Prey: A Futuristic Product, with a Horrifying Ingredient

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Shamus Young, at Twenty Sided, was the first to bring Prey to my attention. I didn't know anything about the game but the author's effusive review convinced me of its excellence. Though I'd played Dishonored by developer, Arkane Studios in 2017, their remaining catalog looked like a mixed bag of failure and success. At the time I compared Dishonored to System Shock and the Bioshock series. Prey doesn't stretch the comparison either. These games nestle together in the middle ground between lite-RPG first person shooter and fantasy (or sci-fi) action shooter.

Prey is a science-fiction, horror, RPG, first person shooter set in an alternate future universe. The player controls Morgan Yu, an heir of the influential and wealthy Yu family. Morgan and his brother Alex co-manage Talos I, a space station operated by TranStar. The board of TranStar is controlled by Alex and Morgan's parents. Both Morgan and Alex are geniuses in their scientific fields, and together invented the Neuromod. This ingenious device, a chemical inserted into the brain with a needle near the eye, allows anyone to instantly master a skill, such as classical piano, karate, or piloting a spacecraft. Prey reveals that Neuromods contain a significant drawback (and hides other issues for later): all memories made after the installation of a Neuromod are forgotten if it is removed. Unfortunately the developers don't use this aspect of their game to incorporate themes about memory to the fullest extent.

This lack is especially disappointing considering how memory is used to such astonishing effect for Prey's opening. The developers created one of the most wonderful, surprising, and twisted introductions in gaming, but they fail to follow up on it as the game continues. A lack of memory can inspire feels of tranquility or terror, if one knows that one doesn't know (or doesn't know that one doesn't know). The security of the introduction is shattered when Morgan learns of a threat he'd agreed to forget about: the Typhon. Aboard the scientific research station of Talos, it's surprising how few of the staff know the work behind their prime product. The top scientists, including Morgan and Alex are experimenting on an intelligent and deadly alien race, the Typhon. The rest of the staff believe TranStar is developing Neuromods, but don't realize the true extent of Talos I.
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Where the Typhon came from, or what their purpose is, aside from absorbing all non-Typhon life into itself, remains unclear. Humanity first learned of the Typhon when they destroyed a Soviet Satellite. This wreck became the core of Talos I as the Soviets sought to contain the menace. Talos I is home to about a dozen Typhon types, which look like a bundle of oily black tentacles coiled together into shapes. Each Typhon type looks distinct-ish from each other, but many types include sub-varieties, and it's difficult to tell them apart at a glance. For example, there are variety of mimics, a spider-like creature which transforms to take the appearance of everyday objects, like a bag of potato chips or a calendar. When an unsuspecting player approaches the fake object the mimic leaps forward to latch onto Morgan's face. Ingenious creatures, I even saw a mimic transform into the corpse of a dead mimic. The best way to deal with these insidious monsters is to wack every object with your trusty, System Shock referencing, wrench.

The whole game, except for the beginning, occurs on the TranStar space station known as Talos I. It's a beautifully detailed mini-world reminiscent of the best parts of BioShock if that underwater metropolis was a gleaming space station fusion of retro and futuristic design. Not only is Talos visually astonishing, the level design and the interconnectedness of the station is makes exploring seem seamless and rewarding. Unless one is determined to find all the collectibles (like the 268, mostly dead crew), the player won't have to do much backtracking, and certain abilities will make travel faster and easier as Prey progresses.

During Prey Morgan installs Neuromods to transform himself (or herself) into a super, sci-fi warrior. Neuromods are the game's version of leveling up, and it includes a reasonable variety of different ability trees to choose from. Player's can focus on improving their basic human functions like more health, stealthier sneaking, or improved proficiency their weapons. Or Morgan can install Typhon skills, like the ability to mimic objects in the environment, or shoot a kinetic blast at enemies. The process to learn new abilities is fine, and it's cool that later in the game the player can manufacture Neuromods at Fabricators (more on those next article). The problem is the implementation of Neuromods as a game mechanic breaks the player's immersion. Remember earlier when I described Neuromods, I explained how each Neuromod teaches a particular skill. But, in Prey there is no need for mastering chess, playing the flute, or welding. In a space station overrun by a horrific alien species the only relevant skills are kill the extraterrestrial, or run away from it and hide. So the Neuromods in Prey are blank slates, collected and used to upgrade any ability the player desires. Not only that, but almost every ability requires more than one Neuromod, and some require as many as six. Though the developers describe the details of Neuromods for the story, the mechanic is entirely divorced from for game-play, and that isn't satisfying.
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Though Prey bills itself as a horror game, this is only true for the first hour or two. In the beginning the player fears the Typhon because they wield deadly powers. As the player gains access to these same powers with the aid of Neuromods the game transitions from a horror shooter to an action shooter. Enemies that initially destroyed the player in seconds vanish to an overwhelming barrage of bullets. Typhon super powers, bodily enhancements, and increased damage with a shotgun allows the player to rip through enemies like paper towels through grease. The exception is the Nightmare, a terrifyingly humongous nemesis created for the specific purpose of hunting Morgan. The Nightmare attacks with deadly efficiency and is best defeated, or evaded, by trickery. Unlike other Typhons which don't know Morgan's location, and are surprisingly bad at detecting sounds, the Nightmare knows exactly where the player is. But its large frame and inability to fly, make it possible to find a location it can't reach. From this secure spot the player can whittle down its health or avoid its lethal mental blasts. The Nightmare's greatest weakness is that after three minutes it disappears, though it returns later in the game regardless of whether it was killed or not. If the player doesn't or can't find a place to hide, they can find the nearest transition from one section of Talos I to another. Passing through one of these doors requires a loading screen, and the Nightmare can't travel through these, but the timer still counts down. Aside from the Nightmare, areas cleared of Typhon mostly remain clear except for the main lobby, and the occasional event which re-infuses oily blood into a location.

While Prey pretends there are other styles of play beyond combat (like stealth), this is either a lie, or merely unsatisfying. Sneaking isn't a viable way to explore, as the player will be forced to pass over so much detail. Sneaking around to achieve a better angle of attack on an enemy is fine, but investing in combat abilities makes this unnecessary. Prey also invested in platforming elements, which is a real head scratcher for a first person shooter. Its key component is the Gloo gun, a non-lethal device which fires gloo to walls, creating platforms to stand on. The Gloo cannon is introduced in a scene where a NPC creates a smooth inclined path to travel to a higher level, by stacking gloo blobs on each other. Similar effects can be seen around the station with gloo blobs used to block large windows or massive holes in the walls. The player can not do this. When the player fires the gun, blobs can't even be next to each other, forget touching. And they are so small, and the player can only see through Morgan's eyes, making it is frustratingly difficult to jump from one to another. Prey also features a climbing mechanic, which allows Morgan to grab onto edges and ledges, but it is often difficult to find the edge of a gloo blob, which results in numerous falls. The game is similarly bad with throwing objects. One ability allows Morgan to lift heavy objects and throw them, but the camera prevents throwing them with any level of precision. These may be minor issues, but one wonders at their inclusion in an otherwise seamless experience.

Hopefully this first review offered a general idea of the protagonist's situation and an understanding of combat, while next week will review a few other features along with information about Prey's themes and its conclusion.

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