Prey (2017) Review

That's Prey (2017, Thanks Zenimax) completed. Not 100% but it's an immersive sim so that's to be expected. It's good, in fact I'd say it's actually top to bottom an example of a game with simultaneously a solid core vision, great design fundamentals, and the extra polish and sheen to really make it a fun experience. Sure, that's because Arkane copied their homework from System Shock 2, but hey give them credit they actually did alter it and mainly use it as a guide, not word for word instructions. The setting is one of the best examples of a sci-fi space station I've seen. Absolutely amazing map design mixed with a believable, if obviously unrealistic, setting. Good Star Trek energy sort of stuff. I think the gameplay evolves well too, both rewarding a cunning player without requiring player guide levels of knowledge to find secrets or hidden rewards. Meaning that you can essentially pace yourself by how much you want to explore and power up in a way that echoes the best of any immersive sim. Even if it never quite gets over the old "hacking/lockpicking/unlock skill is always OP" It's biggest sin is that it doesn't excel at any singular point unless you want an example of what I mean when I say "I just want to ditch my mortal shell and become a void entity" in the aliens. It has no Rapture or SHODAN or Rathalos or Gravity Gun to really capture ones attention. So unless you really like Arkane (like me) or immersive sims (Also kind of me) it can easily slip by in the slew of releases that keep on being churned out. Holy shit that was only 19 hours?! Okay give it credit it has Chrono Trigger Syndrome of feeling way longer but in a good way That's one feather in it's cap

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