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Prey review thread

Bad news for Bethesda.

I cancelled my discounted pre-order 'cause of their silly no reviews pre-embargo policy... and yet had I known quality reviews would have dropped so soon I would have kept it.

Now I will wait for it to go on sale and they'll get less money. Glad it's reviewing well, at least. Probably going to do Dishonored 2 sales numbers, though. Hope they're happy with that.

Good to see you feel important at least!
 

FelipeMGM

Member
Looking good, from the demo I loved the premise and the atmsphere so I'll be getting this soon

Any reviews mention if the issues on the PS4 Demo are present on the retail version? based on a glance of the verdicts its seems its fixed
 

Horp

Member
Wowowow, this is above my expectations. And reading/watching some of these reviews... I'm hyped. Will get this!
 

Synth

Member
A lot of people. Even the first one, as jank as it was to actually play, was set up to be combat-focused. Multiple weapon/abilities with multiple ammo types and multiple tonic augments. Bioshock 2 in particular went full ham.
Combat was great in Bioshock.

Hmm, fair enough. I always saw Bioshock's combat as something you kinda just dealt with as part of the overall package. I didn't play Bioshock 2 however, only the original and Infinite. Infinite specifically had me wishing for an abridged mode where the vast majority of combat could just be cut out.

It was always very appealing on an aesthetic level, even during combat though (especially the original).
 

Sevenfold

Member
That's a lot, what are reviews saying though?

What's a review?

Without looking (spoilers and all that) I would expect it to be generally positive. The Bioshock vibes are legit. It's more complicated than I ever gave it credit for prerelease. I have a couple issues with the sound mix but the atmosphere is intense, and it looks and more importantly feels (on PC at least) great.
 

GlamFM

Banned
Funny how I always thought this was the b-tier Arkane team and game and now I´m thinking this could outsell Dishonored 2.
 

rtcn63

Member
Hmm, fair enough. I always saw Bioshock's combat as something you kinda just dealt with as part of the overall package. I didn't play Bioshock 2 however, only the original and Infinite. Infinite specifically had me wishing for an abridged mode where the vast majority of combat could just be cut out.

It was always very appealing on an aesthetic level, in during combat though (especially the original).

Infinite is interesting because I realized (after replaying the game recently) that it was trying to address the difficulty complaints (as in the near total lack of it) of the previous two- weapon/upgrades were significantly more expensive (meaning you had to prioritize), with dying on the hardest mode causing you to lose money. Plus the equip-able gear that allowed you to hone specific builds, although the semi-random nature of the pickups is annoying. (The two-weapon, one ammo type limit was just trash in my opinion, even if it was done to to improve the challenge)

But yeah, the enemies and weapons themselves were mostly bland (the Vox weapons were such a wasted concept). The late-game abilities and certain gear can be OP as fuck though, i.e. the fully upgraded Charge vigor + any gear that gives a bonus from melee attacks.
 
Reviews are strong.

Arkane is killing it. Might be controversial, but it's fair to say they're one of the best Western game developers in the industry
 

Chumley

Banned
I'm only a little bit in but this game seems like a total winner, I'm guessing it ends up in the high 80's Metacritic.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Oh look an amazing game from Arkane what a surprise.
 

Bustanen

Member
Surprising scores as the demo was kinda meh. Gunplay wasn't good and enemies were generic slime-monsters. Never liked Dishonored either though..
 
Reviews are strong.

Arkane is killing it. Might be controversial, but it's fair to say they're one of the best Western game developers in the industry

Easily.

I'm a few hours in and this is probably the best game I've played not called Breath of the Wild all year.

If it holds up the whole time I'll be really happy.
 

rtcn63

Member
Surprising scores as the demo was kinda meh. Gunplay wasn't good and enemies were generic slime-monsters. Never liked Dishonored either though..

The Dishonored series can be pretty divisive. The choice of having a stealth game with above average enemy AI, a semi-open world, and insane traversal/offensive powers just never really meshed for me. And I mentioned this after playing the Dishonored 2 three-mission demo- I hate the heart, how it works, and your reliance on it if you plan on using abilities. Total fun-killer.

I was never a fan of System Shock either, but I don't have that nostalgia to go back to. I prefer the combat and atmosphere of its spiritual sucessors (Dead Space, Bioshock, etc.), which to be fair, likely wouldn't exist without the original.
 

bratpack

Member
Bad news for Bethesda.

I cancelled my discounted pre-order 'cause of their silly no reviews pre-embargo policy... and yet had I known quality reviews would have dropped so soon I would have kept it.

Now I will wait for it to go on sale and they'll get less money. Glad it's reviewing well, at least. Probably going to do Dishonored 2 sales numbers, though. Hope they're happy with that.


wow you could just like you know actually go out and suport them by actually buying it today imagine that you obviously liked what you saw enough to pre-order the game but now you wanna wait till it's half price errrr okay
 

Vire

Member
A little surprised to be honest. I thought the demo was pretty bad... but maybe that's not indicative of actual game?
 

Rodin

Member
People expected this to be bad? Did you miss the name of the developer?

Please be the Bioshock fix I've been craving.
You mean system shock.
You mean like Breath of the Wild.
dae.jpg


Nice one
 

pa22word

Member
A little surprised to be honest. I thought the demo was pretty bad... but maybe that's not indicative of actual game?

These games have never, /ever/ demoed well. To quote myself from the demo thread:

I think releasing a demo of this was a bad idea. These type of games have always been about structured rig building underlying the base gameplay, which means you always start feeling like a bit of a flaccid sock for the first hour or two before you build a character to your own specs that will do interesting things.

The only game like this that I've ever seen have a decent demo was Human Revolution, and that was a third of the game and a leaked build. The added time gave people space to see how the mechanics started to unfold and their characters start to flower into expressions of the player's agency on the game world. Now, imagine that hr demo just being the opening mission...yeah I imagine a lot of people would have been not too looking forward to hr.


Bethesda knows this too, which makes the whole demo just reek of desperation because they're concerned with the game bombing after MD and Dishonored 2 both had mediocre sales despite much bigger ips behind them. Some part of me thinks this will probably be the last big budget looking glass type game we get for a good long while. Maybe bioshock 4 from 2k Marin, if it even exists anymore, will light another boost for the genre, but it just seems like these games are on the wayside.

You can't really do a 1 hour demo for a game that's mechanically identity is entirely focused on long term rig building, it's antithetical to the entire point of the genre.
 

roytheone

Member
These games have never, /ever/ demoed well. To quote myself from the demo thread:



You can't really do a 1 hour demo for a game that's mechanically identity is entirely focused on long term rig building, it's antithetical to the entire point of the genre.

Well, the bioshock demo was mindblowing to me and a lot of people around me. I think it really helped that game.
 
Arkane is really an awesome studio. 3 games and it seems to be 3 amazing ones.

Outside of their legal and buyout practices Zenimax is shaping up to be an essential publisher, especially if you like single player games.
 
I can attest to the game running great on PC too. With a 1070 I'm pushing a stable 140-150 FPS on max settings. Other than a few crashes, it's been great. Although, it's not exactly the prettiest game ever.
 
Hmm, fair enough. I always saw Bioshock's combat as something you kinda just dealt with as part of the overall package. I didn't play Bioshock 2 however, only the original and Infinite. Infinite specifically had me wishing for an abridged mode where the vast majority of combat could just be cut out.

It was always very appealing on an aesthetic level, even during combat though (especially the original).

Infinite wasn't a good game imo. It wasn't a good Bioshock. Although it had some nice story elements.
 

Arminsc

Member
My biggest concern with the title was about performance on PC, since Dishonored 2 was really bad, and then they didn't fix it properly.
But Prey runs on a different engine, and seems to be running decently judging from steam reviews, so I'll probably pick it up soon!
 

Amir0x

Banned
Bad news for Bethesda.

I cancelled my discounted pre-order 'cause of their silly no reviews pre-embargo policy... and yet had I known quality reviews would have dropped so soon I would have kept it.

Now I will wait for it to go on sale and they'll get less money. Glad it's reviewing well, at least. Probably going to do Dishonored 2 sales numbers, though. Hope they're happy with that.

Yeah the anti-consumer "no pre-release review" embargo needs to end. Good on you.


Prey looks really good. Still wish we got that bounty hunter blade runner game too though.
 
A little surprised to be honest. I thought the demo was pretty bad... but maybe that's not indicative of actual game?

It honestly could also be a game that feels, looks, and just is more apt to a PC. And these scores could reflect that in some way?
 

Garlador

Member
As a big fan of the original Prey, I'm still disappointed it apparently has no connections to the original or its cliffhanger ending.

Unless Tommy has a cameo or something I don't know about.
 

Synth

Member
Infinite wasn't a good game imo. It wasn't a good Bioshock. Although it had some nice story elements.

Yea, I agree. I'm happy to have played through it just for the story stuff (especially with the DLC).. but it always felt like an interesting story, set in an amazing setting... with a game in the way.
 

pa22word

Member
Well, the bioshock demo was mindblowing to me and a lot of people around me. I think it really helped that game.

Really? I thought the demo was whatever. It was gorgeous, sure, but as far as a slice of the mechanics offered it was pretty bad. Which even at the time I shrugged off because it was a demo of a game that was going to take probably 5-7 hours to fully engross myself into the mechanics.

Oddly enough, the DX series probably has the best record for "demos" in the genre. The first game's OG demo was the first level, which despite the mechanical limitations of what amounts to a lvl 1 DND run was an absolutely awesome showcase of the level design to come, every single aspect of the game's mechanical toolset was on awesome display in liberty island. Liberty island is probably my favorite opening level of all time though, so I'm biased. Then they updated it and added more content. Awesome demo for one of the all time greats, indeed. HR got the leaked third content, which was great at showing you how the ruleset and mechanics of the game really worked in context of the game.

As a big fan of the original Prey, I'm still disappointed it apparently has no connections to the original or its cliffhanger ending.

Unless Tommy has a cameo or something I don't know about.

I mean I loved the hell out of Prey as well. I also was mega hyped for Prey 2. I also adore System Shock 2, and basically everything Arkane has ever put out. I dunno, I can separate the two just fine enough to enjoy both without ruining my enjoyment of this game.
 

Skulldead

Member
Nope.

Looks far more akin to Bioshock than System Shock to me, bar setting.

What ? Why i think Prey is way more SS then Bioshock :

- No random loot (random just on enemies body drop)
- Skill tree, for different play style
- Much more complex weapon upgrade system tied to skill
- Way more stealth then bio
- Item inventory management
- Backtracking on different place with keycard
- Game feel way more slow/survival style like SS then Bio
- The music style, techno mix tense beat

Their inspire game was clearly system shock by a miles.
 

pa22word

Member
I mean that's still like what, a day? To complete the game and write/film the review

After DOOM 4 I honestly kind of like Bethesda's review policy. As someone who never really agreed with anything the mainstream press had to say about games in general, it was amusing to see people actually have the chance to have played the game alongside reviewers at an equal standing and say "no, I don't agree with that at all actually" vs taking them at their word. I also genuinely believe DOOM 4 wouldn't be anywhere near as loved as it is today if reviewers had a hand on it first. That game was a game from the heart of id for the DOOM community, and *hopefully* some new people. Giving it to the community on equal terms was the right call imo, and given that this game is basically Arkane's love letter to System Shock 2 I don't really feel too bad about the community getting the game on equal terms either considering I doubt most of the people reviewing this game even know what a "System Shock" is.
 

Javier23

Banned
Well, the bioshock demo was mindblowing to me and a lot of people around me. I think it really helped that game.
Prey is far more like System Shock than Bioshock, which was a far more linear affair. Of course it would lend itself better to a demo.
 

Amir0x

Banned
After DOOM 4 I honestly kind of like Bethesda's review policy. As someone who never really agreed with anything the mainstream press had to say about games in general, it was amusing to see people actually have the chance to have played the game alongside reviewers at an equal standing and say "no, I don't agree with that at all actually" vs taking them at their word. I also genuinely believe DOOM 4 wouldn't be anywhere near as loved as it is today if reviewers had a hand on it first. That game was a game from the heart of id for the DOOM community, and *hopefully* some new people. Giving it to the community on equal terms was the right call imo, and given that this game is basically Arkane's love letter to System Shock 2 I don't really feel too bad about the community getting the game on equal terms either considering I doubt most of the people reviewing this game even know what a "System Shock" is.

this makes no sense. You could exercise patience then and simply read reviews as you're playing and get the same result. You don't need an embargo for that crap.

In cinema, when a movie isn't allowed to be reviewed before release almost everyone knows that means it will suck. In games, that's mostly the case as well. If you don't want consumers to assume that, release your game for early review. No sound reason not to, except to be assholes. Or you know your game will suck.
 

rtcn63

Member
After DOOM 4 I honestly kind of like Bethesda's review policy. As someone who never really agreed with anything the mainstream press had to say about games in general, it was amusing to see people actually have the chance to have played the game alongside reviewers at an equal standing and say "no, I don't agree with that at all actually" vs taking them at their word. I also genuinely believe DOOM 4 wouldn't be anywhere near as loved as it is today if reviewers had a hand on it first. That game was a game from the heart of id for the DOOM community, and *hopefully* some new people. Giving it to the community on equal terms was the right call imo, and given that this game is basically Arkane's love letter to System Shock 2 I don't really feel too bad about the community getting the game on equal terms either considering I doubt most of the people reviewing this game even know what a "System Shock" is.

I'm one of the few who thinks Doom was undercooked. Even as someone who enjoyed the original games, the reboot just felt too one-note over the long haul. I still believe that the developers not pushing the single-player before launch was intentional, in as they didn't see it as necessarily up to standard.
 
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