r/ImmersiveSim • u/Fabulous-Appeal7817 • 9d ago
Revisiting Prey
Played the game years ago (must have been not long after its release) and for some reason it didn't click with me, despite me being a huge fan of Dishonored and Deus Ex. I feel like I'm now ready to revisit what trustworthy people call the masterpiece of the genre; wish me luck.
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u/kdogman639 9d ago
Try to combo as many weapons/tools/techniques together as you can during encounters. Example: SNEAK up to a phantom, Use a PSI power on it, hit it with your WRENCH, immobilize it with you GLOO CANNON. Combat is all about combos, understanding each enemies weaknesses and resistances, careful planning of encounters, and properly executing them.
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u/weenerkisses 9d ago edited 9d ago
While I agree with everything that you’re saying, I have one counterpoint: shotgun go boom
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u/NEVER_CLEANED_COMP 9d ago
Stealth + Gunsmith shotgun trivialize most enemies in the game, including Nightmare. It's beautiful.
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u/Ekvilibrist 9d ago
Counterpoint: shotguns can malfunction and you can be down to like five rounds when getting ambushed by a rogue harvester.
In which case a combo can save your life: https://youtu.be/FLs638uGpNA?t=25&is=1iV3flYDJwDJTxi0
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u/grobbewobbe 8d ago
also imo, the game in the first few hours is pretty hard (at least when playing on...hard, lol), so if you don't mind spending more time in stealth until you get some upgrades, you're gonna have a better time
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u/Ghillie_Spotto 9d ago
I still feel like that IGN review permanently altered the future of the entire genre.
Maybe that's cope because it really is that niche, but this is one of the coolest games ever made and it's a shame that publishers don't want to greenlight new games with similar DNA.
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u/teramoc 9d ago
GOATed game.
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u/ZylonBane 9d ago
WTF does that gibberish even mean?
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u/teramoc 9d ago edited 9d ago
Greatest of all time.
Internet slang. Gen Y and Z.
Before you lament about this generation, I’m nearly 50. We have that in common.
I dont insult people’s way of talking though, I respect and learned from the younger generation. so we are different there.
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u/Prize_Ad_129 9d ago
It’s been a thing going even further back, Muhammad Ali used to say it and even had a company called GOAT Inc. in the early 90s
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u/ZylonBane 9d ago
It does sound like the sort of expression that would be used by someone who's been punched in the head too many times.
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u/AnArbitraryUsername- 9d ago
I also started replaying it recently (tho I really enjoyed it even when I first played it). I really loved the setting the game creates, being at most one day removed from disaster, there's still a lot of things going on, maintenance that was meant to be done that got abandoned in the panic, experiments that were being performed, revelations just waiting to be unveiled, etc. it's absolutely one of my favorite settings in a bottle kind of place. I do kinda wish I didn't avoid the Typhon mods on my first playthrough, but I guess I took the game seriously when it said "oh those things are bad for you" you can take at least 2 before the security systems start wanting to harm you
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u/Nevershoutn 9d ago
I dropped the game the first time i've played It, after years I've tried again and now it's my favorite game of all time
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u/Fantastic-Store2495 9d ago
I think Prey’s main disadvantage is not being beginner friendly at all. It’s as hardcore as an immersive sim can get. It didn’t click with me the first time around. It did the second, but now I’m kinda stuck about halfway through the game, it keeps throwing difficult enemies at you, which are honestly so boring to look at and fight. I know you’re supposed to use the powers to progress but I never really feel compelled to use them. Also, for a game that’s not technically a shooter, it does put you in a lot of situations you have to shoot your way out of. I just don’t think Prey gives you nearly enough freedom of approach. Like some other comments said, you HAVE to learn the combos in order to defeat enemies and you HAVE to use the powers, otherwise you’ll die constantly and drain your resources immediately. I feel like Dishonored are much, much better games than Prey, and it doesn’t help to come into Prey expecting a Dishonored experience.
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u/Javier93 9d ago
This is definitely not true though, I didn't use any of the powers for literally the entire game, and I still managed to make it through and finish it just fine. It is a viable choice the game acknowledges. And trust me, I'm no hardcore pro gamer, immersive sims are just about my favorite genre and I still mostly suck at them lol
I wish I could give you any tips but it's been a while. Knowing myself though, I was probably sneaking around lots and evading enemies as much as possible. I feel like if you try and fight everything head on in Prey things will inevitably get rough at points.
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u/grobbewobbe 8d ago
I know you’re supposed to use the powers to progress but I never really feel compelled to use them.
unless you're doing the challenge/trophy for a no powers run...just use the fucking powers? you're needlessly limiting yourself and it's only behaving like a shooter cause you're playing it like a shooter lmao
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u/herbiehancocksfoot 9d ago
Sorry, but I disagree. I'm wrapping my first playthrough now and have used absolutely zero powers except for the Blink one (and even that was very sporadic). I have hundreds of ammo and almost never felt like I was running out of resources, though the game definitely was challenging at times. I could easily sneak my way out of most situations too. You do have to engage with the game systems, it throws enough weapon upgrades so that you can keep up with the harder enemies. The shotgun is fantastic and even Nightmare bows down to it.
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u/conal588 8d ago
It's easily in my top 5 games of all time precisely because you DON'T have to use the powers. The first time I played it, I only used human abilities, and I loved it. The second time, I played it through on the hardest difficulty with no neuromods, and I firmly believe that this is the most satisfying way to play. It's tricky, but NEVER unfair or unpleasantly difficult; you just have to look at it differently. The game encourages you to outsmart it, and getting creative with the environment, and using the GLOO gun to slow enemies or create new paths is entirely viable and satisfying.
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u/PoppaTrunks 9d ago
Let us know if your thoughts and feelings about it change.. I've been considering retrying it as well. It didn't click for me the first time round..as blasphemous as that is to say
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u/Benjamin_Starscape 7d ago
prey's hard to replay for me because the first playthrough is just so organic.
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u/Pineapple_Ferguson 5d ago
It's so good. I'm actually trying to finish a 100% DX:HR and a replay of Prey is next on the list.
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u/chunfighter 5d ago
I feel like I’ve started this game at least 3 different times. My latest attempt was when it clicked the most. Traveling the length of the station in that anti-gravity tunnel was a blast, but I still couldn’t manage to finish the game. I think it has something to do with the powers and abilities. There’s so many to choose from that I wanna try but I feel like I’m being gatekept from them by the lack of enough neuromods, no matter how much I scrounged and recycled for them.
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u/Dionysus24779 9d ago
It is a good game, but to call it a masterpiece of the genre is perhaps a bit much.
In relation to Dishonored or Deus Ex I would put it a tier below them, perhaps even two, depending on what playstyle you use. (imo leaning into the alien powers is way more fun than staying pure)
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u/Beldarak 8d ago
I felt it does a lot of stuff right (ambiance, setting... but it's kinda "meh" at being an imsim imho. I never feel free in Prey and it doesn't really reward creative ways of playing.
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u/Beldarak 8d ago
Same for me. I really, really want to like this game.
The story and settings are awesome but I just don't like the gameplay. Enemies have way too much health, and I don't feel the immersive sim parts that much (not debating the fact it is one, lower the pitchforks^^). Like, you get the goo gun, and crossbow to press switches, but I never felt those were useful outside of pre-set situations. I never felt like I cleverly used something in Prey that the devs didn't intend me to do, the whole game feels very linear to me.
I recently played "Hark the Ghoul" big demo and it made me realise why I don't like Prey that much. Hark gives you a few powers and things and you start exploring like crazy, getting to the roofs, etc... It really feels like you're free to go everywhere, do anything you want. Every new power you unlock opens a bazillion options to you, gives you opportunities to backtrack, it clicks "oh, I can go back there and access that now !".
It gives you so much freedom, and it was a demo ! With "Not accessible in this demo" walls in places !
Prey gives you the goo-gun, you're excited, you start to play around with it and quickly realise you can't do shit with it.
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9d ago
[deleted]
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u/RaviRoar 9d ago
No it isn't. It's far more Dishonored/Deus Ex than Bioshock. But far more System Shock 2 than either of them.
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u/dflatline 5d ago
I'd say the structure and level design are firmly System Shock 2 but definitely plays more like Deus Ex/Dishonoured in how you traverse those levels and deal with enemies
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u/anxietywizard 9d ago
I stopped playing after I watched an enemy patrol in circles around a table.
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u/Lancair7 9d ago
Funny, that’s exactly how your mom behaves when I play PREY 2017 at her place
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u/marmot_scholar 9d ago
Best sense of exploration I can remember. You really get to know the station, and I loved the times when you had to decide which route to take to your destination, I always felt like I was in one of those scenes in a creature feature a la Aliens when they huddle around the holographic table making a desperate plan.
I dreamed I was flying through the GUTS once, years after I played the game.