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

[Zboj Lamignat]

Meh.

This roguelite add-on is such a bizarre idea. I understand that they are trying to "salvage" the game by adding some latest fads instead of developing on the original idea that didn't sell, but this is so obviously not gonna work.

The survival mode is potentially cool, but seems really late to the party.

 

[toro]

It's a shame. I never asked for this.

 

[Alienman]

Next dlc will be battle royale mode.

 

[Zakhad]

Played a few hours of the add-on. Enjoying it. Removal of savescum, limited character skills, and timer (corruption metre) make this much more tense. Can't just craft infinite neuromods. In particular, organic material is harder to come by, which is an issue since healing is more important. Some issues, but no bugs so far except for a mimic clipping through a wall in one place, very minor.

I actually found myself solving enemy encounters like puzzles, since without a levelled character and with new levelled telepaths etc., some enemies aren't killable when you meet them, but their presence near certain "typhon gates" stops those gates from opening and letting you in, so you need to draw them away, bypass the gate, etc.

Also haven't tried main game since the update, so don't know if this is included there, but chipsets are more useful/interesting, the poltergeist does more interesting stuff, the levelled enemies give more variety, mimics seem to behave less predictably (or is that my imagination?), there's more turret variety, and combat feels a bit different in a way I find hard to define but I like.

Would love a lot of this applied to the base game, tbh...

 

[RoSoDude]

Played a few hours of the add-on. Enjoying it. Removal of savescum, limited character skills, and timer (corruption metre) make this much more tense. Can't just craft infinite neuromods. In particular, organic material is harder to come by, which is an issue since healing is more important. Some issues, but no bugs so far except for a mimic clipping through a wall in one place, very minor.

I actually found myself solving enemy encounters like puzzles, since without a levelled character and with new levelled telepaths etc., some enemies aren't killable when you meet them, but their presence near certain "typhon gates" stops those gates from opening and letting you in, so you need to draw them away, bypass the gate, etc.

This all sounds great to me, solves a lot of issues I have with the savescummable Immersive Sim in a unique twist on the formula. Not sure how the procedural elements play out, though.

Also haven't tried main game since the update, so don't know if this is included there, but chipsets are more useful/interesting, the poltergeist does more interesting stuff, the levelled enemies give more variety, mimics seem to behave less predictably (or is that my imagination?), there's more turret variety, and combat feels a bit different in a way I find hard to define but I like.

Would love a lot of this applied to the base game, tbh...

That makes two of us, then! Maybe we're both just hallucinating (possibly because the game systems are actually forcing us to experiment and the game's better qualities are shining through?), but I had the same feeling that combat felt... different. In a good way. In particular, I've seemed to notice Phantoms telepraphing their attacks in a much more reasonable manner, and their fight or flight behavior feels more readable overall. I think there might be some improvements under the hood. If anyone can locate some patch notes that'd be great. All I could find was what appears to be a placeholder on their forums:

https://bethesda.net/community/topic/212117/update-1-06-featuring-new-game-more-now-available

We’re so excited to introduce three brand new modes to Prey in a free update: New Game+, Story Mode, and Survival mode! We've also worked on a lot of other issues in this update, and a full list of patch notes for this latest update can be viewed below.

If you run into any issues or have any further feedback, please let us know!

Prey Update 1.06 Patch Notes

PC Specific

• FOV can now correctly be set using a Controller
• Prey should now call Controller Configuration page in Steam even if booted outside of Big Picture mode
• Player will no longer sometimes encounter control issues during Life Review while using a PS4 Dualshock Controller
• Added confirmation prompt after changing FOV
• Mouse 3 is now a functional keybinding
• Morgan’s body will no longer become displaced during Helicopter Ride after changing aspect ratios
• Selecting the ‘back’ option while an Advance Video setting dropdown is active will now properly back out of the current menu
• Controller inputs and prompts should now always display the active input method

Also, based on this FAQ on the same forums, looks like they might have actually dumbed down the game a bit for cazuls and firmly split between Story and Survival Mode? I had figured the former was just the game as-is, but this lends more credence to my theory that both modes have some subtle changes to reorient their level of challenge, even if you disable the three main Survival Mode features. Unfortunately I seem to be encountering a bug where I can't start a new save slot that isn't on Survival Mode, so I can't actually view the option right now. EDIT: Nope, never mind, Story Mode is just another difficulty level below Easy, can be toggled on a non-Survival run at any time. Hmm, not sure what to make of things without full patch notes.

https://bethesda.net/community/topic/212105/prey-mooncrash-faqs/2

‘Story’ Difficulty
A new difficulty is now available that greatly reduces the challenge of staying alive. It can be selected when creating a new game or from the options menu from an existing save. It cannot be selected if any survival mode options are enabled.

Survival Mode
New options are available that enable weapon degradation, traumas, and oxygen. These options can be toggled on or off independently of each other when the player is starting a New Game. These options are not available when the Story difficulty is selected.

New Game +
After completing the game, players will have the option of restarting with previously unlocked neuromod abilities carried over into the new game. These, along with a psychocope, are granted to the player in Morgan’s office.

 

[Morgoth]

So is this essentially like Dishonored's Dunwall City Trials DLC?

 

[dragonul09]

So is this essentially like Dishonored's Dunwall City Trials DLC?

You have to get a bunch of NPC to escape the moon, basically one playthrough with one char will take between 40-60 minutes and you will play on the same map but with randomized loot/monsters and traps, it's just a big rip-off for 20$. They can't be serious for asking that ridiculous price to replay the same damn map but with sligthly different loot/monsters/traps, the content it's just not there.

 

[ciox]

So is this essentially like Dishonored's Dunwall City Trials DLC?

You have to get a bunch of NPC to escape the moon, basically one playthrough with one char will take between 40-60 minutes and you will play on the same map but with randomized loot/monsters and traps, it's just a big rip-off for 20$. They can't be serious for asking that ridiculous price to replay the same damn map but with sligthly different loot/monsters/traps, the content it's just not there.

Sad if true.
Is there anything else new weapons-wise except the psi-wrench and some grenades?

 

[Morgoth]

Interesting. As much as I want Arkane to succeed, I don't really like these challenge-mode tack-ons.

Considering refund.

 

[dragonul09]

Just play it for an hour and then refund it, trust me you'll experience 85% of the DLC in 60 minutes.

 

[Whisper]

What an... extremely odd idea.

Also, 20 is pretty cheap for a rogue-lite, that's what all the indie ones with terrible pixel art cost. Rogue-lites are a lot of fun and basically the only genre I play anymore.

Why most of this game use "pixel"? So annoying.

 

[RoSoDude]

My Pistol finally broke after only sparing use in the GUTS (the best ones I could find lying around were at 25% durability to begin with). Here's what it looks like when it jams. I think somewhere it was stated that it only jams periodically when at 0% durability, but that's not true. Every shot will produce this weapon malfunction and waste a bullet. Keep your weapons maintained out there!



Some more impressions: So far, so good, though I've already picked up 50 Spare Parts and they each increase weapon durability by 25%, so your mileage may vary on how impactful the weapon degradation system is (then again, using turrets and the like can eat up a lot of Spare Parts). Crafted a new pistol (was a little too cheap IMO) and it started at 80% durability. Haven't really had to deal with traumas (other than more burn, ouch) or oxygen yet. I was a bit worried the game was going to suddenly veer towards being too easy again when I got the Kinetic Blast psi power since it was easy to keep my psi up in Psychotronics, but I realize they just want to ease players into the system there and let them experiment with psi powers, and I recall Science Operators are considerably rarer elsewhere on the station. Leaving the level I've felt the impact of the high psi costs already, but I know there's that psi water side mission that'll probably trivialize it again. We'll see.

 

[Israfael]

Bought the DLC, it's only 10$ here so no big deal in any case. Played a bit (~5 hrs or so), it seems like a cross between Dark Souls and the immersims. Don't get the whining, it's actually better this way:
- Timer is global (which I did not knew), if you die it does not get reset. Dead NPC stays dead (although some might not be, but the first one can die with no (apparent) 'game over'
- Looks like that the world is persistent - the things you take that are useless for you (for example, psi hypos for engineer / control modules for everyone else) will be missed by your other NPCs.
- More varied chipsets / grenades, have not seen any new weapons if they are here. Ah yes, there was one - something like lazor blade from SS2, I died shorty after acquiring it and trying to melee the moon shark
- With simpoints, you are actually time limited, not resource limited (you can buy certain ammo when you die / play new NPC)
- Time limit actually forces you to remember the routes / maps / enemy placement
- I guess if you went into wrong hub (like I did) and wasted some of the 'resets' on useless exploration there you are fucked. Gonna see later if it's so
- Lots of escape routes / typical Arkane vertical design
- Trauma system got enabled by default in the DLC, broke legs when i jumped downstairs / 3rd degree burns when the GLOO insulation got accidentally destroyed mid-fight
- Judging from the chipset descriptions, you can actually meet your corpse walking as phantom

PS: you can actually fuck up alternative escape routes - I launched the cargo box without getting 5 whatevers that you need to survive in it, and now I realise that one of the other NPCs could have used it (with everything prepared by the engineer) to escape easily

Update 2: It looks like FOV is broken (despite what it says in the patch notes), I get nausea even when it's set at 105.6

 

[Don Peste]

Very nice guy indeed

 

[RoSoDude]

I’ll bet Raph was quite frustrated about having to dumb the game down, especially as such a huge fan of System Shock 2 (he once praised it as the “king of the Immersive Sim”). The game systems cohere so, so much more than before even just with these subtle changes.

 

[Trithne]

I’ll bet Raph was quite frustrated about having to dumb the game down, especially as such a huge fan of System Shock 2 (he once praised it as the “king of the Immersive Sim”). The game systems cohere so, so much more than before even just with these subtle changes.

The status screen existing at all makes sense now. I've started a survival mode playthrough, although faffing around in mooncrash before I dive into it.

I'd like to see some of mooncrash's changes added though: that Psi knife is good, and psi hypos being a single slot removes a sizable annoyance.

I also like the marked crates of a given type (eng/med/sci)

 

[Big Wrangle]

Better late than never I guess, still a shame though.

 

[Ivan]

Dark Souls

 

[Ash]

@RoSoDude#6732 no limited fabrication licenses? Can we still spam neuromods/ammo from recycling? Yes you mentioned the wep degradation hinders this behaviour, but is it still possible nonetheless? What about suit repair kits, are they actually relevant now...I am assuming they double as wep repair kits?

Thumbs up to Bethesda/Arkane. I actually did not expect them to go ahead and make the core game better and more "hardcore" a.k.a make it more of an actual game (they did nothing of the sort with Dishonored after all, which needs it the most). I hope they are rewarded for this, financially/sales/reception-wise.

 

[Jasede]

Honestly, Mooncrash feels like it was made for a very small niche of people that used to play games during MS DOS times and don't mind having to make some difficult decisions, a strict (and much harsher than it seems) time limit, etc. Very old school stuff, in a way.

 

[Israfael]

I am assuming they double as wep repair kits?

No, you repair weapons with 'spare parts', which are used for repairing turrets / doors and other stuff (I actually don't remember repairing doors, it seems to be new and could be limited to the DLC)

I hope they are rewarded for this, financially/sales/reception-wise.

Very doubtful, it may please us, but 99% of the casual players would see this as annoyance and they won't even probably touch the DLC (after their first death right at the start when you get attacked by 3 or 4 mimics of various types). Also, I've seen a video where a guy got random Telepath right at the beginning, it's virtually impossible to kill it without Q-beam (and idiots would try to do that no matter what instead of simply ignoring it)

 

[Zakhad]

Yeah, it's really odd that some on the Codex are complaining about this DLC since it takes a pretty anti-casual approach overall. I worry that it's not going to make them much money for exactly this reason

Other impressions so far (possible minor spoilers):

-The Traumas aren't for show: get a haemorrhage and you take damage from running or jumping, which kills you real quick if you're in the wrong place and need to escape, especially with some characters who have low health.
-The interaction between your characters is important and can really impact the run, but it's hard to pre-plan this before starting since stuff can change a lot, e.g....
-Pathways can be totally blocked in one run and unblocked in another: cave-ins, doors only one of the characters can open, and so on can appear or disappear between resets. It's like they solved the issue of "ten ways to get into this room but you have them all" by letting you have them all but only one at a time...
-Instead of weapon upgrade kits you get tiered weapons with different upgrades already installled, with seemingly random bonuses at the top level (e.g. I found a nerf crossbow that sets things on fire , or a shotgun that blocks psionics). I like this change, especially in a roguelike.
-Chipsets can have big effects, as I mentioned before, e.g. avoiding the moon shark would be a lot harder without the propulsion upgrade chipset, which now also lets you dodge mid-air; makes it much easier to get from rock to rock.
-There still seems to be a pretty developed story but I haven't really discovered much of it yet: the timer is fairly brutal, since even at three you get enough nasties to make survival problematic without full gear, and ammo is way less common. Plus as you unlock more stuff the timer goes faster.

Questions for others playing:
If I leave a bunch of stuff in a container for the next character, will it stay there between characters? (obviously not between resets). I know pre-placed stuff stays, not sure about things I drop.
Bhatia's corpse seems to have been in two separate places for me on different runs, is this right? First in Moonworks, then Labs.
Fabrication plans you've collected determine what you can buy at the beginning with sim points, is this right?

 

[Hines]

Yeah, it's really odd that some on the Codex are complaining about this DLC since it takes a pretty anti-casual approach overall. I worry that it's not going to make them much money for exactly this reason

30ish hours after launch and it's already dropped out of the top ten sellers on Steam, even though Bethesda hired streamers to promote the game and giving it a sweet spotlight at their much-watched conference. What are they thinking adding a prop hunt multiplayer mode in a couple of months? A week after launch, no one will be able to find a game, and the property will be written off as something not conducive to the games as service model, which is going to be the publisher's key strategy moving forward.

 

[toro]

Plus as you unlock more stuff the timer goes faster.

The best strategy is not to play their game

 

[Trithne]

Questions for others playing:
If I leave a bunch of stuff in a container for the next character, will it stay there between characters? (obviously not between resets). I know pre-placed stuff stays, not sure about things I drop.
Bhatia's corpse seems to have been in two separate places for me on different runs, is this right? First in Moonworks, then Labs.
Fabrication plans you've collected determine what you can buy at the beginning with sim points, is this right?

No idea about the first two but I'll be checking the first one later tonight.

The fab plans => sim point purchases is correct, yes.