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Prey (2017) is the game of the year no one played

i wish they had made enemies more satisfying than generic black blobs that were either hard to hit or just blandly designed. The feedback just isnt there

their design serve a strong narrative plot point and subtext but from a gameplay perspective, they are indeed pretty lacking. I hated with the shotgun blast would just miss when aiming at a black mass but it would connect with their body

OP are you me? I finished Prey a few days back and moved onto Nier Automata too lol

Are you me ? Am I you ? Are you Yu ? Am I Yu ? Who is Yu ? Who are Yu ?

Prey-05082016-image-5.jpg


You have to beat the mind game says the ending credit
 

Lingitiz

Member
Love games of this type, but Prey wore me down. The lackluster combat and enemy encounters dragged the whole thing down.
 
Superb game and I would love to go for a second playthrough and I would get on it if the developer made a patch for Xbox One X. But I guess due to the poor sales it probably isn't important enough or something.
 
As some one who loves System Shock 2, I absolutely hate when they call Prey 'Bioshock in space!'

Only played a couple of hours of Prey, but I really like what I'm seeing so far.
 

Marcel

Member
Immersive sims aren't exactly known for their great combat so this criticism rings hollow to me. Deus Ex 1 has pretty crap combat all things considered but is still one of the greatest games of all time.
 

danowat

Banned
It's a really really good game, but there are a couple of things that bum me out about it.

Firstly, it's a bit long, I'm probably about 3/4's through (18ish hours?) and it's starting to drag a bit, I think I've pretty much seen most things, and everything I seem to find is just a variation on a theme.

Secondly, the nightmare, it's a terrible mechanic.
 
I played Prey and thought it was a very well made game. However, I will absolutely say it has flaws and that it was not the game for me. I felt the story was poor at best with the open mission structure leaving little suspense or giving me any form of drive forward. I finished the game and was still interested to see more (that stinger being a part).

Prey is a game I was hoping would give me feelings like Bioshock did all those years ago but it didn't. I like Prey but in the list of games I have played this year it is not in the top five, maybe not even top ten. Though I want Arkane to keep making these types of games, there are not enough of them.
 
Been waiting for a good sale. Want to get to it by the end of the year

It's 15$ in the US and 20€ or less everywhere in Europe.

I have it from day one, but I haven't played yet :S

Is the combat as tedious as I've read?

Problem is : enemy variety isnt high. They are very lethal and you got only so many tools and strategy efficient enough against them... Its not the best part and in the last chapter the game introduce tons of new enemies very resistant to everything you can throw at them so it's consider the worst chapter lol for a good reason.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I was singing the praises of this back at the time of release. It's one of my favorite games this year. It's a shame it didn't do well.

Prey is a game I was hoping would give me feelings like Bioshock did all those years ago but it didn't.
As a game, I actually think Prey is quite superior to Bioshock, but you're right, it lacks the narrative hooks that Bioshock did so well. Which is a shame as the concept of Prey is really interesting.
 

Mivey

Member
Immersive sims aren't exactly known for their great combat so this criticism rings hollow to me. Deus Ex 1 has pretty crap combat all things considered but is still one of the greatest games of all time.
Any game where you can kill enemies by letting bricks fall on them, has great combat in my book.
 
Prey is on my short list of potential GOTYs. Great sound design. Creative ways to dispatch enemies. Some genuinely intense moments
before you become hella OP
.

The System Shock remake will have to be out of this world. Literally, lol.
 

CuNi

Member
I ommited it because I have a personal vendetta against it.
Not because it's a bad game, or any technical aspect or whatever.

I hate it for the simple fact that it took the name of a, in my opinion perfect game that deserves a good sequel, and just made something which only connection to the old game is the space setting.

I loved the old Prey and I was so frustrated when they took the name and made a game that not even closely has anything to do with the old game.

I know it sounds weird, but I made a promise back then, to never give this game a chance for killing of my beloved Prey... *sniff* R.I.P.
 

Marcel

Member
Any game where you can kill enemies by letting bricks fall on them, has great combat in my book.

I like it for what it is for sure but the people moaning about combat don't seem to understand that you don't play an immersive sim necessarily for that reason. The systems are often built for you to negotiate around combat. You can do the run and gun style of course but you're probably pointlessly limiting yourself.
 
I ommited it because I have a personal vendetta against it.
Not because it's a bad game, or any technical aspect or whatever.

I hate it for the simple fact that it took the name of a, in my opinion perfect game that deserves a good sequel, and just made something which only connection to the old game is the space setting.

I loved the old Prey and I was so frustrated when they took the name and made a game that not even closely has anything to do with the old game.

I know it sounds weird, but I made a promise back then, to never give this game a chance for killing of my beloved Prey... *sniff* R.I.P.

just imagine the game as Psychoshock.
 

Piggus

Member
It's pretty good on PC. Tried it on PS4 Pro just for fun and it felt like a completely different game (in a really bad way).

Also, why didn't they just call it what it is? It's System Shock. It has absolutely nothing to do with Prey (the first game).
 
It's a great game, but the story is pretty disappointing, especially considering how compelling the opening of the game is.

again, check the op and try the Extra Credit video.

I cant understand people saying story was disapointing.

Clearly, you must have overlooked the subtext and underlying implications
 
The game doesn't conform to the modern Skinner box format with constant stimulation goading the player forward.

It's unfortunate that this is clearly a pervasive opinion amongst the gaming community. No room in AAA gaming for slower paced, atmospheric games.
It's not like I said the game shouldn't exist lol

I said it's boring.
 
It's not like I said the game shouldn't exist lol

I said it's boring.

reward based exploration, interactive narration and emergent gameplay are boring ?

We don't deserve these kinds of game anymore with such an audience.

Prey is prime example of the medium going forward, offering more, challenging players and not taking their hands but we still slap it. :(
 

FiveSide

Banned
Amazing game and a modern classic. All the strengths of the classic immersive sim with the accessibility of a modern game. What an experience, it probably won't be my #1 GOTY, but it's in contention for sure. In any other year it would be a shoe-in.
 

StereoVsn

Member
I liked Bioshock 1&2, SS2, Deus Ex Original and HR (MD wa as bit meh) so it sounds like I should get Prey. Iffy PC performance worries me a bit as well as respawning enemies and bad combat.

However I figure some cheats on PC to make combat more palatable and I would enjoy the rest of the game. Going to watch for deals come BF.

Edit: It's only $20 on cdkeys. Hmm...this or new PB Elexa Eurojank. Decisions, decisions.
 

leng jai

Member
Maybe if the sound design wasn't hilariously bad or the combat design didn't fall off a cliff in the last few hours.

It was in GOTY contention for me after the first 5 or 6 hours.
 

AlexBasch

Member
Bought it because it was on sale.

Played it for 30 minutes and uninstalled it right away.

Maybe I should give it another chance.
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
For me Prey was just a victim of way too many amazing games coming out this year :p I have it, it's in the backlog, wonder when I'll get around to it with the TEW2/Wolf/Odyssey holy trinity. I'm intrigued by this game though. I have a PS4 copy, is the performance improved now (have a Pro)?
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Prey is the streamlined, consolized System Shock that BioShock should have been. If I'm trying to explain to someone who refuses to play old PC games what the point of System Shock is, I'd just point them in the direction of Prey. It does the best job of translating what older immersive sims meant into a language modern console gamers can understand.

If Prey goes down as not being a well-known or popular game, I think it'll be because it didn't really have a central selling point, at least not in the marketing. Prey did indeed do some neat new things immersive sims hadn't really done before. Some of your powers and tools presented unique new possibilities, and the way the station worked overall made it feel like a functioning environment in a unique way, but none of that was easily marketable.
 
again, check the op and try the Extra Credit video.

I cant understand people saying story was disapointing.

Clearly, you must have overlooked the subtext and underlying implications

I liked the conclusion to the story quite well even if i found its portrayal somewhat lacking.
I've seen the Extra Credits video, doesn't change my opinion. The issues with the story have more to do with the structure of the game and they way the story is implemented into that structure than the story being 'bad' or anything. The story is at the forefront for the first 30 minutes or so, is very intriguing, and then basically disappears outside of environmental storytelling for the next 20 hours. I mean, you could just not explore and critical path the story and it would be paced better, but the game encourages the opposite, especially considering the annoying enemies that appear once you advance the story enough, which make exploration very frustrating. Also not a huge fan of the ending, game loses a lot of its emotional impact with that choice.
 
For me Prey was just a victim of way too many amazing games coming out this year :p I have it, it's in the backlog, wonder when I'll get around to it with the TEW2/Wolf/Odyssey holy trinity. I'm intrigued by this game though. I have a PS4 copy, is the performance improved now (have a Pro)?

Its not perfect on Pro but it's fine. It has some hiccups.
 

Surfside

Banned
Maybe if the sound design wasn't hilariously bad or the combat design didn't fall off a cliff in the last few hours.

It was in GOTY contention for me after the first 5 or 6 hours.

I think it stayed good all the way to the end. Also you could avoid most combat encounters if you wanted, if you invested in the nescessary abilities and used items like the typhon lure accordingly.
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
I actually liked the combat a lot once I upgraded the shotgun and the psi powers. Kinda funny though since I never used psi powers in System Shock 2. Maybe the combat feels worse on a controller?
 

SkylineRKR

Member
The game was almost perfect. The atmosphere and level design of the whole station is awesome. But the enemies are shit, the controls are shit. Why only 1 button for powers? Bioshock 1 did this better.

Without the laggy controls, more interesting enemies and a story not as stupid as this one it would've been a GOTY contender to me.

The map runs circles around Bioshock, which was memory limited and cut in pieces by bathyspheres. But the rest sadly doesn't.
 

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
their design serve a strong narrative plot point and subtext but from a gameplay perspective, they are indeed pretty lacking. I hated with the shotgun blast would just miss when aiming at a black mass but it would connect with their body



Are you me ? Am I you ? Are you Yu ? Am I Yu ? Who is Yu ? Who are Yu ?

Prey-05082016-image-5.jpg


You have to beat the mind game says the ending credit


I M. Yu


I keep having this dream...

tumblr_oo2fl6pRPU1txj8weo2_540.gif
 

Syntsui

Member
I didn't play because the demo had one of the worst input delays I've ever experienced on PS4. They killed their game for me right when they were supposed to hook me. It doesn't matter if they fixed it in the final version (they didn't, took some patches) as the damage was done.
 

.Anema

Member
After played the demo I promised to never touch that game again. The enemies and weapons are so bad lol, I cant imagine why the full game its better :/
 

shimon

Member
I loved the atmosphere, world building, and premise so much, which is what made stopping it such a bummer. I just didn't enjoy the actual act of playing it at all.

Yup. Between weak combat and stealth I couldn't get into. And trust me I tried.
 
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