As an immersive sim obsessive, Prey should rank highly among my favourite games. Yet when I first played Arkane’s ode to System Shock back in 2017, I didn’t fully get along with it. I admired much of what it did – the art-deco labyrinth of Talos 1, the freeform exploration, those exquisitely tricksy Mimics playing the solar system’s deadliest game of hide and seek.
Despite this, something didn’t click. I’ve thought about it often in the years since (like I said, I’m an obsessive), and I’ve concluded the problem lies with Prey’s combat. I relied on shotguns and psychoshock too heavily in my first run, and combat perhaps isn’t Prey’s greatest strength. Consequently, I’ve decided to try the game again, but with the added rule that I’m not allowed to kill any enemies in the game directly.
To be clear, I’m still allowed to eliminate any Typhon I encounter, but only through indirect methods. I’m not allowed to shoot them, blast them with psychokinetic powers, smash them with a wrench, or harm them in any way such that you could trace a straight line from my weapon to the alien corpse by my feet. As for what I can do, we’ll find out as I go. It’s been nearly six years since I last played Prey, and my memory of it is fuzzier than that of a TranStar employee after a Neuromod removal.
This story is from the April 2023 edition of PC Gamer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2023 edition of PC Gamer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
VIVE LA RESISTANCE!
Be the deadly dagger in Nazi-occupied France in CLASSIFIED: FRANCE '44
CUTTER STAID
OUTCAST A NEW BEGINNING rekindles the original game's epic scope
OLD WORLD BLUES
The beautiful HORIZON: FORBIDDEN WEST COMPLETE EDITION struggles to move on
OFF PUTTING
Lee Carvallo's PUTTING CHALLENGE 2: another great Simpsons fan game
ALMA MATER
Horror is a family affair in FEAR
ELDEN RING REBORN
A Scholar of the First Sin-style total conversion mod for Elden Ring.
EIYUDEN CHRONICLE: HUNDRED HEROES
Spiritual successor to Suikoden promises an grand adventure
JEDI REMASTER
DARK FORCES REMASTER is the classic Star Wars FPS upgrade you've been looking for
PAWN COCKTAIL
DRAGON'S DOGMA 2 is an exceptional and sometimes infuriating RPG
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE
Few online RPGs have transformed as much in the past decade as The Elder Scrolls Online. First debuting in April of 2014 as a confused, awkward thing, loved by few. Today, it proudly stands alongside its singleplayer peers. Here's how TESO escaped Oblivion's grasp and reconnected with Elder Scrolls fans.