After spending the last week playing through Prey, we’ve come to the conclusion that these are the reasons that you absolutely need to play it.
Prey is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC. There’s also a free demo available, where you can get a taste for the game by playing the first hour.
THE INVENTIVE WEAPONS
Most weapons in Prey serve a dual purpose – with some having the ability to create platforms on walls to circumvent obstacles, or activate buttons from a short distance away. Each weapon having multiple uses encourages experimentation, as well as thinking outside of the box.
As an example (and without spoiling late game acquisitions), the GLOO Gun can be used offensively to freeze the mimic enemies in place and allow you to take them down without risking them attacking. Outside of combat, it has many uses however; to create platforms on walls that can be climbed, to block poisonous gas leakages or to extinguish fires. No weapon has a singular use in Prey, and it’s fun to experiment with them.
THE EPIC TYPHON POWERS
Morgan can use Typhon Powers which can be obtained by scanning enemies, allowing him or her to carry out more abstract abilities. Creating a telekinetic field, mimicking an object, activating switches remotely and raising corpses as alien allies, are just some of the things you can do in Prey with Typhon powers.
THE FREEDOM TO PLAY YOUR WAY
Once you’ve finished your first play through of Prey, I’d be surprised if you didn’t want to jump into it again. Not only because you’d probably have missed something while exploring the sprawling Talos-1 station. But also because you can change the outcome of the game based on your treatment of others throughout the story. It’s nothing totally revolutionary, but given Prey’s flexible systems, running through a second time is bound to be different to your first, intentional or not.
Your play style will greatly decide how long it’ll take you to run through Prey too, though I’d estimate most players would get at least fifteen to twenty hours out of their first run. Perhaps even more if you explore the station thoroughly. This much is certain: Prey is a game which deserves to be played through multiple times to discover all the secrets and unique outcomes available.
THE ART AND SOUND ARE GLORIOUS
Taking a page out of Dishonored’s book, Prey features a stylised art style which brings its world to life. The result is something which never looks hyper-realistic but something more distinctive instead. Artistically speaking, Prey brings together retro designs with futuristic ones to create something not unlike BioShock’s Art Deco style.
Prey’s world is run down yet colourful and the soundtrack perfectly complements the experience. Composed by Mick Gordon, the score is filled with sublime synth beats and strange, otherworldly noises and sound effects to create something eerie, atmospheric and tense. These pieces do an amazing job at elevating the already strong atmosphere aboard Talos-1, and is quite possibly one of the strongest soundtracks I’ve ever heard in a game.
THE THRILLING STORY
Prey itself takes place in an alternate timeline where John F Kennedy survived the assassination attempt in 1963, in turn directing more funding into the space program and sending humanity to space to a greater extent much earlier. In Prey, you are Morgan Yu, an employee for Transtar who presently owns the research space station Talos-1. Morgan wakes up with little to no memory of his past, but discovers that he himself is intrinsically tied to the station and its bizarre alien research.
Prey’s storyline sounds pretty cliché and at times it is, though the story isn’t afraid to head into stranger directions than you’d normally expect. As the game began I wasn’t too keen to progress in the story, instead exploring the space station at my own leisure. Though as I got further in, Prey threw some twists at me which hooked me on the ideas it was selling. Prey’s story hits the right beats at the right time to pique players’ interests. Think of it as a warped combination: Memento meets Dead Space meets BioShock.
