Prey 2 - a System Shock 2 spiritual successor

[674542a5d46b4Da9L]

I've just bought it after watching this review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae4zNB9CYsg

Everyone seems to mention System shock 2 ..

[674542a5d4863fox]

GameStar gave it a 85/100. Their biggest gripes where the enemy design and some unfair difficulty spikes. 

Overall it sounds like a game, I'll want to try in the next few weeks.

[674542a5d4a37icemann]

It's the kind of game I'd prefer to have a fresh experience on. Hence why I've not watched that many videos for it. Kinda like not watching many trailers before you go see a movie, so that it's not spoiled on you prior.

[674542a5d4d8dDa9L]

It's the kind of game I'd prefer to have a fresh experience on. Hence why I've not watched that many videos for it. Kinda like not watching many trailers before you go see a movie, so that it's not spoiled on you prior.

I feel the same way.. When i played the video in my previous post, i didn't see the video only heard what he had to say about it, and thankfully there were no spoilers, so only technical terms and such.

[674542a5d5ea2Da9L]

I've played the game around 2 hours now.. Don't get it and expect a System Shock 2 like game. The game is very heavily inspired by System Shock, no doubt, there are some elements that even have the exact same names as SS2. It has many things in common with SS2 honestly, but its way to much steampunk for it to hit the nail. Its a nice enough game, but until further in my playthrough it feels kindda generic.

[674542a5d76f8code371]

Members in steam talk about bugs with saves, after 15-20 hours of playing your game will corrupt your savegames and it'll become unecoverable.

[674542a5d77f7icemann]

Unrecoverable.

[674542a5d793bfox]

RPS: "Wot I Think: Prey"
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/05/09/prey-review/

[674542a5d7b33fox]

RPS: "Don’t let this golden age of games end"
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/05/19/this-is-a-golden-age-of-games/#more-447843

While "golden age" is a slight exaggeration, I see the author's point and was thinking something along those lone myself since the DX-franchise apparently went on hiatus. Somewhat reluctantly, I'll go and shell out the retail price for Prey today although I think 55€ (or even 59€) is too much for a game and would normally be absolutely fine with waiting for it to drop to the 25€ mark. 

Edit: Well, the standard PC-version is currently 34,99€ on Amazon.de - that certainly seems like a nice price if the game's as good as most people say.

[674542a5d7c45icemann]

I agree with the article that we're in the middle of a golden age of games currently.

And you beat me to the punch in posting about that article damn you :p.

[674542a5d7dddZylonBane]

I wonder if someone should correct the thread title.

[674542a5d7ee5fox]

Wouldn't hurt but I guess everyone knows what the thread's about either way.

[674542a5d830bJDoran]

I agree with the article that we're in the middle of a golden age of games currently.

I disagree, but I'm mainly a single player first person shooter player, and for the past ten years plus first person shooters have generally gone down hugely in quality, I think. There have been some great single player FPS games in the past decade or so, of course, such as Bioshock 2, Singularity, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Doom 2106, Titanfall 2, Shadow Warrior (and SW 2 seemd good, what I played of it at my mates house), but that's from 2007 to 2017. Whereas 1997 to 2007 had Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Timesplitters 2, Timespliters: Future Perfect, No One Lives Forever, No One Lives Forever 2, Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2004, Unreal Championship 2 (any of those three are much better than 2007's Unreal Tournament 3), the original Deus Ex (still by far the best DX game), XIII, Thief 1, Theif 2, Thief 3 (any of which are a hundred times better than the recent Thief reboot), Half-Life, Half-Life 2, and many others.

Maybe in most other genres we're in a golden age, but not in the single player first person shooter genre.

[674542a5d8578ZylonBane]

Wouldn't hurt but I guess everyone knows what the thread's about either way.

It's about Prey 2?

[674542a5d8890fox]

The article is mainly talking about "shock-likes", "ImSims" or "FPS/RPG-hyprids", not about pure FPS. Without wanting to start a debate about their quality or depht, there's an ongoing series of such releases after what felt like a prolonged dryspell. There's Bioshock1-3, Fallout 3, 4 & NV, Dishonored 1 & 2, Prey, the announcements of another Ultima Underworld, System Shock 3 and the uh... remake, Thief 4 (and 5 announced), Hitman, Deus Ex HR & MD, a couple of related games like Batman AA, AO & AK or the Mass Effect-trilogy plus a few others I can't think of right now.

It's about Prey 2?

Please work your mod-powers and rename or split the thread so natural order can be restored.

[674542a5d9140JDoran]

* Warning: Minor spoilers are in this post, but if you've played the demo then you'll know them all anyway *


I've been playing Prey for a few days now, and I have to admit, I do really like it. I bought it a week or two ago, since there's no other game due out that I want, gave it a go - I played not much further than the levels included in the demo, and it still didn't grab me. But on Saturday I tried it again, and it turns out that it does get a lot better as you play through it, and by the time the possible upgrades tree becomes larger and more varied then the areas you play through become more atmospheric and interesting, and the story does open up.

In fact I'd say that the demo actually harmed my expectations for the game, as it shows the game to be slow, boring, and not very immersive. The opening of the game isn't compelling at all, as there's little sense of emergency or immediate danger, instead the game should really open with something more emotive to draw you in. But no, it's bland and slow, with none of the foreboding atmosphere of System Shock 2, or the wonder of the strange environment that Bioshock did so well.

And although the levels you first play through (the during and post demo levels) are well designed and everything, they don't feel very atmospheric, they feel more like abandoned offices/laboratories/warehouses/etc than a space-station that's just suffered a major and (to you at least) mysterious catastrophe and now has danger and even death potentially in every corner. In fact, you might as well be in a deserted building on Earth, not on a space-station. It doesn't help that the first enemy type you encounter is more annoying than anything, they move too fast for your hitting them with a wrench to be enjoyable (plus it doesn't 'feel' as tactile or as satisfying as in other similar games), but later enemies are much more interesting to fight, and when you have to start scanning new enemies it does add a more interesting diversion to the combat. On the plus side, it's not long before you start to find the real weapons, and they are effective and enjoyable to use.

Basically, not only am I pretty pleased with the game, I'm also a little surprised at how good it is, as although it's not nearly as deep or intimidating as System Shock 2, it's still a close cousin to that game. It won't satisfy System Shock 2 fans' desire for a System Shock 3, being less intense, simpler, and (at least so far in my playthrough) lacking an enemy as interesting and malignancy-radiating as SHODAN, but it's a good game, and about as intelligent and open as you're likely to get with today's video game industry. Plus since it's sort of SS2 lite, then maybe it will act as a stepping stone for modern gamers who would find SS2's complexity too intimidating, but who, when they've played though Prey, might now find SS2 much more accessible and familiar.

And maybe the forthcoming real System Shock 3 will prove to be as deep and as complex as hardcore System Shock 2 fans would like, you never know.

But for now, Prey is a good game for anyone who's looking for a new SS2-ish game to play. Just don't judge it by the luke-warm demo.

[674542a5d9e79fox]

Yeah, I'm currently playing it too and more or less agree. I absolutely recommend buying and playing it. I think the mechanics are really not that far off from SS2s.

Where it is on a lower level:
- enemy variety and design
- far less gripping atmosphere /  sense of urgency and horror - if SS2 is "Aliens", Prey is "Prometheus". Ok, that sounds too harsh because it's not nearly as dumb.
- environmental storytelling not living up to its potential
- slightly underwhelming weapon variety and modding

What I really like:
- huge place to explore that begins to feel more connected and organic the more you explore it
- like Dishonored 2 (which I want to recommend again too), there's plenty of stuff you can miss, if you're just following the storyline. I love that kind of game design - it's a huge factor in what makes the classics so great for me!
- feels relatively understated and self confident, not going for cheap show effects
- skill trees feel well balanced
- difficulty and ressource balancing feels more in line with the classics
- recycling is very useful because of that
- keeps introducing interesting new elements even several hours into the game
- a few nitpicks aside, the PC-version is well done

[674542a5da23fJDoran]

I'm playing the PS4 version, which I heard had some serious bugs at release, but were thankfully patched by the time I bought the game (and yes, there was a large patch to be downloaded when I first put the disc into the PS4  ), and so far I've only seen one bug (I think it's a bug, it's a repair-this icon in a place where there seems to be nothing to be repaired, and when I go near it it disappears) plus of course a couple of times the clipping has failed so two large objects occupied some of the same place at the same time without harming either of them, which to be fair happens in lots of 3D games that support player-movable objects, and I was able to easily pick one up and move it which resulted in the two objects existing separately as they should do.

[674542a5da621fox]

RPS: "Arkane’s founder on why he’s ready to leave Prey devs"
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/06/30/arkanes-founder-on-why-hes-ready-to-leave-prey-devs/

I don't like it.

[674542a5da7d9Kolya]

He doesn't really make any connection with Prey there. From the text it could be just a burn-out. Could be that he can't talk about too.

[674542a5da8e5fox]

I don't see any direct connection to Prey either but didn't want to create a seperate thread just for this article. Might have an impact on potential sequels though.

[674542a5db0e7Join2]

The article is mainly talking about "shock-likes", "ImSims" or "FPS/RPG-hyprids", not about pure FPS. Without wanting to start a debate about their quality or depht, there's an ongoing series of such releases after what felt like a prolonged dryspell. There's Bioshock1-3, Fallout 3, 4 & NV, Dishonored 1 & 2, Prey, the announcements of another Ultima Underworld, System Shock 3 and the uh... remake, Thief 4 (and 5 announced), Hitman, Deus Ex HR & MD

And so far they're all compromised, pandering mediocrity or good yet still compromised and don't quite live up the the ingenuity and design excellence of the classics.
Golden age my fucking ass. Commercialised age of the Immersive Sim is actually accurate.

a couple of related games like Batman AA, AO & AK or the Mass Effect-trilogy plus a few others I can't think of right now.

No. Those games aren't even superficially Immersive Sims.

[674542a5dbbe8JDoran]

What did everyone think of Prey, by the way?

I've only played through it once, so I can't comment on things like if the placement of enemies are random (I hope so, as that would help replayablility), or what effect (if any) not completing a certain side mission would have (I think I completed them all apart from two), but the game is very good, and very enjoyable.

To begin with, it is like System Shock 2 in many ways, and better in some ways, and maybe better overall if you're a casual player, but for someone who loves SS2's complexity, then Prey isn't nearly as good a game. Prey's upgrades and RPG mechanics are nowhere near as deep as SS2's, making it much more approachable for new players, but for people looking for another SS2 then you'll probably be disappointed.

The game has various abilities, regarding such things as the games weapons (of which I think there are only six, all of which have their own specific ammunition, apart from the wrench, of course), the player's health, movement speed and agility, the size of your inventory, your ability to repair items, and various psyonic powers, such as slow down subjective time, temporarily make hostile organic or mechanical enemies fight along-side you, varous forms of attack, and so on. But the system isn't as deep or varied as in SS2, and unlike in SS2, in Prey things are general enough that you don't have to put much thought or planning into your character's build.

And I reckon I managed to get around 80% of the abilities and upgrades, despite my not concentrating too much on that aspect, so I don't doubt that if you're prepared to put a bit of time in with the recycling functions then you'd be able to acquire all abilities and upgrades if you so chose. Again, this is great for more casual players, but for people who enjoyed the challenge of analysing SS2's more varied possibilities, and who like the challenges imposed by SS2's more demanding game mechanics, then Prey might well appear too simplistic to really please them. All of the ballistic weapons can be used by the player as soon as he finds them, there's no requirement for player training or skill acquisitions, etc. You can upgrade each weapon's damage, fire rate, accuracy, etc, and I killed around 90% of the enemies by using the time slow down power (the only psyonic power I used often) and then using the shotgun or wrench to kill the enemy. In that respect Prey is much more of a first person shooter than a survival-horror game, as every enemy (aside from near the end) is kill-able by pure firepower (and not much firepower - I played the game on the normal difficuly setting, and it wasn't hard) and I never came close to running out of ammunition (though I did create ammunition every now and then, using the recycle function, to add to the ammo I found on my travels).

The mimick ability (which the game showcased in early previewed videos) works well, but I only used it to get into locked areas, by taking the form of something small (a coffee cup, or a soldering iron, etc), and moving through a small opening into the room, then reverting back to human form, I didn't try to use it for anything else, not did I take the two upgrades to the ability, so I don't know how it could be used in combat or anything.  I'm certain I never once used a psi-hypo (though I was carrying a huge amount), as I had the upgrades that raised my psi-pool to 250 points, that automatically regenerated the psi points in real time, and that made the psi powers cost far fewer points), plus the science-operator machines fill your psi pool on request.

The side missions are mostly really simplistic, sadly, and you don't get much of a feel for the characters. And on the PS4 at least, sometimes the onscreen identification of an important item or location is illegible as it's in white, superimposed over the white object/background (seriously, how did this flaw get past the testing phase?). And the worst thing about the game is the enemy selection. They don't look very menacing, but they do mostly look the same, and don't give the game any atmosphere of danger or foreboding. They are great to fight, but the game has little atmosphere (compare that to SS2's claustrophobic and aggressive atmosphere that makes you fear every corner) and the enemies just fail to project a menacing feel.

On the plus side, the game really is very enjoyable, the areas are fun to explore, there's lots to see and do, with lots of items to test and use, the gunplay feels great. Definitely one of the best games of recent years. But it's not a modern System Shock 2, sadly. Not unless you mean System Shock 2 but simplified and made to be more of a first person shooter to appeal to more casual gamers. Still well worth playing though.

[674542a5dd2ccThiefsieFool]

Had pretty much the same impressions, have a look at mods since there's some decent ones out like the ones for adding traumas back in and removing enemy highlight UIs http://farcrymods.freeforums.net/board/49/mods-prey-2017
Unfortunately there's no mods yet to restore degradation, oxygen consumption, or add more weapons.