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

[anvi]

wait what
How is bioshock like system shock at all?

In a lot of ways. Just worse in every way.

It's basically just a remake, but yeah everything was done super lame. It's more of a System Shock Happy Meal.

 

[RoSoDude]

Bioshock only "plays like System Shock 2" in the sense that 90% of its gameplay (and story) is cargo cult from the latter with all of the original context removed. Like yeah, there's psionics, hacking, research, ammo types, vending machines but... why? None of it serves a purpose.

You don't make any character building choices since you're forced to have X number of tonics of each type and plasmids are mostly a linear progression, and you get enough Adam to purchase most everything. So where is there an RPG layer? Because SS2 had it, idk.

The whole medkit/ammo type/looting situation is pointless since there's no meaningful scarcity, you're more likely to hit stack limits on everything than you are to find yourself low on any particular resource. So why is there this fake survival element? Because SS2 had it, idk.

Hacking is a tedious minigame that pauses the world around you, removing all tension with it. You win as long as you slot the correct engineering tonics, making security systems a nuisance. So why is there hacking? Because SS2 had it, idk.

Research is just a matter of pointing and clicking at an enemy while unseen. It's boring but mandatory because enemy health skyrockets in the second half of the game and you need the damage bonuses to keep up... a total wash. So why is there research? Because SS2 had it, idk.

You can go on and on with every mechanic and system in Bioshock (don't get me started on Vita chambers -- how far Ultima Underworld's Silver Sapling hath fallen!). There's maybe a tiny bit more environmental interactivity but it doesn't mean anything if the fundamentals are junk.

 

[ciox]

Indeed, System Shock 1 isn't referenced that much, it's mostly System Shock 2, with its plot of being manipulated by someone pretending to be someone else, and its game mechanics.

Arguably Levine was doing this type of plot as early as the first Thief game, since he was involved in the game's writing and might have written the plot twist with Constantine and Viktoria.

 

[Latelistener]

I don't know if this was discussed or not, but apparently back in 2013 Bethesda was in the talks with the owner of the System Shock IP so that this game would be called System Shock 3. Jason Schreier somehow got his hands on a few emails suggesting that Arkane is developing Prey, so he basically went to blackmail Bethesda into giving him another more juicy story. They told him to fuck off and he made this article on Kotaku and then this one after Bethesda denied this rumor.

What happened is that after these articles the deal fell through and despite them being sort of polite with each other here, Raphael seems to be pretty pissed about it.

 

[V_K]

The history of Arkane: UUW3 that's not UUW, Thief 4 that's not Thief, and SS3 that's not SS.

 

[Latelistener]

Except Dishonored is not Thief, it's Deus Ex.

 

[hibby]

It certainly wanted to be Thief, though.

 

[Latelistener]

It didn't. As with Deus Ex, stealth is non-mandatory and is heavily simplified in order to have a full fledged combat approach. Also, there is a distinct lack of stealth tools. I'm not even saying that stealth systems themselves work differently in these games. With Dishonored you must break line of sight and hide below or above enemies, while Thief is all about light and shadows.

Whoever even considers that this game somehow resembles or tries to resemble Thief probably hit their head or something, but I keep reading this shit from time to time here on Codex. I wonder where people get this idea.

 

[Multidirectional]

Developers mentioned Thief once or twice in interviews during hype phase for first Dishonored release so now it's forever being compared with Thief. It's true that it's a lot more Deus Ex than Thief. There really is no other game like original Thiefs.

 

[hibby]

Blink, possession, bend time, dark vision, agility, and shadow kill enhance stealth. Vitality isn't combat-specific. That's 6 of 10 powers useful for sneaking, and 3 more useful for combat. The chaos system adds narrative and gameplay disincentives for combat-heavy approaches. The game also featured stealth systems lifted directly from Thief early in development, which were later dropped for various reasons.

Between that and the Thief references, I think the intent was there, but the execution is confused. Chances are, as they iterated and tried to accommodate more of the emergent playstyles they discovered during testing, they inadvertently built something much more combat-focused; the result is a love letter to Thief that's more fun when you kill everybody.

 

[V_K]

It's not so much the gameplay - it's not like other Arkane's games are carbon copies of Looking Glass games that inspired them - as the setting. The gothic/steampunk/fantasy mixture is way too specific to be a coincidence.

 

[Maggot]

They also had some former Thief FM authors work on level design for the game like Purah and Digital Nightfall.

 

[Child of Malkav]

I wonder where people get this idea.

It's from way back when they made Dishonored 1 and in one or more interviews Harvey Smith said that the game is heavily inspired by Thief and that it is Thief but sped up. I think they also mentioned that they wanted it to be a spiritual successor to Thief. So yeah, it stuck.

 

[Latelistener]

Blink, possession, bend time, dark vision, agility, and shadow kill enhance stealth. Vitality isn't combat-specific. That's 6 of 10 powers useful for sneaking, and 3 more useful for combat. The chaos system adds narrative and gameplay disincentives for combat-heavy approaches.

Blink, Agility and Bend Time enhance combat as well. Much more than stealth, in fact. The only thing you have going for stealth are Dark Vision, Shadow Kill and Possession and the two latter can also be used in combat.

Chaos system isn't based on combat or stealth. It's based on casualties. So people killed with Shadow Kill are still counted towards that. The only thing you have for stealthy non-lethal approach are sleep bolts and choke hold. That's it. Normal bolts cannot be used for stealth as they are really loud when you kill somebody. Spring razor is quiet, but it's also much more useful in combat.

 

[Roguey]

It didn't. As with Deus Ex, stealth is non-mandatory and is heavily simplified in order to have a full fledged combat approach. Also, there is a distinct lack of stealth tools. I'm not even saying that stealth systems themselves work differently in these games. With Dishonored you must break line of sight and hide below or above enemies, while Thief is all about light and shadows.

Whoever even considers that this game somehow resembles or tries to resemble Thief probably hit their head or something, but I keep reading this shit from time to time here on Codex. I wonder where people get this idea.

Dishonored is an "Assassin" version of Thief. Can't imagine anyone believing it's literally trying to be Thief. The last level of the DLC campaign is an extremely obvious homage to the last level of Thief with regard to what you're supposed to do to complete it, so of course it's heavily inspired.

 

[udm]

I don't know if this was discussed or not, but apparently back in 2013 Bethesda was in the talks with the owner of the System Shock IP so that this game would be called System Shock 3. Jason Schreier somehow got his hands on a few emails suggesting that Arkane is developing Prey, so he basically went to blackmail Bethesda into giving him another more juicy story. They told him to fuck off and he made this article on Kotaku and then this one after Bethesda denied this rumor.

What happened is that after these articles the deal fell through and despite them being sort of polite with each other here, Raphael seems to be pretty pissed about it.

Is there anything this motherfucker is good for besides being an annoying nuisance.

 

[kangaxx]

Is there anything this motherfucker is good for besides being an annoying nuisance.

Give it a few years and no doubt he'll be in the dock because of his google search history.

 

[Ismaul]

Is there anything this motherfucker is good for besides being an annoying nuisance.

Give it a few years and no doubt he'll be in the dock because of his google search history.

You mean he'll be elected to office, right? You know, a man in touch with the kids, who knows just what they need.

 

[Spukrian]

Happy 5th Birthday, Prey!

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I would have liked this game better if the monsters weren't scribbly black lines. Laziest creature design in history. It's like a 5 year old kid made them, literally.

Hey look I made a new monster for the sequel:

 

[Morgoth]

The creatures look nearly identical from those in Edge of Tomorrow.

 

[ferratilis]

For any of you commie loving bastards who don't own this game yet, it's free on the CCP Game Store. Nihao!

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/prey

 

[vortex]

For any of you commie loving bastards who don't own this game yet, it's free on the CCP Game Store. Nihao!

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/prey

I've already bought the game but it's not my cup of tea. I have to support Arkane so they make Dishonored 3 soonish.

 

[ferratilis]

Tbh, without Raph at the helm, I doubt Dishonored 3 is something worth looking forward to.

 

[udm]

At this point, given Arkane's most recent lineup of games, Dishonored 3 will probably have the niggest characters in the series.