Review
Played on: Xbox One
Released: 2017
Released: 2017
The original Prey, that came out in 2006, was a game that had been in considerable development time. It was positively reviewed but didn't quite make an impact. This new version, is a re-imagining of the Prey premise and not a sequel. It's heavily inspired by System Shock, which again Bioshock was inspired by.
Although Prey is set on a space station, it has a clear artistic inspiration from Bioshock and plays similar. Metroidvania exploring, with new areas unlocked, after abilities that make it possible, are found and unlocked.
A great premise for a solid title then? Absolutely. But once again, we see Prey failing to capture the interest of large sales numbers, but that again, means you can pick this up for a bargain!
Let's take a shocking look!
Prey's opening level sets the atmosphere tone and instantly throws a plot twist onto the player. It's a neat way to quickly get the premise and setting of the story out of the way, while still retaining a shocking and revealing moment. Set on a, seemingly, abandoned space station, you quickly realise something has gone terribly wrong.
The enemies are quickly introduced thereafter, in forms of shape shifting, aggressive aliens, called the Typhoon. They're part of some experiment gone wrong on the space station. This shape shifting ability gives way for some neat jump scares, suddenly a chair can change into an alien and start attacking for instance!
Gameplay is close to Bioshock too, at first you rely on a wrench(!). Further on, you obtain guns and after a while you have the ability to scan and learn more power related attacks from the aliens. These powers work much like magic in a traditional RPG, letting you fire massive energy blows to enemies across the room etc. Combining these attacks are key and of course searching every little drawer and shelf for ammo, food and parts to build new weapons and upgrades.
Gameplay is close to Bioshock too, at first you rely on a wrench(!). Further on, you obtain guns and after a while you have the ability to scan and learn more power related attacks from the aliens. These powers work much like magic in a traditional RPG, letting you fire massive energy blows to enemies across the room etc. Combining these attacks are key and of course searching every little drawer and shelf for ammo, food and parts to build new weapons and upgrades.
Indeed, you could call out the game at almost copying Bioshock, I personally didn't mind. It's a good game to be inspired by and Prey outdoes it's inspiration with more options and a far deeper gameplay system anyhow.
I loved wandering around the space station, travelling from a main hub to various areas such as laboratories, sleeping quarters, indoor forest areas and offices. There's always a main goal to complete and follow, but along the way there are lots of side stories with individual goals.
I loved wandering around the space station, travelling from a main hub to various areas such as laboratories, sleeping quarters, indoor forest areas and offices. There's always a main goal to complete and follow, but along the way there are lots of side stories with individual goals.
The artstyle is beautiful, with a classy retrostyle to the design, often blended over to high tech and modern designs. It's a great sight to behold and the non-gravity outside space trips feel intense and lonely, a slight nod to Dead Space here I feel, further immersing the player in a beautifully designed world. I really enjoyed soaking in all the atmosphere of the space station, simply because of the great design that's gone into it.
Prey is a tough game to finish, it's difficulty is much like Bioshock: unforgiving at times. Only Prey is even more so, there are some areas you encounter such hostile and numerous enemies you wonder if you ever will be able finish the game. But stick with it and you become the master of collecting the best ammunition and using the right abilities to fight through.
My main letdown was the rather short, and should I say, "typical" ending. I kinda liked it, but it could definitely could have been fleshed out with more substance at the end. Like Bioshock, though, the story tells itself throughout the world. The more you explore, the more you're rewarded with a deeper layer of knowledge of the back story. This type of storytelling requires the player to use their imagination and try to get a feeling of the atmosphere by themselves. Much like how the diary entries in the old Resident Evil games worked.
Overall, a must-buy for fans of Bioshock or lonely space settings. It's a fantastic first person adventure which begs the player to sink into it's fascinating and creepy atmosphere. The difficulty is hard, but rewarding and forces the player to alternate attacks and learn new methods of approaching enemies. Exploring is key and definitely a nice change of pace from shooters rushing from A to B.
One of last years top five titles and a warmly recommended for those seeking a lengthy and well designed world to sink hours into. I found the progression of the story and gameplay well structured, keeping me interested until the very end. Do this sleeper hit a favour and buy it!
My main letdown was the rather short, and should I say, "typical" ending. I kinda liked it, but it could definitely could have been fleshed out with more substance at the end. Like Bioshock, though, the story tells itself throughout the world. The more you explore, the more you're rewarded with a deeper layer of knowledge of the back story. This type of storytelling requires the player to use their imagination and try to get a feeling of the atmosphere by themselves. Much like how the diary entries in the old Resident Evil games worked.
Overall, a must-buy for fans of Bioshock or lonely space settings. It's a fantastic first person adventure which begs the player to sink into it's fascinating and creepy atmosphere. The difficulty is hard, but rewarding and forces the player to alternate attacks and learn new methods of approaching enemies. Exploring is key and definitely a nice change of pace from shooters rushing from A to B.
One of last years top five titles and a warmly recommended for those seeking a lengthy and well designed world to sink hours into. I found the progression of the story and gameplay well structured, keeping me interested until the very end. Do this sleeper hit a favour and buy it!
Update: This game has been updated with a Xbox One X patch and runs in 1440p, furthermore the Xbox Series X now also runs it in 60fps. Amazing!