Prey

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Prey – Derived from the title of a satirical novel written by the American writer Joseph Heller, “Catch-22” is a phrase widely used in modern life, referring to cases paradoxically, preventing a subject from solving problems due to being controlled by these contradictions arising from that case.

Let’s assume the following: the subject discovers that he or she exists in a cycle that repeats a single day, and the factor that causes the loop to stop is due to the subject’s memory being “erased. clean” after each day, making it impossible to break the loop, since the matter is not able to perceive the circle in progress.

That was the beginning of Prey, the latest product from talented game designers at Arkane Studios. This game inherits the quintessential values ​​of the ” Immersive Simulation ” genre, with a curious premise: the mind determines destiny, or is it the opposite?
The “love affair” of the name Prey and related parties such as Human Head Studios and Bethesda Softworks has caused quite a lot of controversy. Arkane Studios decided to accept the name more warmly when cleverly dubbing jigsaw patterns from space portals into new technology in another name that is also very nostalgic – Looking Glass, into their latest game.

These lifelike hologram mirrors were not only invented to deceive the naked eye but also seem to serve as metaphors of human intuition – things you consider from eye-witnessing are probably not so obvious.
Looking Glass with a huge role in opening Prey through a stalemate situation (the subject was locked in a loop in the room and received warning messages), leading to a deadlock break (break the glass door in the room) and reveal the cause of the deadlock (room, where the loop takes place).

The first decisive starting point sets out all of Prey’s unique negative vibe. It continues for the next 20 hours as players follow Morgan Yu’s footsteps and discover that Typhon targets the Transtar Group’s Talos 1 space station after the invasion of The alien entity.
Morgan Yu may be the “savior” in Prey’s story, but Talos 1 itself is the shining star of the entire game.

The masterpiece decorated inside the immense universe with neo-deco style does not hesitate to flaunt the nobility and splendor of prosperity, but at the same time also with foreign color matching the appearance of an entity. The aliens seem to be trying to disguise the architectural style of humanity.

The astounding detail in Talos 1’s aesthetic design is truly verbal, as the brown tones of wood, red carpet, and gold substitute for metal to blend to create one the feeling of being unusual (by who would decorate a space station with materials like this?), but also familiar.
Instead of mimicking the thorny industrialized futuristic style that Alien initiated from 1979 to the present, Prey goes back in time and uses images from 2001: A Space Odyssey as the premise for His impressive art style.

Using decorations that make everyone look like David and a winged lion statue is part of the inspiration from the architectural design of the iconic female architect’s spaceship, Russian Galina Balashova.

And since then, the artists at Arkane Studios have turned the luxurious “golden structure” in the interior design of the 60s into a true futuristic paradise garden.
In the “upper” position in terms of view, Talos 1 still acts as a space station with the main purpose of research. It is designed and arranged conveniently for gameplay (will mention later) and logically plausible.

Built-in a tree structure, Talos 1 is divided into three main areas to suit its role: on the last floor, we have a power plant, a storage space (Cargo Bay, Life Support, and Psychotronics are the storage areas for Typhon experiments – these are the centers that serve the operations of all Talos 1 and also own the most machines.

In the middle, we have the research unit Neuromod, the information processing unit at Deep Storage, the main technology developer at Hardware Labs, and the waiting room that connects offices and exhibition grounds – this is where but every research activity at Talos 1 takes place.
And the last part on top of the space station is a “mini” botanical garden, the main control center, and the staff residence.

All areas in Talos 1 are properly arranged and distributed in the right areas for their purposes, rather than just randomly placed rooms in tandem. Prey’s openness and the characteristics of the gameplay in the game make Talos 1 seem like a “metagame” next to the main gameplay. When the quests are very clear where you need to go and two The map showing the structure of the entire space station and each area is stratified so that 90% of the game’s content is completely possible without the need for on-screen directions. That is a welcome point for Arkane Studios when too many modern role-playing game studios are too “afraid” of the players getting lost; they find the best way to satisfy all types of gamers. The main story of Prey brings Morgan / the player to the ultimate goal, which is to save or destroy Talos 1 to prevent the Typhon germ from invading Earth. Although the tempo of the storyline is a bit stretched and a bit predictable in the middle part of the game, it’s not hard to see the interesting elements that unfold throughout the length of the story.
The tussle in player decisions stems mostly from January – an auxiliary robot reconstructed by Morgan himself to help himself remember what happened after the last extraction of the Neuromod and Alex. Morgan’s brother Yu tries to prevent the player from following what Morgan’s last memory tells him. They lead (or stop) you from getting to the final step that determines the fate of Talos 1, but the plot becomes more confusing as the purposes of both sides are clarified. The line between goodness and evil becomes a fragile concept, making Prey more of a test of humanity than a familiar journey of salvation. After all, the player has the right to save those trapped here, and they do so because they want to, not because of the mechanical arrangements they have to make.
Prey’s entire story has an “unbelievable” tone stemming from so many different questions (and almost all of which are answered in the hidden ending), and it seems the most interesting thing is that The game wants the player to act contrary to what it expects. There are quite a few actions that most other games will break down into two distinct types of “good or bad” options. Like dropping a patrol boat carrying a few workers evacuated from Talos 1, or set self-destruct mode and exchange them for their lives to prevent any remaining Typhon seeds from reaching Earth. Prey does not specify the end of this action; players can only decide based on their instincts – because of temporary altruism or because of the argument “it is better to die by mistake than to leave out”? From then on, January or sometimes Alex will be surprised by your choice.

Hint: one of the two qualities above forms the main theme of Prey’s story!

Talos 1’s “personality” and its people are enriched by e-mails, recording diaries and notes scattered in the environment, on computers, or simply around sway somewhere. The important details and easy to ignore that re-show Prey’s spirit of “show the audience, not tell” perfectly.

where can you get a Prey online

Prey – PlayStation 4: Buy it now

From the plastic crossbow lying on top of a high platform to the messages of mischievous staff with the newly invented “weapon,” a joke revolves around the Reployer device like a large printer that no one understands. What is its use? The role-playing game drawings look like they are reenacting Arx Fatalis (Arkane Studios’ debut game) to the darker side of staff dissatisfaction with the superiors’ decisions (including, of course, Morgan). The rings falling from the body of Typhon bearing the employee’s name on Talos 1, or the reconstruction of the final Looking Glass version of the doctor who invented it, ended up with a heartbreaking revelation.

And in the end, even for Looking Glass to recreate the scene realistically, it cannot deceive the reality that was swept up by death.

The “Immersive Simulation” game genre has made its mark in history because the design focuses on its details, choice, and complexity, so how does Prey transform that complexity into a version? Its own identity? With just one simple mechanism, that is collecting and making things.
When it comes to crafting, perhaps the closest and most unpleasant image comes from Ubisoft’s modern open-world games, where players have to gather and hunt to find the right ingredients. For individual upgrades or widgets – a silly mechanic designed to entangle players and create a fake “gameplay-rich” effect. Much of the gameplay in Prey relies heavily on fabricator mechanics placed in only a few places. The way it does the crafting is fun: you need to remove the redundant items, unused or rubbish gets into the recycling machine, it automatically “releases” blocks of raw materials. These material blocks can be thrown into a Fabricator to craft weapons, ammunition, support accessories, or even Neuromod with the touch of a single button.

What makes this process more interesting than any other mechanic is that the Fabricator requires only the right ingredients, not the specific item; the ingredients are easy to learn and the process. Recycling to crafting is done because it allows you to interact with the machine directly on its screen instead of displaying a menu like many other games. Not to mention, Prey also offers one item that partially simplifies the process, which is the Recycler Charge that recycles in place any interactive object in the surrounding area to which it is dropped. As a result, we have just witnessed the spitting of materials like a black hole interestingly gagging into the sky. Having a different way to take down the dangers that players encounter quickly must overcome some obstacles in their journey.

“Immersive Simulation” has always been a game genre that motivates players to “think outside the box.” Prey doesn’t have to wait long to tease players that Talos 1 is a playground that responds to your behavior with a simple first example: to open a locked door, you can. Find a vent to connect to the next area, or rummage through the previous room and find a card to open the door. That is the prelude to Prey’s smooth and freestyle of play.

“Immersive Simulation” has always been a kind of game that motivates players to “think outside the box,” and Prey doesn’t have to wait long to tease players that Talos 1 is a reactive playground. Your behavior with the first simple example: to open a locked door, you can find the vent that connects to the next area or rummages through the previous room and find the card to open the door. That is the prelude to Prey’s smooth and freestyle of play.

Sometimes your path is not merely blocked by a locked door; it can lose power, be blocked by a pile of cargo boxes, can only be opened with a switch that you cannot reach, between Roads can be flooded. Electrical leaks are nearby, elevators may not work due to having to enter codes, and many different situations stop you in the path of discovery.
And to get past them, there are also blocks of ways: door-blocking boxes can be loaded and thrown if you have high Leverage skills, but they can also be “recycled” with a Recycler Charge. The power outage door can be restored if you fix a malfunctioning power supply in the area, or the Leverage skill allows you to open some doors manually. Sometimes it can be operated temporarily again if you “click” it with an electric shot from the Disruptor gun. Can’t reach a switch? A dart shot from a Huntress Bolcaster toy crossbow would solve that problem, or the ability to turn into an item small enough to slip through the narrow gap into the room where the switch is located is not a bad idea. That’s not to mention the simplest of problem-solving methods: Hack to hack into anything that’s locked with code.
Prey also provides a tool that sounds pretty mediocre, but its versatility is hardly anything compared: the hand-held GLOO Cannon shoots hard blocks of rubber sticking to an object. It helps you create “bridges” that catch up areas that cannot be climbed with your hands and feet as usual. It seals gas leaks to stop igniting; it temporarily seals leaking electrical panels for people to repair play. It freezes the Typhon so that the player has enough time to “bulge” them with a wrench or scan information with a Psychoscope, or even block the small aisles to block the enemy’s path. Do not worry if you “accidentally” unusually penetrate a certain area and think that you are breaking the game, as Prey fully welcomes any creative style of play that players might think out.

Prey takes very seriously the relationship between the tools the player owns and the challenges the game “drops” into Talos 1. All weapons, equipment, and skills are useful in their way, even though they may not perform their functions on the first use. It’s not hard to see that the silencer handgun is powerful at mid-range and that the Shotgun is powerful at close range.
What about the Disruptor stun gun?

It paralyzes every type of Typhon and the staff on Talos 1 that are mentally manipulated, swiftly takes down the metamorphosed Operators, and is especially powerful when attacking the nasty Technopath.

The Q-Beam Energy Gun can quickly take down each enemy with higher health than a normal Typhon.

Even a toy gun like the Huntress Boltcaster can save the player easily when it can “activate” the Cystoid drives and cause them to explode instead of wasting conventional ammunition.
You can completely complete the game using only the above weapons, but it will be an excessive waste if you do not test the skills acquired from Neuromod in combination with all your tools and your environment. Freezing a Phantom with a GLOO Cannon and feeding it all… a sofa in the face is a good way if you’re looking to save ammo; A bunch of Military Operator robots surrounded? Let’s lure them into a narrow room; the over-electromagnetism EMP grenade with Kinectic Blast will blow them up in a note. The Phantom Shift skill allows the player to teleport and leave a static copy which is very effective when combined with a Shotgun shot from behind an enemy dealing extra damage from stealth.

It is possible to fight in Prey that is not as “gimmicky and slick” as Dishonored or smoothly alternating between shooting and sneaky action like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Domino effects from abilities you can do in the game left enough room for encounters for different types of monster trials. Prey’s progression in fighting mechanics, from the first steps the player takes to being “pooped” by the sudden transformation Mimics while collecting cicadas until the player is strong enough not to be. What could stop me was a marked transformation and also a fitting part of the “extreme danger” of Morgan that the story suggests in the second half of the game. The metaphor is mentioned in the subject itself, which can describe Prey as dozens of different pieces of material put into the Fabricator and make a product with the essence of “whatever is, can be done at an even level.” Innovation is a phrase that the writer thinks is used quite indiscriminately when judging video games today because a game does not necessarily do something big and unique. Its value can be recognized, and Prey is a testament to that concept.
Was Prey a worthy successor to System Shock? It depends where you “store” System Shock in your scale. Prey may not be able to keep the horror of the classic game from Looking Glass Studios, which can balance the difficulty level (which is also the weakness of System Shock 2). The enemy may not be very diverse, The strange stacking sound error has not been fixed, and it’s not hard to notice traces of pretty much all removed functions (damaged weapons, space segments, or GUTS uses oxygen cylinders …). But the rest of the game is still filled with witty and brilliant design style initiated by the Immersive Simulation genre, making them overshadow all the small flaws above.

Every corner at Talos 1 provides more reason and motivation for players to explore and explore exemplary-led stories in Prey. Modern Immersive Simulation maybe “dying” after the three big names failed to be as successful as expected. But the tendency to expand gameplay design and promote freedom in other genres may be a good sign in the future, and hopefully, we will see more games that deserve their masterpieces and boosts for players like Prey this year.