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Arkane PREY - Arkane's immersive coffee cup transformation sim - now with Mooncrash roguelike mode DLC

Siel

Arcane
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Aug 25, 2013
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Some refined shithole
Some offscreen gameplay:



It's played on hard so fights look more challenging.
 

MuscleSpark

Augur
Patron
Joined
Apr 12, 2011
Messages
369
Seth dies a bunch, walks around getting nothing done, crashes the game at the end.
Great demo solid 8/10.

Seriously though when is the game meant to be gold? Still having crashes is a little worrying.
 

Shackleton

Arcane
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Knackers Yard
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
Damn, how do console players cope with that awful selection wheel shit? I've not sat through all that clip, but the bit I did see looks like 'selection wheel: the game'. Walk a bit, bring up weapon selection wheel, walk a bit more, bring up wheel again, run and shoot, bring it up again, ffs it just totally kills the flow of the game.

Also: 'ROAR' being subtitled. Holy shit, that really looks dumb.

Still eagerly awaiting it mind you, but no way would this be a game I'd ever play on a console.
 

ciox

Liturgist
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
1,279
Damn, how do console players cope with that awful selection wheel shit? I've not sat through all that clip, but the bit I did see looks like 'selection wheel: the game'. Walk a bit, bring up weapon selection wheel, walk a bit more, bring up wheel again, run and shoot, bring it up again, ffs it just totally kills the flow of the game.

Tell me about it... from what I saw they were doing that garbage on the PC build as well?

If the game is going to be this based on sploicer one-two punches it should have a Previous Weapon key so you can cycle between two weapons at ease.
 

Latelistener

Arcane
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
2,579
Dishonored has the standard hot bar menu, available for KB/M, and the 'selection wheel' for gamepad, as well as the 4-slot quick menu for D-Pad buttons.
I don't know why Prey should be different.
 

ciox

Liturgist
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
1,279
There's a legitimate discussion to be had about how much level progression should be gated to ensure the story/gameplay flows in a certain manner -- in both System Shock games you go through open-ended but self-contained environments one at a time until you can eventually access the whole station.

The problem comes in the fact that they could have gated you through upgrades -- if you get a better thruster or oxygen tank you could reach some areas earlier. Hell, even if these upgrades had to be found in certain areas, effectively gating your progression, it'd be a more believable reason for why you have to visit areas in sequence. Think Super Metroid, with exploration gated by your upgrades (excluding sequence breaks), vs Metroid Fusion where cutscenes and contrived locked doors keep you caged. There were actually some interesting environmental changes and staged events that were able to result from Fusion's hyper-linear design (for Metroid), but from a player perspective it's not very organic and can be downright frustrating.

Either way, I'm still pissed about the dropping of hardcore features because casual players can't handle them. We're witnessing the dumbing down of the game (and immersive sim genre, if you think it still exists) in real time. Managing weapon durability, location-based damage, and trauma can be toned down on lower difficulties. There's really no excuse for dropping gameplay depth here.

My guess is that they are getting too close to release for any "wild cards" like hardcore features and it's time to drop the dead weight, they are less than two months away now.
Obviously I would rather they would quickly jam the hardcore features back in even if they would remain unbalanced, with them being fixed later in a patch, but I doubt even that will happen.

Dishonored has the standard hot bar menu, available for KB/M, and the 'selection wheel' for gamepad, as well as the 4-slot quick menu for D-Pad buttons.
I don't know why Prey should be different.

True that, they're in, I just got confused since they kept relying on a radial select even for the PC version

3p8OEqJ.png
 

Ivan

Arcane
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Messages
7,474
Location
California
your proficiency with pistols and swords is already at master-level from the very beginning
great point. Do you think the problem would be solved if they had added a skill tree for proficiency with sword? I think the gun is fine as long as they limit the carrying capacity. Now that I think about it, the game would have been better if they had added it in since you can die pretty quickly. Also, I love games that restore your health gradually when using medkits (STALKER, Dark Souls, System Shock 2).

This is what happens when you play the classics....shit
 

Durandal

Arcane
Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
2,117
Location
New Eden
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
your proficiency with pistols and swords is already at master-level from the very beginning
great point. Do you think the problem would be solved if they had added a skill tree for proficiency with sword? I think the gun is fine as long as they limit the carrying capacity. Now that I think about it, the game would have been better if they had added it in since you can die pretty quickly. Also, I love games that restore your health gradually when using medkits (STALKER, Dark Souls, System Shock 2).
Definitely, making it harder to get a single hit on the enemy because they're pretty skilled, increasing enemy pistol draw speed, Deus Ex crosshair for crossbows and pistols, or simple straightforward damage upgrades for your sword would have helped a whole lot
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
https://bethesda.net/en/article/25eyRqwAUgyGiCwgeycEoS/prey-typhon-guide

Something has gone very, very wrong aboard Talos I. What began as an experiment aimed at bettering humanity has turned into a full-on alien infestation by the previously contained entities called Typhon. Morgan Yu, who is at the center of these experiments, now must fight the Typhon aboard the highly advanced space station owned by the TranStar Corporation. But what exactly are these aliens? Check out this video from TranStar’s Typhon Research Team:

With a full ecology, the Typhon aliens are more than just shadowy creatures hell-bent on destroying the human race. What will you face when you play Prey? The team at Arkane Studios shares their insights…

A NEW THREAT
Even during the earliest days of development, Arkane wanted to avoid any clichés when designing the aliens – a mandate that came from Creative Director Raphael Colantonio. “We wanted to avoid what Raf [Colantonio] calls ‘Orcs with laser guns,’” says Lead Designer Ricardo Bare. “We didn't want to do troopers with blasters, or some kind of squishy, slimy, gory monsters. Instead, we wanted to evoke something more mysterious, unknowable, paranormal. It took a long time to get there, but basically the Typhon body shapes are amorphous. They’re hard to pin down. They’re very threatening in an ‘I don't really know what that creature is thinking’ sort of way.”

Beyond the visuals, the team also wanted the aliens to have a real purpose, and that required them to be connected in some way. Out of this goal emerged a full alien ecology, which began with one of the first aliens the player meets: the Mimic.

“The Typhon species starts with the Mimic,” Colantonio says. “The Mimic’s role is to scout. It hides and it gathers energy by feeding on living things – in this case, humans. When there’s enough energy, a few Mimics come together and create something called a Weaver.”

PHANTOM MENACE
The Weaver has multiple roles. Not only does it create something called Coral – a colorful thread-like substance with a purpose that will be revealed later – but it also spawns Phantoms. But the Weaver doesn’t spin Phantoms out of thin air.

Prey_Phantom_730x411.png


“The Mimics will attack a human and they'll sort of drain their consciousness – their life essence – and that will lead to Mimics multiplying,” Bare says. “Then the Weaver can find the remains that the Mimics left behind – the human husk – and turn that husk into this guardian-like creature called a Phantom that protects the other aliens.”

That’s why the Phantoms are the most humanoid of the Typhon – and that’s why you’ll sometimes find human remnants on a Phantom corpse, be it a weapon, a keycard or another inventory item. You’ll also hear echoes from the Phantom’s former existence – random phrases being muttered by these intimidating creatures as they stalk the halls of Talos I. Phantoms also come in a variety of forms, with different strengths and powers.

Prey_SpecialPhantoms_730x466.png


MIND OVER MATTER
While the Phantoms are the warriors aboard Talos I, the Weaver also creates other Typhon to protect their ecology and reach their goals. Among those Typhon is the Telepath, which not only can control other living creatures, but also delivers a devastating psychic attack that temporarily disables Morgan’s ability to use powers.

“The Telepath is often surrounded by a pack of possessed humans,” Bare says. “And they know that they're possessed. They’ll move toward you, moaning and complaining, saying things like: Get away, run. Get away from me. I can't control myself. It's a pretty terrifying encounter. First you have to decide, ‘What am I going to do with these people? They're clearly innocent. The Telepath is forcing them to attack me. Do I kill them? Do I find a way to disable them?’ Then once you get past them, the Telepath is really destructive and powerful too.”

Prey_Telepath_730x411.png


Humans aren’t the only things the Typhon can control. The Weaver also spawns the Technopath, which can manipulate machinery aboard the space station. Which makes sense, because many of the Typhon on Talos I are created as a direct reaction to the environment they’re in.

“The Typhon have some sort of an insect-like awareness as a network,” Colantonio explains. They know what’s around them, and they’ll adapt accordingly. Including one very big adaptation based solely on Morgan Yu.

THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES
“At some point, the Typhon detect an anomaly – something that is resisting them more than anything else they’ve had to fight so far,” Colantonio says about Morgan Yu. “You are a problem. You’re a virus, in other words. So they develop this thing called the Nightmare, which is actually designed specifically to hunt you, find you and destroy you.”

Your choices matter in Prey, and the Nightmare is one example of how not just the Typhon but the game itself will react to your decisions. “The more Typhon Neuromods you install, the more Typhon-like you become, and the more the Nightmare becomes aware of you,” Bare says. “You might find yourself in a situation where you’ve gathered a bunch of Neuromods, you level up a bunch of your Typhon abilities, and suddenly you’ll hear this huge screech – and the Nightmare’s on your tail.” When that happens, get ready to run; this powerful Typhon is often too tough to take on directly – at least early on in the game. And despite being one of the biggest Typhon aboard Talos I, it can squeeze through small spaces, finding you wherever you might be hiding.

Prey_Nightmare_730x337.png


These aren’t the only Typhon you’ll encounter in Prey. Some, like the Mimics, can evolve into more powerful “elite” forms. Others, like the Phantoms, can mutate into a variety of forms with wildly different powers. And every now and then, the Weaver fails in its attempt to create a Phantom, resulting in the elusive (and invisible) Poltergeist Typhon. Also, you won’t face just one type of Typhon at a time. As you explore Talos I, you’ll run into all kinds of new and dangerous encounters with a wide variety of these hostile creatures.

But whatever you face, it’s up to you save mankind from the Typhon threat when Prey releases May 5, 2017, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
Game seems interesting, I just don't like shooting little spiders on shooters, they are never fun to fight as shooting a bigger target, don't like that the enemies evaporate after being killed too and there is no gore. I only sorta of tolerated Headcrabs on Half Life 1 because the game quickly introduced more interesting enemies to fight.

I dunno if it is just the trailer but the Phantom seem like mostly harmless bullet sponges, anyone that played Half Life 1 could have his ass kicked by even Vortigaunts if they didn't know what they were doing as a single blast took half of your life and were tricky to dodge.

On the trailers, the phantom just teleports around alot and watch you mostly passive with some ineffective attack here and there while you unload your shotgun at his face. This could be just trailer footage and the phantoms being more threatening but that is concerning. One of the things I mostly hated on Dishonored 2 is the lack of threat escalation from the enemies what made the combat boring as shit. I see as a positive with the game having so many different enemy types but I hope they are effective enemies.

They are going for a sort of sci fi horror vibe, if the game is as easy as Dishonored 1 and 2, that sorta defeats the point as you won't fear the aliens much. The Mimic seems like a real lame enemy to shoot, some spiders that can't fight back. On System Shock 2, even a basic pipe alien on the last difficulty can do alot of damage on melee and as the resources are scarce, shooting them from afar is kinda costly and extremely risky with the shotgun arm one.

The Nightmare sounds cool as a concept but I fear the low difficulty from the game won't ever demand from you to install alien mods, so rarely the Nightmare will chase you unless you decide to go out of your way and install all those useless alien mods just to provoke it.
 

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,235
^Yup, challenge is integral and inherent to good game design in most cases. Especially survival horrors.

Can't say I've ever found tiny enemies a downside. annoying sometimes, yes, but they create diversity and test your skill. Exceptions perhaps given to the evil bees from Shadow Warrior (1997), and worst of all the goddamn Addams Family Hand from Blood (1998). Fuck that thing. Yet headcrabs? Meh, they're fun.
 
Last edited:

Latelistener

Arcane
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
2,579
The Mimic seems like a real lame enemy to shoot, some spiders that can't fight back.
On the previous page there is a video from Pax, where they were playing on the max difficulty, and a couple of mimics actually managed to rape Morgan. I haven't watched the whole video since I don't want to spoil myself much, but it seems like they died pretty often there.

He had 85 hp, and one attack from a mimic left him with only 48. One "fireball" from a phantom lowered hp from 71 to 33.

 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
Okay, that looks better but I hope the gloo cannon ammo isnt easy to come by because it looks like an I win button against mimic and phantoms.

At least the game should only give it plenty of ammo when there are tougher enemy around.

Hope the starting hours arent you using the gloo gun against mimics and whacking them on melee because that gonna become old fast.

The whole survival feeling of the game depends of the believable threat the enemies impose.

I saw on some videos the mimics running around and assuming the shapes of objects but that seems an inefective tactic against the player as this tends to isolate them when they are a bigger threat in groups.

It is a cool idea that looks alot like a gimmick from what I saw.

It would be alot more interesting if you got on a room and there were human enemies shooting at you with the mimics hidden.

Once you start killing people, the mimics get out of hiding and start transforming the bodies of the people you killed on phantoms and more mimics to swarm you.

So what started as a firefight against humans would become you fighting phantoms with an army of mimics.

You know when you see that mimic attacking that guy and becomming five mimics?

I wanted to see that stuff done outside a scripted encounter and a mimic being able to do this to any human or body they find on the fly.

You know, the mimics being a real threat of overwhelming you if you arent careful.

You fucking ignore that mimic that just attacked you because there are some crazy humans firing at you and the thing just go infecting the ones you kill.

Imagine a mixture of Alien Isolation with mimics ambushing people everywhere instead of the single alien, with a dynamic ecosystem like it was promised and not delivered on the original Bioshock?

This is all wishiful thinking as I think they cant implement a complex system like this with the resources they have.

I would be happy if they managed to apply some pressure on the player because this game wont work on the same way as Dishonored did because this is a survival horror game not a superpowerful assassin simulator.

I would happy enough if I dunno, the mimics being able to backstab you with really damaging lunge attacks when they are disguised for example. I saw on some videos, the player attacking a mimic that was disguised, as the player got nearby, he just shapechanged and was mostly passive being whacked with a whrench.

If a mimic could lunge at you for 30% of your life if jumping at you from a disguise this would make them alot more worthy of fear.

I dunno... There are alot of nice ideas on this game but they gonna be watered down because of the usual lack of ambition from AAA design.
 

Latelistener

Arcane
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
2,579
So what started as a firefight against humans would become you fighting phantoms with an army of mimics.
Mimics can devour the Psi energy turning humans into husks, but only weavers can reanimate them into phantoms.
I think I haven't seen them yet.
 

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