Prey

Prey is a game that has unfortunate names and unfortunate trailers. This is NOT a horror game like trailers might lead you to believe. This is a game that challenges you to use your environment and tools to play the way you want, with multiple solutions to any given problem. It has some very creative enemies, superb environments, and a story with twists that will keep you guessing to the end. It's one of the best games made in the past 20 years.

Really good game, good gameplay, nice graphics, really nice audio

As someone who only recently got into immersive sim's and finished all the classics, gaining immense respect for them, I don't think I could be happier with Prey. - Prey takes place in a fully sized modeled space station which you can explore inside and out, as the outside serving like a fast travel with zero g that you can freely explore. - The station as a ton of obstacles and the game is extremely flexible on how you approach them both in combat and exploration, to the point that even a literal nerf gun has its uses. - The art design is top notch art deco boosted with an atmospheric ost by Mick Gordon, the game looks and sounds fabulous and runs well. - Enemies are an actual threat and even the less powerful mimics will keep you on you wits by disguising themselves as all manner of objects. The only two minor (and I emphasize MINOR) gripes I have are of personal taste: - There are so many side quests that sometimes it can feel like a Skyrim quest list, which sometimes I believe it takes the urgency from the main quest. - The story lacks a "steal the show" character like Shodan or Garret (pardon the pun). However don't let those gripes deter you from enjoying the game's story for its still interesting, thought provoking and all the character are voiced well. Use all the tools available to you, be it powers, weapons or environment, think unorthodox ways to overcome obstacles and Prey will leave a memorable impression on you.

+ very immersive + nice resource management + freedom of choice + gameplay in open space + variable gameplay - a lot of loading screens - combat with aliens can be irritable

As several reviews have mentioned, this is really an immersive simulation rather than a shooter. It also gets compared a lot to Bioshock and System Shock 2, and while the world construction and the game mechanics indeed borrow from these great games, I found Prey to be a much deeper experience. In fact, I was so impressed by it, that it forced me to learn how to mod the game, in order to make it more realistic and even more immersive (I uploaded the mod to Nexus mods, if anyone's interested). The visuals, sound and music are excellent, providing superb atmosphere. The story is also quite engaging, with the influence of the Deus Ex series being evident. If in Deus Ex you enjoyed the side stories (making the game world seem more real) and the conspiracies of the main story (not knowing who to trust), you should enjoy Prey's story. However it does feel somewhat short and undeveloped in places. Prey may appear difficult at first, but I believe that is because we always approach a new game using playstyles that work in other games. And when a game like Prey tries something different and those playstyles don't work, we find it frustrating. Prey is not a traditional Doom-style shooter, not just because ammo is scarce, but because weapon handling is intentionally clunky (as mentioned, it is an immersive simulation). It is also not a traditional stealth game, where enemies always take set paths and where you just need to observe them long enough to discover the path. So my advice to new players is to take your time, not rush into combat (if overwhelmed by enemies, you can run back to a turret), and Prey will feel very rewarding. The game has a decent replay value as well. The station is huge, so full exploration is likely to take more than one playthrough. Gameplay can be quite different depending on whether you choose human or alien abilities or a mix. And the game in a way forces you to leave the alien abilities for a second playthrough, by scaring you from using them.