The Prey “series” has had a rough development over this past half-decade. The conceived Prey 2 being developed by Human Head Studios was already a stark departure from the original Prey in 2006. But after that iteration was cancelled and the series was handed off to Dishonored developers Arkane Studios in 2014, it only deviated further from the initial source that it shares names with.
In this case, that is certainly for the better.
While Prey may share little to nothing with the corridor shooting of the original or the open alien world bounty hunting conceptualized for the sequel, it instead borrows from other marque titles in the industry, such as System Shock, Deus Ex, and, of course, Dishonored.
Although its mechanics are unabashedly influenced, Prey does a fantastic job of integrating them into its own sci-fi setting to craft a game that is an undeniable pleasure to scour and unfold.
The Good
After a calmly paced introduction that – quite literally – sets the stage for the game, protagonist Morgan Yu is abruptly thrown into the nightmare of the Talos I space station and all the alien horrors that inhabit its shambled corridors.
Called the Typhon, these shadowy, ethereal creatures possess supernatural psionic abilities, such as mimics that can transform into any nearby object to catch victims off guard. Dangerous in numbers, these beings pose an immediate threat due to initially limited stamina and weaponry to take them on; however, the arsenal is quick to expand and before long, players are armed with a myriad of devices and firearms to approach combat encounters in a multitude of manners.
Foes can be immobilized with the plaster-spewing GLOO cannon or an electric charge from the stun gun before closing in with a shotgun or obliterating them with a Q-beam charge. Alternatively, players might sneak onto rafters to get in a few clean shots with a silenced pistol, followed by tossing a Typhon lure into the room to drag them out of hiding before detonating a recycler grenade in the center of the group, watching them burst into a confetti show of resources.
Using the psychoscope to scan enemies will also reveal specific weaknesses and resistances to exploit in battle, giving players a wide range of ulterior possible tactics to employ.
Prey is also prone to breaking loose one’s inner hoarder, scavenging through every cabinet and trashcan for med kits and banana peels alike. Junk, as well as other items, can be salvaged at recyclers for their raw material components, which can be later fed into fabricators to create just about anything the player could possibly need, from ammo and med kits, to weapons and even valuable neuromods.
These neuromods serve as the game’s skill tree system, allowing players to enhance their mental and physical capabilities, as well as learn new abilities to progress through the game.
Locked rooms and inaccessible areas nearly always have an alternate route of entry or two, catering to whatever play-style the player might choose. Those looking for easy access can allocate neuromods into hacking to disengage locks, while ingenuitive players might find a hidden maintenance shaft behind heavy cargo crates and spend points into leverage to move them.
Thoughtfully analyzing the surroundings of each area will often lead to uncovering hidden stashes of supplies through clever solutions, while reading emails can offer new objectives or clues to in-progress missions, amidst the general fair of in-game context.
The exterior of Talos I is also open to explore, as jettisoning around in zero gravity with the propulsion systems of the space suit is handled very well and serves as an imaginative “quick travel” system for navigating between the many sections of the massive space station.
Each of these regions are all openly free for the player to explore provided they acquire the appropriate means of access, which not only allows for exploration through sequence breaking, but encourages it, creating the sensation of outsmarting the game after accessing an area that was not directed to yet by the story.
It’s in this way that Prey demonstrates its most commendable accomplishment – providing the player with choice: the choice to explore outside of the set path of the story, the choices of indulging into neuromod amplification, the choice of how to treat other surrounding survivors, and even the simple choice of whether to play as male or female.
How one decides to play will ultimately change the outcome of their experience with Prey and their journey on the derelict spacecraft.
As players continue to explore the station and clear out enemies, a sense of security and familiarity will begin to set in, a feeling of control over the station… That is, just before the game rips those feelings apart by introducing new intimidating threats.
With proper headphones, the sound design can lend itself to a haunting atmosphere, peering around corners as distant phantoms ramble to themselves, and listening for rattling objects before they transform into a pouncing mimic.
Nearly every weapon and item is given story context for its placement, and every single corpse on the station has a name and a story behind them and their job aboard Talos I, all of which can be tracked down through a security tracker.
Players can even interact with the ship’s regular operating functions, such as the camera controls on the main bridge, despite serving no purpose or goal to do so. This level of attention to detail is what makes the world of Prey such a joy to explore and uncover every little hidden secret.
The Bad
Although the sound design of Prey’s world is well executed, the same cannot always be said for its selection of musical track and audio cues, which can vary from strange and unfitting to ear-piercingly annoying.
On that note, despite running seamlessly on a GeForce 980 at 1080p max settings for the majority of the campaign, one segment of the game in particular resulted in a hard performance drop. This struggling wasn’t entirely a surprise, given the scale and activity of the environment, but the resulting frame rate fell well below playable standards.
In terms of difficulty scaling, playing on normal supplied an abundant amount of resources, somewhat diminishing the sense of accomplishment in uncovering hidden stashes of supplies, making the search feel a bit redundant and unnecessary at times.
Also, being unable to fabricate in bulk can be a bit of a pain.
With such investing gameplay, it’s too bad that the main plot is not equally so. While not bad by any means, most of the main cast consists of emotionally reserved, calculated characters – which makes sense considering one character is quickly revealed to be an AI operator.
This leaves most of the emotional drive to the crew of Talos I and their turmoil told primarily through brief audio logs, which results in each side story being a drive-by tragedy.
This minimal human interaction is not unappreciated though, after witnessing some of the stiff, stone-faced facial animations. There are definitely a few exceptions to this trend, but all too often the straggling survivors look just as lifeless as the scattered corpses.
It takes a fair while into the campaign for enemy variety to widen beyond phantoms and mimics, but even once it does, combat start to drag on into a bit of a chore during the latter half of the game.
Zero gravity segments fall prey to the same issue, as drifting around and controlling velocity becomes tiresome, but after roughly 30 hours of gameplay, some fatigue is to be expected.
The Takeaway
Prey is remarkably solid game revolving thematically around the importance of choices, which is extremely well executed in its gameplay, as well as its story. The few qualms against the game do not detract from the overall level of quality craftsmanship that Arkane has put into the game. With a detailed world brimming with subtext and enveloping in its atmosphere, Prey is an expansive game that is well worth diving into.
Love It
Prey a welcomed reincarnation, providing a well-paced campaign and hours of exploration.