Prey 2017 is a bad game

[BFG10K]

After the amazing Dishonored games I found Prey abysmally boring and totally devoid of fun or meaning.

2 hours in I have no ammunition and am wandering a lifeless map overloaded with useless junk items, swinging a wrench in every fight. I can’t craft anything, and recycling junk just makes even more junk. Mission critical items like keycards are indistinguishable from rotten banana peels in the environment. Apparently my main mission is to repair a screen or something, so I can watch a video somewhere?

The "enemies" are all just different shaped shadows that can initially hide as any object. That means I either swing my wrench at every piece of furniture I see, or just accept the fact that the game’s camouflage mechanic is fundamentally stupid and ignore it.

The graphics look ten years old; a very poor implementation of the Crysis 3 engine. And with all that wood paneling, it looks more like a cyber-punk hotel or retro-futuristic theater floating through space rather than a high-tech station.

I absolutely couldn’t stand it anymore so I’ve uninstalled.

 

[shortylickens]

Its supposed to look like a cyberpunk hotel.
Thats the point.
You didnt get it.

 

[Igo69]

Definitely he didn't get it. Game is great it is similar to System Shock 2

 

[bfun_x1]

The game was just okay. I made it 28 hours before I quit.

 

[zinfamous]

2 hours, huh?

 

[shortylickens]

Definitely he didn't get it. Game is great it is similar to System Shock 2

Similar but not as good.

 

[hardhat]

I was really disappointed with the enemy variety as well. But it was fun to play.

 

[Zenoth]

I'm sure I'm not the only one remembering this each time they think of Prey (or rather, the sequel that "might have been"):

How we ended up with the 2017 version we have compared to the concept of the type of game it could have been according to that trailer is - quite frankly - mind blowing. I never played Prey 2017 per se (although I have seen some gameplay of it; didn't grab my attention much so I just ignored it altogether), but what I know is I would have loved to try a game that would have played in the sort of alien / futuristic environment portrayed in that trailer (seemed to be in the veins of a game about bounty hunting in a crazy alien world). I don't think we ever saw actual in-engine gameplay of that Prey outside of the trailer though. But just in concept and general game mechanics idea I'd have loved to see it in action.

The Wiki article on Prey 2 explains more about the shenanigans of what happened (especially the section about development under Bethesda specifically). How much of it is accurate, don't know. But if it all is (or even half of it is), then it was destined for failure. It was an overall clusterfuck of mismanagement, internal / external drama, requests from publishers, deadlines, budget and so on. It was the perfect recipe for a game to never come out.

 

[TheELF]

After the amazing Dishonored games I found Prey abysmally boring and totally devoid of fun or meaning.

That's how I already felt about dishonored,very cut down corridor levels with enemies placed where enemies would be places for a game.It felt very artificial to me,but yeah it was still way better than prey.

 

[Rifter]

I agree, shit game. System shock 2 was many times better.

 

[BFG10K]

Definitely he didn't get it. Game is great it is similar to System Shock 2

I actually finished System Shock 2. Not the orgasmic experience the collective internet claims, but still pretty good.

Unlike Prey which I couldn't stand.

 

[gradoman]

I was just thinking about this game. Tried it and, yeah, it didn't click for me. I'm about to try it again at some point.

 

[Stg-Flame]

It never looked interesting to me, but that is likely due to the fact I thought it was going to be the proper Prey sequel Human Head Studios said they would give us.

 

[UberNeuman]

You're entitled to your wrong opinion.

 

[shortylickens]

I actually finished System Shock 2. Not the orgasmic experience the collective internet claims, but still pretty good.

Unlike Prey which I couldn't stand.

in 1999 it was orgasmic.

now it takes more for me to cum.
sorta like how I'm not 14 anymore.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

in 1999 it was orgasmic.

now it takes more for me to cum.
sorta like how I'm not 14 anymore.

- SS2 suffers really badly from the "Seinfeld isn't funny" trope, where it pioneered so many elements that have been done much better (or outright copied a la Bioshock) since that the original game just doesn't hold up as well as it does in our mind's eye.

I remember playing SS2 back in the day and being just totally engrossed that a story could be told that way and horror could be made so viceral ("I'm sorrrrrryyyy, I'm so sorrrryyyy..." The hybrids always got to me).

Now it basically looks like a floating wrench smacking around a sack of potatoes in a game that somehow retroactively stole Bioshock's story.

 

[pmv]

- SS2 suffers really badly from the "Seinfeld isn't funny" trope, where it pioneered so many elements that have been done much better (or outright copied a la Bioshock) since that the original game just doesn't hold up as well as it does in our mind's eye.

I remember playing SS2 back in the day and being just totally engrossed that a story could be told that way and horror could be made so viceral ("I'm sorrrrrryyyy, I'm so sorrrryyyy..." The hybrids always got to me).

Now it basically looks like a floating wrench smacking around a sack of potatoes in a game that somehow retroactively stole Bioshock's story.

Still have SS2 from when I bought it back when it came out. Still haven't gotten very far with it. It's still in my backlog to get back to some day.

Found it very frustrating, what with the weapons that constantly 'wore out' at a ridiculous rate, limited ammo, and endlessly-respawning baddies.

Boy, I have so many games in that list - "to get back to and finish one day". Serious Sam 2 (couldn't finish the end boss) Doom 2016 (couldn't get past the mid-game boss) Serious Sam 3 (got stuck in one of the mid-game battles) Baldur's Gate (couldn't get through the final confrontation). I've put them all on the list of "things to do after you die" (I feel that takes the pressure off, compared to the usual "things to do before you die" list)

 

[cytg111]

Yea, bought this cause Prey .. but alas Prey 2 is a different game and ... what a let down.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Funny, I had the opposite experience. I found Prey to be absolutely engrossing, this entire space station abandoned, felt a lot like playing Alien Isolation, cept i actually got guns.

Dishonored on the other hand I have not been able to get into. Tried twice now, first time I got most of the way through the tutorial and it wasn't anywhere near what I expected. Second time I started fresh, with different expectations, got as far as completing the tutorial and was in some slum hideout thing, and just put it down and never picked it up again. It was this weird 1800's-victorian-meets-futurism, not-quite-shooter-not-quite-stealth, with weird freaking Bioshock magic, just a chaotic mess that I couldn't discern a reason to participate in. It was like the video game equivalent of Blurnsball.

 

[BFG10K]

Still have SS2 from when I bought it back when it came out. Still haven't gotten very far with it. It's still in my backlog to get back to some day.

Found it very frustrating, what with the weapons that constantly 'wore out' at a ridiculous rate, limited ammo, and endlessly-respawning baddies.

You can control those things as per the final official patch: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=12.0

 

[EXCellR8]

Yea Prey '17 was great and your opinion is wrong.

/thread

 

[zinfamous]

Funny, I had the opposite experience. I found Prey to be absolutely engrossing, this entire space station abandoned, felt a lot like playing Alien Isolation, cept i actually got guns.

Dishonored on the other hand I have not been able to get into. Tried twice now, first time I got most of the way through the tutorial and it wasn't anywhere near what I expected. Second time I started fresh, with different expectations, got as far as completing the tutorial and was in some slum hideout thing, and just put it down and never picked it up again. It was this weird 1800's-victorian-meets-futurism, not-quite-shooter-not-quite-stealth, with weird freaking Bioshock magic, just a chaotic mess that I couldn't discern a reason to participate in. It was like the video game equivalent of Blurnsball.

that's how I feel...though I still haven't finished my Prey playthrough. It's been a few weeks, not. Traveled a bit, and never loaded it back up after I got back into town. Got back into other game types.

...and I also wanted to like Dishonored. 1st one, many years ago, put an hour into it and don't think I will ever spend more time in that again. I know, not enough time....but it was ~2014 or so when I started it and it looked a lot like Wolfenstein shareware to me. was like...ewwww no.

I think Dishonored 2 looks gorgeous. It plays gorgeous...I love everything going on with this game...but also abandoned that for now. I think stealth stuff, which I feel I must embrace, just gives me too much anxiety, lol. dunno. I don't need that thing right now, I guess. I really want to like that game more, but early on I feel a bit-too-neutered to enjoy the difficulty, know what I mean? And I like difficulty, just not what feels impossible most of the time.

 

[BFG10K]

I think stealth stuff, which I feel I must embrace, just gives me too much anxiety, lol. dunno.

The game is a lot more fun as a stealth assassin, then swashbuckler when stealth fails. You can still get a medium chaos ending by picking the non-lethal mission options and not killing civilians.

 

[BFG10K]

The game's on sale, in case someone wants to see what all the fuss is about.

https://www.gog.com/game/prey

 

[loki1944]

After the amazing Dishonored games I found Prey abysmally boring and totally devoid of fun or meaning.

2 hours in I have no ammunition and am wandering a lifeless map overloaded with useless junk items, swinging a wrench in every fight. I can’t craft anything, and recycling junk just makes even more junk. Mission critical items like keycards are indistinguishable from rotten banana peels in the environment. Apparently my main mission is to repair a screen or something, so I can watch a video somewhere?

The "enemies" are all just different shaped shadows that can initially hide as any object. That means I either swing my wrench at every piece of furniture I see, or just accept the fact that the game’s camouflage mechanic is fundamentally stupid and ignore it.

The graphics look ten years old; a very poor implementation of the Crysis 3 engine. And with all that wood paneling, it looks more like a cyber-punk hotel or retro-futuristic theater floating through space rather than a high-tech station.

I absolutely couldn’t stand it anymore so I’ve uninstalled.

It is absolutely awful, I can't recall a game this bad in a very long time.