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

[Curratum]

Fuck it, I hate having main menu buttons that keep nagging me to buy DLC and it's 80% off and generally positively reviewed, so I just got it.

 

[Tacgnol]

One lesbian couple and one gay couple.

It's been too long since I've played to verify that, but however many there are, I do clearly remember that they represent at least 50% of the emails/notes left describing on-station romances, and probably closer to 75%+.

I finished replaying Prey this week (with the SHOCK mod, which I enjoyed incidentally). Gay wise, I only really remember there being Danielle and Abigail, your assistant (who has hotboss as a password regardless of Morgan's gender) and Female Morgan and that Russian engineer.

Only other romance stuff I really remember is between that straight couple on the arboretum deck who had the secret cache with the storeroom keycard and planned to meet up there.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Well, the general issue is that the audiologs are just flat, boring and most of them don't even try to build the horror atmosphere. Another part of this game that's rather disappointing when compared to the source material.

 

[Curratum]

Well, the general issue is that the audiologs are just flat, boring and most of them don't even try to build the horror atmosphere. Another part of this game that's rather disappointing when compared to the source material.

I was falling asleep through the better part of System Shock 2's audio logs, so that's not much different in Prey.

 

[Tacgnol]

Audiologs should be used sparingly, I think both Prey and SS2 overused them as a storytelling mechanic.

 

[AW8]

Audiologs were perfected in Arkham Asylum. They filled me with dread for the upcoming Batmobile segments in Arkham Knight.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Audiologs should be used sparingly, I think both Prey and SS2 overused them as a storytelling mechanic.

Audiologs are definitely an SS-type of thing and one of its characteristic features, so saying that they were overused is a bit like saying that sitcoms overuse bad gags backed up by fake audience laughter. I actually found them rather sparse in Prey, which makes it even weirder that they were used for office romance instead of something like Diego's arc in SS2.

 

[Jenkem]

Is Mooncrash worth getting? Be aware I'm a storyfaggot and HATE randomised maps.

Yes, there is a story and the map isn't randomized. The map is always the same, what's randomized are item placement, monster placement, hazards, power outages, etc.

 

[RoSoDude]

In SS1 and SS2 the audio logs are very snappy and to the point. Their text can usually fit on one screen, and they have information that either fleshes out the world/timeline or gives you gameplay/mission hints, or both. Always keeps you interested. Prey's audio logs are severely bloated by being phone call recordings instead of monologues. I also personally think they're hampered by the fact that Prey's events start a day after containment breach, so most of the logs pertain to events beforehand, which I frankly don't find as interesting as hearing about how people are dealing with the alien infestation right now as the Shock games are able the do with their months of time with the protagonist in cryosleep. For these reasons I generally tuned the logs out on all of my playthroughs. I mostly only remember the one between Calvino and his assistant and the guy in Life Support checking out the other dude's ass.

Given all of the other Shock staples that Prey was happy to reinvent, and due to their inherent limitations in the game's fiction, I actually wish Prey had replaced audio logs entirely. What's my alternative? Reliving Phantom memories. Typhon seem to feed on human consciousness and Phantoms are constantly muttering NPC dialogues, but never to any real significance. Imagine if you could extract memories from select Phantoms and relive certain key moments from the original human host's lives (sometimes right before they died, but could be much beforehand too). This gives backstory and fleshes out the world in a way that directly ties in with the game's themes of memory/identity but with a sense of tragedy and horror. It would seem especially cruel to turn human subjects into Typhon when their memory and consciousness still remains in some form. Hell, maybe Neuromods are contaminated with memories too. There's lots of potential here, and I doubt they would have wasted it on office romance like they did with audio logs. Further, it would allow us to sidestep the problem of some Phantoms having human names while others don't, even though they're all resurrected from human subjects. The memory itself would be the identifier rather than the tracking bracelet or what have you.

 

[DalekFlay]

Not a fan of randomized stuff or roguelikes, but for $4 fuck it. Mooncrash be mine.

 

[sputtering fart balloon]

RoSoDude That is actually a really good point, I hate audio logs and they had the perfect chance to get rid of these ridiculous, clunky lore dumps, but did nothing with it. The entire game is about the whacky nature of perception, so allowing Typhon and neuromods to alter your experience and thus deliver the lore that way would have been A+. It is disappointing how little they actually explored stuff like qualia arguments and AI, which was suggested in some of the readable emails/books but went barely anywhere.

 

[Israfael]

This flash sale is to honor the Apollo program, why do you even wonder that a game named "Mooncrash" is discounted so heavily

 

[ciox]

Audiologs should be used sparingly, I think both Prey and SS2 overused them as a storytelling mechanic.

There may be a slight overabundance of them in SS2 simply because SS2 doesn't have a mechanic for text-only readables, just audio logs with transcripts, and some blood writing decals on the walls I guess.

Similarily, Prey has plenty of mechanics to dump plain text at you, leading to an overabundance of quick'n'easy to design pamphlets and emails for you to scroll through, arguably more than you'd like to scroll through.

I still prefer what SS2 ended up having, don't forget about the ghost sequences used for storytellling which were pretty damn original back then... got Brother Murus from Thief to thank for that, in fact all the subtle callbacks to Thief are a not small part of why I like that game so much.

 

[Paul_cz]

Not a fan of randomized stuff or roguelikes, but for $4 fuck it. Mooncrash be mine.

Same here. Maybe I will actually like it.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

I probably said this before but I hate the Mooncrash timer. I have enough deadlines at work and I don't need more of that shit when I try to enjoy a game I like. When I first bought Mooncrash I dropped it not long after because of the time pressure.

Recently, I felt like playing Prey again. In the end I decided to go with Mooncrash but with the addition of a mod that changes one of the five corruption level timers to 250 hours (it doesn't even disable the achievements).

I have to say right now I'm having a blast, as I can explore at leisure, just like I did with the original game.

 

[Multidirectional]

I also bought it on this sale, I wonder if I can stand the timer too. So far I haven't encountered one single player game with timer that I liked. But I did like Prey base game so gotta try at least. If I happen to hate it I'll use that mod as well.

 

[Average Manatee]

The timer is pretty bad. Not because its a timer, but because it increases difficulty over time. This means that the optimal way to play is not to gather resources and play efficiently to survive higher difficulties with your 4th and 5th characters, but to just speedrun past everything so that your 4th and 5th characters are still on difficulty 2, maybe barely hitting 3 before you wrap it all up on character 5.

It's really messed up when the timer is so excessively important that spending 10s to pick up bullets is a net loss.

 

[Morgoth]

You can use mods to tamper with the timer:
https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/36?tab=files

 

[Lazing Dirk]

Nabbed this while it was on sale, seems to run fine on my aging potato, so that's good. I agree with the audio logs being a bit shit; the only one I've found remotely interesting or amusing is the one where they're playing D&D F.A.T.A.L. Fatal Fortress, which has been a fun running gag since finding the first character sheet lying on a desk somewhere. The rest of the atmosphere is pretty good though, without having to resort to jump scares and shit (barring the odd greater mimic being a dick). The slow appearance and spread of the weave is nice too.

It'd be nice if there was a beefier pistol alternative, like if the golden gun was some big magnum kinda thing, but the shotgun is serving me well. I've upgraded the damage and stealth bonus, along with maxing that bullet time thing. That seems to mince up pretty much anything, including the nightmare. Stealth archer wins again. I've tried the weird laser gun precisely twice before being bored of it. I should probably get the third level of swoleness so I can start throwing fridges at things for shits and giggles, along with having even more stuff to stick into a pile and throw recyclers at (like a Viscera Cleanup Detail bonus minigame).

The only bit that seems a bit weird is some of the side objectives. I just had one about sticking some purple goop into the water supply. If everyone's gonna die anyway (and most already are), why bother? Maybe it'll have some effect later on. I'm sure there were a few other odd ones but they just fell out of my head. Anyway, yeah, seems fun. Might run through again and try going full retard space ghost.

 

[Multidirectional]

You can use mods to tamper with the timer:
https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/36?tab=files

That mod seems to change way more than timer. It seems to make everything easier.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

You can use mods to tamper with the timer:
https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/36?tab=files

That mod seems to change way more than timer. It seems to make everything easier.

It's the same one I use. You ONLY have to download the "Swift and Easy - optional Timer tweaks", in it you will find five files, each responds to the level on which you want the time to stop. Just pick one and put it in the right folder.

It doesn't change anything but the time. You can adjust the challenge by allowing the time to stop on higher levels.

 

[Icewater]

I didn't have an issue with the timer. Once you get to the point where you're ready to make a serious attempt to escape with all of the characters in one run, you'll know the layout of the map well enough that speed won't be a huge issue. Plus, it's possible to find [and buy, and craft] an item that gives you more time anyway.

If there was no timer then you'd never die because you'd just play super cautiously. The timer forces you to hurry. It is a little annoying that it means your time for scavenging is so very limited, though.

 

[RoSoDude]

I would just rush into combat with every Weaver, Telepath, Technopath, and Moonshark I could find (depending on which character I was playing) to reliably acquire time delay loops. This left me plenty of time to scope around and scavenge without running down the clock. You don't need to try to escape with all 5 characters in one simulation until you've completed all of the side objectives, anyway. I think the time pressure, in concert with a lot of the other features like the Typhon gates that encourage you to fight rather than run past enemies, make the gameplay feel a lot more tense and high-stakes, your ability to break it all with sim points and permanent Neuromod progression notwithstanding. If I had one complaint in this area it would actually be that crafting feels too restricted. You always end up with way more exotic material than you can ever use, and only enough mineral/synthetic to purchase one or two things per character. I'd pin that down more as a resource issue than a timer issue, because I never felt so crunched on time that I couldn't loot most of the material on the level.

Still looking for the time to make a mod to address some of this stuff...

 

[DalekFlay]

I think a lot of people (like moi) just hate time limits of any sort. For me they make me feel rushed and anxious when in my heart of hearts I'm an explorefag, so it's kind of incompatible. Not saying I'd mod it out without trying it first, but it's definitely off-putting.

 

[RaptorRex888]

Is it just me or does the game look better with everything set to low? On very high its like cataracts mode.