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

You know, if Thief 1 and 2 were released nowadays, you would probably make that same remark about them. Just think about this for a moment, and see how easily Dishonored and Dishonored 2 in your post could be exchanged with Thiefs within your frame.

 

"Thief 1 was a fun but barebones game" -> does not compute.

 

It does not compute for Dishonored either. Stand back and think about his statement. If it works for Dishonored, it works for Thief too.

 

out of interest and not being facetious, when was the last time you played SS2?

 

First time it was a few years ago, last time it was two years ago.

 

There are a few hints during the game that not everything is as it seems. And I can't elaborate without spoiling, but there is a major plot twist at one point.

 

Pretty much every AAA dev releases some type of demo or beta

 

Finished the game. Hard mode. 27 hours in total but that's because I've explored a lot (except G.U.T.S) and in fact I got two achievements for reading all emails and listening all recordings.

Well, despite a promising beginning the game is not as good as SS2 however it's probably its best approximation. Which means that it's better than a lot of stuff out there ... *cough* ... new Deux Ex, Dishonored, Bioshock or Dead Space.

Some things about the game [SPOILERS]:

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1. One of the game's problem is the lack of a convincing villain or at least with some personality. You meet two psychopaths and the Typhon but there is nothing like Shodan. This is not inherently bad but I would have preferred a more fleshed-out villain.
However now that I'm thinking about it, it's actually nice to realize that Typhon doesn't care about your persona and for once - you are not the chosen one that can stop the catastrophe.

2. Typhon sucks. There is somewhat inherently not-satisfying in fighting them. This sounds stupid but I would rather fight zombies, mutated humans or anything else with some flesh on it.
On the other hand, the playing field is somewhat leveled. The fact that you and the mobs have the same combat abilities it's brilliant (*with some exceptions). This is no longer Dishonored.

3. Firearms combat sucks for one sole reason: Typhon mobs are moving too fast. Some mobs have more vulnerable spots (head, eyes) but they move so fast it's hard to shoot them not to say it's almost impossible to do aimed shoots in combat.
Only with Combat Focus it is possible to slow down time and do actual damage by aiming at vulnerable spots. But it fucks up the combat pace. Why Arkane!? WHY??? I don't need VATS in my game.

4. Abilities tree is a mess. However it allows you to mess up your character and there are locations or rewards which are only available with things like Hacking 4 or Leverage 3. A few places.
There is probably an entire story about the abilities tree - it looks like Arkane had another game in mind and they ended up with this. But this is speculation.

5. Pacing issues towards the end. I don't know what algorithms they used but the entire game becomes hectic towards the end: forced backtracking and multiple respawns each time you backtrack to a location.
I had to gave up on combat and just ran past most mobs.

6. Problematic quests. One of the most fleshed-out quest is about a lesbian couple (probably written by MCA). Another one is about a black scientist thanking his AZN master for his generosity. Nothing intrusive but neither interesting.
One thing which rubbed me the wrong way is that a specific quest needs the active quest marker otherwise you will never find that specific data record.

+++

7. Word design is absolutely phenomenal (except G.U.T.S). You can access most of the space station from the beginning and there are 3 ways to access it: Lift, GUTS and Exterior.
Each location has personality, it makes sense and it can be explored in multiple ways. This is probably the reason why I buy and play Arkane's games (*low expectations).

8. AI is not brain-dead. They can jump around you like crazy, they can search for you, they can use their abilities but ...

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

... nothing compares to a Technopath which took my turrets and used them against me

9. Interesting NPCs. The story is told through them and I think this is one aspect in which Prey is better than SS2 (where for the most part you are alone and listening directly or indirectly to Shodan's orders).
Their mere presence make the story less horror but it makes everything else much more believable. This is one thing that I wanted from SS2.

10. Make your own quest. Find out about a person and track it down using the security console. It's terrific to find the person or its body and all the small details regarding its "existence"
They are also using environment story-telling (like lost notes, password scratched on a wall and so on).

11. Game mechanics. You can craft almost anything you need (even neuromods). You can upgrade weapons, your suit and helmet. You can hack or smash doors. You can deploy turrets and you can research mobs for more info.
You can use the GLOO cannon to build vertical paths or you can glide from place to place (in certain locations). Stealth is viable (without stupid Blink). Plenty of stuff to do. (*the hacking minigame is stupid but not unbearable)

12. Decent ending. The story is mediocre but it has an organic flow and there are moments of good writing. Anyway, it doesn't make sense until the real ending (the prologue chapter after the game credits).
I can only say that I don't want to see Prey 2 despite the fact that I really enjoyed this game.

Technical stuff: Great visuals, retarded audio (the music is really not suited for the game) and no critical bugs.

Conclusion:
Prey is somewhat derivative but it hits so many good points that it's hard not to like the game. As I said at the beginning, this is probably the first not-retarded successor to SS2.
And as SS2 this is not for everyone therefore I cannot recommend it on full price. But this should be on your radar if you liked SS2.

Free advice: Side-quests first.

 

Yeah? Are you now comparing limited multiplayer betas to free singleplayer demos? Or where are those demos for Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, Halo, etc.?

 

Well. Fuck. This is spot on.

 

Agree pretty much except I do recommend it at full price. I want Arkane to continue making immersive sims rather than getting mothballed by Bethesda.

 

By who?

Considering this is about "Prey 2", there is what happened with Human Head Studios were Bethesda delayed payments to put then in a situation were they would either be "rescued" by being brought or go under and they had done the same trick with Arkane.

ZeniMax is the same or worst that EA.

 

Speaking of villains, they could have developed Walter Dahl hunting you down a bit more. Instead I got to whack legions of military operators ruining the pacing and depleting my ammo before I could get a proper impression of this SOB. Then I made him my bitch and it felt lacking.

 

They're certainly smart enough to drop hacks like Obsidian while having enough faith in Arkane's talent to give them proper resources and let them do their own thing. If they were as bad as EA, they would be doing Mass Effect-levels of retarded shit and bleeding out talent in no time. Bethesda at least allows their studios to take risk, and retain their talent and company culture.

 

Be grateful that Drakron pointed out what I was going to say, because that let off quite a bit off steam (the regular kind, not the digital distributor).

That said, SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU ADVERTISING PLANT.

Seriously. Get. The. Fuck. Out.

Here's Bethesda's shtick:

#1: Hire independent studio to develop game.
#2: Make large, encompassing, littered-with-fine-letter contract about development of said game.
#3: Once development is somewhat underway, threaten developer with canceling production of game by withholding payments for vague milestones NOT included in aforementioned contract.
#4: Watch as Zenimax (parent company of Bethesda) steps in and makes an offer "too good to refuse" to help out struggling developer get out of their "contractual" bind.
#5: Become the bitch of Zenimax AND Bethesda Studios for untold eons.

This is what Arkane went through. This is why Arkane, a studio BURSTING with ideas, innovation and potential, is stuck developing shit title after shit title for Bethesda/Zenimax.

And you're telling us to spend money on this game because... why again?

Fuck you, and everything you stand for.

Go on, deny this.

Go on, pretend this didn't happen.

Go on, rate this post "Retadred".

Go on, ignore this and keep up your stupid shilling crap.

FUCK. YOU.

 

You're completely delusional and retarded, Unkillable Cat

Where did Zenimax ever threaten Arkane?

 

Prove me wrong, motherfucker.

PROVE. ME. WRONG.

 

I have no idea what's up with your delusions, so I can only comment on what Bethesda is *doing*, and what they are doing is doubling down on investment in their studios and expanding their development capacities. I don't care about the mistakes of their past (Human Head Studios fiasco, Oculus/Facebook lawsuit) or any of that shit, I care about their output and it's superior to the shit that EA, 2K and QueerEnix is shitting out.

 

Shut up, you incompetent moderator, I'm crucifying a heretic here.

How awfully convenient, just IGNORE everything that's come before this point.

Are you for real? How do you think they got into the position of being able to "doubling down on their investment"? BY SCREWING THEM OVER.

We can start here (plus the links provided).

(And I hope people can realize how much I loathe linking to these fucks, but...)

We can also move to NeoGAF to see more of the same.

Anyone with half a brain should know by now: Bethesda and Zenimax are NOT friends with anyone sane in the gaming industry.

Yet here you are, defending them, and telling people to spend MAXIMUM BUCKAZOIDS on their products!

Fuck off. Just. Fuck. Off. You have plugged various titles in the past here as "Day 1 Purchases", yet not a single one of them has been proven worthy of the title. Hence the smiley.

You yourself didn't play SOMA (a game you plugged so badly) until more than 6 months after its release.

Any last words, you mong?

 

"Shady business practices"



You should probably then stop buying any games, or any products at this point.

 

careful, saying bad things about recently released darlings might just get you a thread split buried on the 5th page of the gazebo

 

Arkan's Prey

 

Unkillable Cat you realize that Morgoth is already in jail, right?

 

Listening to this while Unkillable Cat suffers a mental breakdown is satisfactory.