PREY Upon Your Enemies – First Impression Review and Exclusive Gameplay

Prey engages the player in a fully immersive, first-person shooter that leaves players wanting more- Prey First Impression

Developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, Prey is an upcoming first-person shooter game set to release May 2017. Players take the role of Morgan Yu, a human aboard the Talos space station with hostile aliens, the Thypons. Fortunately, Morgan gains some special abilities to fight back and uncover the purpose of the experiments.

Story

The game begins with Morgan waking up in his apartment and receiving a phone call from his brother, Alex Yu. Alex tells Morgan to suit up and get ready for some tests. The tests were meant to ensure that Morgan is ready for his mission to the Talos space station, but things go awry. The coffee mug of a tester transforms into an alien and attacks the crew. Morgan is knocked unconscious with sleep gas in the testing room before he can do anything to help. Upon waking up, Morgan wakes up in his apartment again, but something seems off. After walking around and talking to an anonymous advisor over the phone, Morgan discovers that he is in fact on the Talos space station. He discovers the stage sets that simulated his apartments and testing, but also runs into the same aliens that attacked the tester. The aliens are called, “Typhons” and the one that was disguised a coffee mug is a specific breed called, “Mimics.” As Morgan explores Talos, he unearths the horrors of the alien takeover, enhances himself with the Neuromods, and realizes that his brother Alex has not been completely honest with him.

Gameplay

Fans of the Dishonered series will be happy to find that Prey has the same full immersion and free exploration. According to Ricardo Bare, lead designer, there are two different endings. However, there are several paths players can take to achieve either ending. These paths will be decided by what neuromods and weapons the players choose throughout the game.The

The neuromods are the devices that give the players their abilities. During my gameplay, I only had access to the neuromods that were focused on human abilities like increased health or repair skills. Later in the game, players can enhance themselves with alien abilities. For example, in an earlier gameplay video released by Arkane, players can use the Mimic ability. Players choose an object to transform into, like a coffee cup, so they can access smaller openings in their environment. Be careful with the alien neuromods because the more alien neuromods you choose, the more likely you become a Typhon. This will affect what weapons you use, like the turret. As you saw in my gameplay, I used the turret to easily kill a large group of mimics because it can sense alien DNA. If the player enhances themselves with too many alien neuromods, the turret will sense the player as an alien enemy and attack.

While playing, the only weapons I used were a wrench, a shotgun, and a glue gun. While I mainly used the glue gun for attacking Mimics, more creative players will enjoy the practicality of this weapon. The glue can be shot towards a wall to create “stairs” to access balconies and hidden rooms within the space station. While this is not necessary to pass the game, this can possibly make the game easier by finding hidden weapons and neuromods.

Mechanics

One of the mechanics that makes the experience of Prey unique to each player is the enemy AI. Ricardo is a fan of Dungeons and Dragons and one of its monsters in particular, the mimic. In Dungeons and Dragons, a mimic is a monster that looks like a treasure chest and will attack players that attempt to take the treasure inside its mouth. Essentially, it’s a creature that is hidden in plain view as an object. Ricardo took this concept and thought, “What if the creature can be any object at will?” Taking that concept one step farther, Ricardo stated that the mimic A.I. is random and has a mind of its own. In other words, if you die because of a mimic that was disguised as a trash can, it may be a different object when you respawn. The mimic can sense the objects in the room and can choose what object to imitate. The best tip that Ricardo gave to spot a mimic, was to look for a double. For example, the Talos crew probably would not put two trash cans in one corner of the room. So you can imagine my frustration when I encountered my first large group of mimics. I expected the Mimics to have the same attack pattern, but they didn’t. I died several times thanks to this (Okay, I’ll admit. I kept getting scared and hoped pray and spray would be enough).

I, unfortuanately, never played the Dishonored series, so you can imagine how overwhelmed I was when moving around in Prey. Players can spend hours exploring both the inside and outside of Talos thanks to the full immersion and free exploration. I’m even more impressed with how much Arkane took their time to perfect the little details of the game. From the ID badges of the dead crew members to the view of the stars from Talos, Arkane left no stone unturned. I would like to note that I played the game 5 months before its release, so it’s only going to get better.

Conclusion

Prey engages the player in a fully immersive, first-person shooter that leaves players wanting more. After my first hour of gameplay, I kept thinking back how I could have used my weapons better and what would have happened if I chose a different neuromod. A great storyline, unique gameplay, and an amazing mechanics, Prey is a must buy for gamers.

Prey releases  May 2017 on Microsoft Windows, Playstation4, and XBox One.

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