Immediately, you are thrust into an environment where you are under-equipped, have no recollection of past events and are being hunted by a malicious alien presence that takes many forms, the most notable of which are the much talked about Mimics that take the form of various objects in the rooms you venture in to. You play as Morgan Yu, who can be either female or male and you begin your journey in a testing lab where it becomes apparent very quickly that things have gone bad aboard the space station Talos 1. Eventually though, I did venture off the beaten track, located a gun and a few crafting blueprints, and armed with some supplies the game slowly, but surely opened up for me however, there remains a strong feeling that, had that not happened, and I had continued with pursuing the main story doggedly, I would not have enjoyed Prey nearly as much as I did, and that is potentially a huge problem for a game that has had a fairly muted release. Couple that with an endless stream of disembodied voices prattling on in my ear directing me here, there and everywhere and I was thoroughly confused. Each encounter I had with an enemy was a battle of attrition of repeated deaths and trying something different: sneaking past here throwing a gas canister there, hoping for a critical hit or a surprise attack that does more damage.Ĭombat felt clunky, stealth felt inconsistent and resources were cripplingly rare, so much so that I didn’t want to venture too far off the beaten track in case it ended in yet another death and loss of progress. I had no gun, only the wrench I started with, my health was continually at crisis point and my suit which provides an additional layer of protection from enemies before it impacts your health, was constantly at zero. To explain, in the first few hours of Prey I really struggled and was not enjoying the experience at all. Choosing one way or another could lead you to experience the game in vastly different ways and will inevitably dictate your feelings on the game as a whole. Prey is very much a game of two experiences. This choice and freedom does come at a cost though. Narratively it doesn’t do anything spectacular, but what it does do very well is give you, the player, a wonderful toolbox of powers and abilities, and allows you to find your own means of progressing through to the conclusion. Both games pitch you in an environment that is constrained by its location under the sea for Bioshock and in space for Prey.

Prey is a game of good ideas, encouraging experimentation and borrowing heavily from titles that have gone before it – most notably System Shock II or more latterly, Bioshock.

Prey book summary