Picture: Bethesda Softworks / Arcane Studios
THIS REVIEW IS A MIMIC!
T͎́͢͡Ḩ̧̧̭̩̯̥̱̳̖͎̜̭͎̪̩̫̱̩̥̺͆͋́͂̇̄̔̇͋̋̀́́͆̒̋̽̑͘̕͠I͇̳̗̰͕̠̮̹͔̯̺͚̫̹̼̾̉͆̅͛͋̓͗̐̄̀̾̇̒̃͘͘͟ͅS̪̓͜͠ Ŕ̡̖̗̘̮̥̱͙̖̺̣̥͖͎̉̿̂̓̐̓̍͛̑̾̈̚͝E̡̨̫̦͔͉̻͙̬͖̲̠̗͓͉̪̤͊̅̀̀͋̓̽͐̽̔̾̊͌͂̚̕͝V̙̜̣͙͍̬͆̓́̈́̓͌̑͢ͅĬ̹͉̯̳̟̠̙̭̦͉̣̰̘̝̓̍͌͆̈͗̊̽́̔͆̏͗̈̽̎͛̽͆͢͟͢͢͠ͅͅͅḜ̡̧̪̞̘̰͈̝̬̠͖̲͉͕̲̹̣̥͚̜̟̺͐̃̊̑̉̓͂̔͐́̅̈̾͊̈̌̅̿̋̈́̃̚͢͝Ẇ̨͖̣̭̣̪͚̻̙̻̘̰̬́͐͊͊̿͛͛̽́̏͐̐͘͟ I͇̬̻͖͌̿́̓̚͜S̡̛̻̲̳̹̘̠̺̝̥̙̼̲͙͇̦͙̠̣̖̞̔͊̓͂̓͑̑͋͐̒́́̈́̂̌̋̆̒̋͋͆͢͢͜͞͞ N̞͙̿̀͢͠Ơ̡̢͈̹͙͙̯͍̬̲̿̂́̇͗̆͌͐̿͠ͅT̤̦͛̍̊̃͜͜ A̟͎̒̌ M̧͕̫͖͍̭̭͊̇̑̄̏̉́̑̚͢͟͞ͅĮ̛͖̤̥͓̗͉̹͖̣̬̼̼̟̰̰̥̄̀̂̎́̎͆̈̄͒̃͌̔̔̚̕̚͜͡ͅM͉͈͕̮̮̙̔͊̀̀͗̎͟͡Ĭ̧̡̨͎̘͓̻̟̜̼̩̪̼̯̰͎͚̞̬̤͉̙̄̓̃̏̊̉́̉̈́̓̉̏̓̒̿̑̿̓̇͘̕̚͡ͅͅC̡̧̗̦͖̟̹͎̱̫̘̜̱̞̬͓̬͗̄͑̒̍̅̑͑̊̉̓̓̈́̽͑̀̔͗̚͜͢ͅ!̨̨̡̡̛̼̖̪̋̉̄́̈̑
INTRODUCTION
You are Morgan Yu. You are at your office, and are on your way to a meeting with your brother and a couple of medical tests you need to go through. You will find out that something is very wrong though, as you reach the Space Station TALOS 1 - which is built around an old Russian scientific space station. An experiment with alien biomass seems to have taken a very wrong turn, as the Station is flooded with creatures. While you try to understand what the hell is actually going on, you will unveil all the events that happened behind the curtains which lead to your situation.
Eventually you will realize how everything that’s happening is just a million times bigger than you…
GAMEPLAY
Character development is available in form of 4 Skill Trees, Scientific Skills, Engineering Skills, and Security Skills. The fourth Skill tree is locked behind a story element and I want to avoid spoilers!
All skills feel equally useful and immediately will give you advantages in fighting, sneaking, hacking or plain surviving.
Skill points are obtained by administering Neuromods to yourself. A kind of medical tool, inserted through the eye, used to remap the synaptic structure of your brain. Neuromods kinda feel like the plasmids of Bioshock and are used (and abused!) in a similar way as well!
The game is entirely in first person view, which adds so much more to the oppressing atmosphere!
Unlike many other games, you are not a floating camera though! As with many of their games Arcane Studios actually give their characters bodies extremities, so you will always be able to see your legs and arms (i.e. While climbing or jumping or looking down).
The inventory is limited and you will have to watch out to not fill it up with unnecessary items.
Unwanted items can be recycled and broken down into their raw materials at recycler stations and raw materials can be used at replicator stations to create ammo, weapons, or even Neuromods if you can get your hands on a blueprint!
Items and Weapons can be accessed conveniently via a quick-wheel which makes switching them around during fights very easy.
Enemies can be scanned to learn more about them which also unlocks scientific entries in your journal giving you even more background information about them!
Decisions are made by doing or not doing side quests and will affect the ending!
WEAPONS AND ITEMS
Prey gives you full freedom in weapon choice. As long as you have enough inventory space available you can pickup and use any weapon! Weapons feature fairly standard ones like pistols or shotguns, but of course the good old sci-fi weapons can’t be missing! From the EMP-Pistol, which is relatively tame, over to the Q-Beam that cooks your enemies to vapor, up to the GLOO Gun, which can be used to cover your enemies in a quickly hardening foam, practically freezing them! (the GLOO Gun can be misused in many other ways!)
Available Items consist of grenades, medikits, devices that can lure enemies to you and many more.
Every grenade can be used as mine as well!
ENEMIES / AI
The enemies, called Typhon, are working like a hive mind and will communicate with each other on where they THINK you are, unless they’ve got a straight line of sight to you. If they get the chance to, they will try and ambush you, so watch your back!
That doesn’t mean you cannot hide though; enemies have awareness levels that you will have to rise before they actively start to search you out, which also means you can play through the entire game sneaking!
Enemies are divided in several development stages of the Typhon species and thus have varying intelligence levels.
For example, there is the Mimic, spider-like creatures which can and will hide from you by concealing themselves as a multitude of things including items, furniture, and clutter. So be sure to check twice if you think the room looks different ore there is an off number of chairs there!
Overall the different Typhon variations all have their strengths and weaknesses which are yours to find out, so be sure to use that scanner to learn everything you can, to give yourself an advantage!
Enemies will respawn over time, so don’t feel too save when walking through an area you had cleared out previously! Respawns generally don’t happen to often but will quickly teach you not to be to careless with your surroundings and they keep that creepy feeling of “never being alone” up throughout the whole game.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
GRAPHICS
The Graphics of Prey are similar to Dishonored maybe more like Dishonored 2 with a new coat of paint and more space style. The entire space station has a 50’s Style with wooden linings and shiny metal ornaments. All Hazards appearing on the space station are portrayed with detail and the overall setting of a huge space station with all its departments is brought across in style.
SOUND
English vocalization is done very well, and does not break atmosphere. There are also recorded voice messages which give more insight on what happened before or during your playthrough, which adds a lot to the game’s atmosphere.
All other sounds are realistic and blend well into the surroundings. Electronics crackle, robots make bleeping sounds and every material gives off the correct corresponding sound given whatever you do with it.
When in low atmosphere/pressure or in a space suit, sound is muffled and the sudden silence fits in well with the dangerous and tense setting.
Same goes for music which is shifting and adapting with the given situation, mellow when wandering through the station, eerie with enemies around - making you stick to the shadows, and with a good amount of beats during fights; a very good composition of varying styles and a nice play with the theme of the game!
CONCLUSION
Prey, messes with you. Its enemies ambush you, there is intrigues all around and you can almost never feel save. Its oppressing and tense atmosphere is something that has been missing in the past years; you could almost say, that Prey is a light Horror Game.
The story is perfectly written and will keep you hooked with all its plot twists, searching for more background information!
The weapons are fairly standard but you got to give it to Bethesda and Arcane, the concept of the GLOO gun is pretty nifty!
Prey will last you for 35 Hours so it is neither dragging, nor extremely short; plus, all of these hours were tightly packed with a lot of action / tension and fun even when backtracking, I still found stuff I overlooked, like access to areas I couldn’t find the entrance for earlier.
I’d have a mid-range long game with a great amount of fun any day, over a 80 to 100 hour game with long sections of downtime in between.
Prey offers a lot of replay value as well, if you are an achievement hunter or want to try out other decisions throughout the story, or if you want to try a different skill build.
Overall Prey offers a fresh sci-fi shooter experience with a ton of atmosphere and a bunch of nice ideas and gimmicks and it deserves it’s title as Gold Standard Action Game.
In case you are still not convinced, try out the Demo!
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