I love what Mooncrash is. It takes building blocks of what a pretty darn great SystemShock inspired Immersiv Sim and reimagines it into something else: a rogue-lite. It is not "more Prey", it is a new, very interesting thing, build using Prey's bones. Challenge before you is to escape from an overrun by Typhon Moonbase with 5 escapees - each of them a class of it's own, with skills from the base game spread amond them providing some varied toolsets. Not immediately, of course. As you progress you unlock each of those escapees, but also game's systems are layered on top of each other - game gets more difficult the more time you spend in the simulation, and more and more hazards are introduced. While levels stay the same, Prey's deep systems allow for procedural generation of obstacles - that's where the 5 character run come into play, as you need to plan ahead to succeed. As different characters provide different skillsets (engineer can fix stuff, opening new paths for example) you will have to analyze the layout of the hazards and plan accordingly. A word of warning - it takes a while for the DLC to really click. As the game tries to ease you into it's systems it take a while before it introduces all it has to offer. A road to that point is not unenjoyable, but as it is likely like nothing you played before, it also takes a while to really engage with the game (and for it to show its teeth). Also playing base game Prey is also highly recommended, as the DLC relies on pre-established knowledge. As such you kinda need to enjoy both what the base Prey and DLC do, to enjoy both experiences.
Shadow Gambit continues what Mimimi have done in Shadow Tactics and Desperados3, and it feels like it is having a crisis. Devs tried to shake up the formula quite a bit (moving from linear campaign with dedicated maps and pre-set character rosters per missions) to more open structure, with less linear progression, multiple missions per map, and more agency as to whom we take on the mission and how we progress through it. The result is... simply a far less compelling game. As missions reuse maps, with more or less the same layout, for the most part they are not memorable, and ability to progress through each map in any direction results in simply less tactically interesting challenges. Fantastic setting does allow for a fun roster of characters with more unusual kits, but they tend to be so powerful, that I found myself thing less creatively. The loose structre also makes map features (sand, water, night etc.) feel unimpactful. I also just didn't care for the story - characters feel one note, and have far too much to say, for how little depth they have. The game feels very "corporate", and bland. I also didn't gel with game's humor at all - a lot of gags to me were unfunny to begin with and went on for far too long. I kinda assumed that the upside of the game would be replayibility - there are far more badges in this title than in Mimimi's previous one. Unfortunately, UI haven't kept up with the changes so trying to 100% the game is rather tedious as one have to rummage through multiple menus to see what badges are still to be unlocked. Some badges discriptions are also misleading, wasting your playtime. But surprisingly the game still doesn't feel like it offers more. At 80% I have half of a playtime I had in Desperados3 and I feel like I have been doing tedious busywork for quite a while now. I complained a lot. It is still a fun time, but still a disappointment. I think the changes to the formula had a net negative impact on the game.
I didn’t play C77 until almost two years after its release, and reports of technical problems and C77 being overambitious didn’t scare me off. I have been with CDPR since the early days, and while most people will associate them with polish and high quality of W3, W1&2 had shaky releases with a lot of jank left to this day. As such, my disappointment doesn’t come from false promises, pre-release hype or game’s poor launch. It isn’t even to how janky the game is (and it is very janky in both gameplay , controls, UI and presentation, though thankfully I have encountered no game breaking bugs). My main disappointment comes from how uninteresting the game is. All of the Witchers had interesting and inspired stuff in them. Even at their lowest (which in my opinion would be W2) those are still games worth playing and discussing. C77 is trite. It’s borrowing from other, better titles without being able to replicate on what makes those titles compelling. It also has little identity on its own. Open-world is so underdeveloped is fails as a backdrop, not to mention a simulation – especially later zones are so lacking in content, NPCs and polish it feels like one is driving through an unfinished and unreleased content. Gameplay is a couple balance passes away from being remotely enjoyable, and its early RPG promises aren’t supported by simplistic quest structure and level design. The game is also rather uninteractive and repetitive – it seems like there is very few systems devs get to play with. Story and characters have their moments, but overall didn't make much impression on me. The game has some impressive looking vistas though and some impressive character animations in the first couple hours of the game, but I wouldn’t say that the game looks great overall – it is far too janky and inconsistent for that – though you can get some fantastic screenshots. Frankly, I think the most interesting thing about this game is it being a project that followed Witcher3.
Prey is an Immersive Sim at its finest. The action takes place at a well thoughout and richly designed space station, whole of which will be available for you to explore. A sheer amount of skills and systems at your disposal allow you a feeling of free exploration, as while the game's story does guide you, there are many way to achieve your objective, creative ways of non-linear progression and secrets to find. Prey does a good job encouraging players to use many different tools at player's disposal, rather then limiting themselves to just few of available tools. This game is full of outstanding moments, ideas and mechanics but to spoil any of them would rob a potential new player of an experience of discovering them by themselves. Discovery, and finding new ways in which you can use skills and tools at your disposals are among core strengths of the title. Unfortunately, Prey has also some great ideas that don't quite stick the landing - like one of the bigger threats the game not being too easy to outsmart, seemlesness of the station being compromised by loadscreens, and poor pacing of some underdeveloped final bits of the story and rather questionable plot twist. While those issue tarnish the badge of approval, it is still one of the smartest, atmospheric and most engaging titles you can get.
Don't be misled by a standalone nature of this release, and a steep pricepoint. It is a 4 years late DLC mission pack to 2016 Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. What you get are three new missions, with short interlude missions that timeline was are inserted before what could be considered an ACT3 of the main campaign. Story in servicable, character as enjoable as they were in the original, but it's not what I would call a necessary or significant expantion of the main storyline. Some Quality of Life improvements are missing when compared to Mimimi's more recent Desperados3, though it's nothing I can't live without. Aiko's Choice runs on the same engine that original Shadow Tactics did, so no improvements were tranfered over from Desperados3. If you didn't play base Shadow Tactics:BotS, you should play that first, before considering Aiko's Choice (and perhaps Desperads3 - both will give you far more bang for your buck or other currency of choice). If you did, then you probably know by now, if 3 extra missions is something that interests you, and what is the pricepoint that you are willing to pay.
