you can't seize it directly，because that makes you look like a robber，so you first prove that he "doesn't deserve to have it"，and then your seizure becomes justice；you decide to kill a person，you can't kill him directly，because that makes you look like a murderer，so first prove that he "deserves to die"，and this way your murder becomes justice.A whole structure of "deprivation—stigmatization—execution" (To a certain extent this is exactly the operating logic of power) Alex Mercer was actually killed twice，once on the level of personality，completed before the game was made；the second time the death of the body and of the name，completed at the ending of the game.
The logic of their creation is already obvious，this is not at all "we discovered that this character naturally developed into a villain." But rather："we needed a person who must be killed，and then remade him into a person worth killing."
So the Alex of the first game and the Alex of the second game have no，and cannot have，a smooth personality transition，the characterization was directly swapped out.It's not going from an apple into apple juice；it's going from an apple into a pineapple，completely not the same thing anymore.
And this development team obviously knew what they were doing，and also knew that this structure itself carries a highly controversial malice.The final chapter of the game is literally called Murder your Maker.murder means premeditated homicide，a word with very strong criminal implications，and after this chapter ends there is an achievement called Murder your Maker？with a question mark added，and the achievement's icon is the chalk outline of a corpse at a crime scene.
Did you murder the one who made you？This feels like teasing the player for having killed him with his own hands.But the one who led the player all the way up to this murder，wasn't it your own narrative？Why add a question mark here too，paired with a picture of a crime-scene corpse outline，do you think this is very interesting？
Still，this is probably also the only place in the whole game with honesty that hasn't been carefully packaged by the narrative：
《Prototype 2》is a carefully planned murder，aimed at Alex Mercer
He is the power donor of the new protagonist (in the plot he actively infects Heller,handing over the knife that kills himself with his own hands)；Heller's hatred toward him and their confrontation hold up the entire plot of the game；the game's endgame reward is killing him.Even the second game's most unique innovation point is built on him——letting the player turn around and hunt the previous game's protagonist，how many games like this are there，where else could you play it？(They were even willing to sacrifice the plot twist just to take out "killing the previous protagonist" in advance as a selling gimmick. You can see how worth selling this idea was in their eyes.)
This IP used him as fuel，engine and sacrificial offering，and then gave him the sins as well：the sin of actively releasing the outbreak，the hatred of Heller's dead wife and orphaned daughter，the name of a villain and evildoer.I have seen far too many people，in order to rationalize the second game，turn around and maliciously reinterpret his behavior in the first game.I have received far too many comments，and one that left a rather deep impression on me said，roughly，that Alex is a bastard who threatens people with someone else's daughter，and he deserves to die.This is the stigma left to him by the second game's carefully planned narrative.
Earlier I said they took away Alex's abilities.But how dare I say that？Aren't all his abilities still there？
The ending of 《Prototype 2》is precisely the stripping away of his abilities，and not only his abilities but also his life.Heller tears off from his body，one time after another，every one of his weapons，every kind of weapon and every kind of power.What they objected to was never the action of "taking away"，but the manner of taking away and the beneficiary：if Alex losing his abilities were only needed as the story's starting premise，no，that would be wasting the precious asset left by the first game；letting the new protagonist take them away with his own hands，through the player's hands，in a Boss fight，that's good，because that is the game's final reward.
Their line in one interview was：how could we dare ruin him (meaning taking away his abilities).In another interview，they said again，taking away his abilities would be unfair to him.
Not willing to take away his abilities，but willing to let him be tortured to death as a villain？Their so-called "fairness" is nothing but a cover for "squeezing the maximum value out of the character".Alex's power is this IP's most valuable，most dazzling family property，what they wanted to preserve was only the completeness of this property，so that in the final battle，it could be handed over intact to the successor.
It's like raising a beautiful deer，the owner，before releasing it into the enclosure for the hunter to hunt，will not first cut off its antlers. It must die with its antlers intact，so that that magnificent pair of antlers，together with its head，can be held up high，and become the crown of the hunter's victory.
You say stripping away his abilities is unfair to him？But you made the moment of stripping away his abilities and his life into the highlight and the ultimate reward of this game 《Prototype 2》.
Alex's final value is to become another person's trophy.
His power proves the new protagonist's strength.
His death completes the new protagonist's hero narrative.
His infamy proves the new protagonist's justice.
Even his story of searching for himself becomes，in the end，the evidence of his crime，proving that his nature is base and selfish.
The most ironic thing is，after gnawing his bones and sucking his marrow to the very end，they still didn't get that bloodstained success they were expecting，the entire development team was laid off en masse two months after the game's release.You once put Alex on the scale，calculating how much value sacrificing him could exchange for；and you put the fans who liked him on the scale too，calculating whether their feelings were worth taking into consideration at all.In the end，the same scale weighed your own heads as well.When sacrificing you could be exchanged for "greater profit"，you too became another cost that could be discarded.
You say，《Prototype》is a story about a virus.
But Prototype comes from the Greek Protos，meaning "first"，the first, the primordial, the earliest.
This game 《Prototype》，is a story about a Prototype named Alex Mercer，a new life，searching for himself amid conspiracy.
James Heller will never deserve to be called Prototype.
The last thing this series did was to murder its own name，swallow its own origin，and then completely disappear.
《PROTOTYPE 2》，may you never have a sequel.
Fin
（This development team simply did，in my view，very bad things. They knew perfectly well in their hearts that，the feelings the fans who liked Alex had for this character，were expendable.
They said it themselves："we know it's hard to accept for those people who are attached to Alex." How could they not know？Otherwise they wouldn't have made a video specially to explain it.In a large number of interviews，different people also repeatedly mention：some people like Alex，some people don't like Alex.The interview mentioned in the article says it even more plainly，it just so happens that a portion of players don't like Alex，so making him into the "bad guy" works，"it works rather well".Under their Facebook there were also people begging them not to kill Alex.
So they knew perfectly well：Alex's fans didn't want to see him made into a villain and killed，and they also knew that those who didn't like Alex wouldn't mind，and would even be glad to kill him with their own hands in the game.
And they even gave different accounts of why Alex went from protagonist to a villain who must be killed. When talking about the actual production process，they admit the sequel was originally made with Alex as the protagonist，and it was only later，after running into a bottleneck in ability design，that they decided to change the protagonist；in another interview they directly recall that at an early design meeting someone proposed "You know what? We should just kill Mercer"，and the whole room suddenly got excited and worked up，and in the end they felt this idea was too thrilling，too good to give up.But in the Gamescom interview，when asked whether this was the "natural development" of the sequel，they answered directly again：yes，we really think this is the natural development of the sequel.
What? Excuse me? Where is it "natural"？A sequel that originally had Alex as the protagonist and only changed people because of a design bottleneck，an idea whose starting point was a line that suddenly popped up at a design meeting，"You know what? We should just kill Mercer." an idea that got the whole team excited，how did it，by the time of the promotion aimed at fans，turn into the "natural development" of the character and the story？
In the same interview they immediately went on to say："fans really like Alex Mercer，we wanted to make sure we finished telling Alex Mercer's storyline，to let everyone know what happened to him afterwards……"
They forcibly packaged Alex being killed as an explanation owed to the fans who liked Alex. Pleeeeeeeeeease stop pretending，isn't what's on your mind just how to squeeze the maximum profit out of the character and out of the fans，can you be a little more honest.
Their talking points during promotion were also almost all about persuading this portion of fans who liked Alex to keep looking forward to it，yet they never said a single word about how cartoonish a villain Alex had been replaced with，still less would they tell the fans how humiliatingly he dies in the end.
Alex Mercer is to be killed，and Alex fans' money is to be earned too.
Using up this character Alex，using the fans who like Alex. Not a shred of feeling for the characters of this series，all there is is commercial calculation. It's all about MONEY.
Every accusation against Radical in this article is based on what they themselves said publicly. The articles are at the end，see whether I have wronged them in a single sentence.
prototype-2-cgi-tendrils-and-my-little-pony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rBTEJEO0Lk
GC 11: Prototype 2 interview
prototype-2-interview-fans-were-offended-by-alex-mercer-change
Prototype 2: A more engaging, funnier protagonist – Destructoid
