Prey is one of the greatest love letters conceived towards the immersive sim genre, and a masterclass in environmental storytelling.
Talos I is one of the best and most fully realized locations I've visited in any game. Each environment is hand crafted to tell a story. From the sleek and modernist design of the game's living quarters that tell you about the person lives of each member, to the claustrophobic and eerie feel of the maintenance tunnels; every aspect of the station feels meticulously planned and executed.
The sense of scale is mind-blowing, exploring the interconnected station with it's different areas that boast open ended level design is already amazing; it's when you take your first spacewalk, however, that you realize the true size of the Talos I.
The freedom to explore this world and tackle challenges in many ways, in any order is where it shines. Whether it's setting up turrets and traps, using stealth to avoid detection, or engaging in direct combat, the player is given the freedom to choose their preferred approach. You want to get to that locked room? You can turn into a cup and roll under the gap in the window, you can shoot the security lock with a dart gun, you can explore and find the code somewhere around the station, you can hack the panel. Or maybe you make use of the game's fantastic implementation of verticality and build yourself an alternative path into the room with the GLOO cannon! Exploration is fun, enticing and rewarding in Prey.
Admittedly though, the game balance is questionable at times, Combat Focus + Shotgun is enough to make even the terrifying Nightmare melt in a few seconds. It didn't kill my enjoyment, but having a clear cut option for 99% of combat encounters is a bit of a downer. Typhon neuromods are also pretty damn strong, and the downsides to installing typhon neuromods is pretty easily worked around too that there's really no reason not to take them. It's still a great time despite these small shortcomings though.
Talos I is one of the best and most fully realized locations I've visited in any game. Each environment is hand crafted to tell a story. From the sleek and modernist design of the game's living quarters that tell you about the person lives of each member, to the claustrophobic and eerie feel of the maintenance tunnels; every aspect of the station feels meticulously planned and executed.
The sense of scale is mind-blowing, exploring the interconnected station with it's different areas that boast open ended level design is already amazing; it's when you take your first spacewalk, however, that you realize the true size of the Talos I.
The freedom to explore this world and tackle challenges in many ways, in any order is where it shines. Whether it's setting up turrets and traps, using stealth to avoid detection, or engaging in direct combat, the player is given the freedom to choose their preferred approach. You want to get to that locked room? You can turn into a cup and roll under the gap in the window, you can shoot the security lock with a dart gun, you can explore and find the code somewhere around the station, you can hack the panel. Or maybe you make use of the game's fantastic implementation of verticality and build yourself an alternative path into the room with the GLOO cannon! Exploration is fun, enticing and rewarding in Prey.
Admittedly though, the game balance is questionable at times, Combat Focus + Shotgun is enough to make even the terrifying Nightmare melt in a few seconds. It didn't kill my enjoyment, but having a clear cut option for 99% of combat encounters is a bit of a downer. Typhon neuromods are also pretty damn strong, and the downsides to installing typhon neuromods is pretty easily worked around too that there's really no reason not to take them. It's still a great time despite these small shortcomings though.