Arkane Austin's System Shock-Inspired Prey (2017) Reboot

While people play Deahtloop, you can watch this video about Prey!

and well, also this video for D2

Mooncrash has to be one of the most tense games I’ve played in forever. The lack of save/load really ratchets up the tension, to where I really can’t play this game for more than an hour or two - it’s both fun and sort of exhausting.

After a dozen or so runs it gets a lot easier. I mean you could just farm resources and be overpowered but I recommend just trying to:

  1. Complete all the character stories (not all in a single run as this might be impossible, but even if you do it would not complete 3 [spoilers])
  2. Learn all escape routes
  3. Escape with every character in a single run (required in order to finish the game)

Okay, I wanted to try this out again having had a great experience with Deathloop, but it’s already leaving a very bitter taste in my mouth. There’s no mouse cursor in the menus, and moving the mouse just tilts the menus. My 360 controller isn’t working either, and I can’t seem to navigate the menus fully with just the keyboard…

EDIT: Okay, figured out how to change the tabs in the menu on the keyboard. From there, disabling the Always Use Controller Prompts fixed the mouse part.

Still, you’re on thin ice, Prey.

At least in mooncrash, my mouse+keyboard setup works absolutely fine. Mouse works in all the menus.

Seems like a bug? I also had to toggle all of the HUD elements off and then back on again to get anything to show there while playing.

The main game seems to be free on Epic for a bit.

I think the DLC (Mooncrash) is free also?

I also got the impression it automatically includes Mooncrash.

Why give away the base game and Mooncrash? I guess maybe just so that people become Arcane fans.

I started Mooncrash after hearing it favorably compared with the somewhat disappointing Deathloop, which I finished and didn’t find particularly challenging. I like Mooncrash, a lot actually. It doesn’t have the handholding that Deathloop seems to think is necessary to sell copies, and the difficulty ramps up impressively after a few runs. I’ve unlocked 4 of the 5 characters, and haven’t completed any of the character stories (although I have unlocked one of them). I had thought the maps would carry over from run to run once you unlocked them, but it appears I was wrong.

It does. I just got round to it - think it’s pretty great :) Just unlocked the final character. I go back and forth on whether I feel in control or it’s OHMYGODWHATSHAPPENINGNOW.

Arg. Just had my fifth character fail to escape after four successes. He could have used a pod or shuttle but there were none anywhere to be found and eventually a Nightmare took him out. Bah.

I’ve got a feeling a working pod is only spawned when you check for one at a Security Station? That would be a bit rubbish as going and looking for one should obviously work. Can’t think why else there were none though.

Each escape method can only be used once, so your fifth character should only have one option. Did you take the pod with an earlier character?

Can’t remember now after so many expeditions over the same ground. Realised I still have the test subject’s story to do, so I’ll use that as a breather and maybe give it another go in a few days :)

Probably asked a million times but can I skip straight to Mooncrash? I got the game for free but I really don’t want to play through something that long. I tried the demo and it didn’t grab me. I’m down for a roguelite though.

I’m curious about that as well. I tried again to get into the main game, but I’m just not enjoying it. I’ve liked all of their other stuff though, including Deathloop.

I guess you could, but the DLC won’t hold your hand - it assumes you have some mechanical knowledge that you learned through the main game.

Like you may come across a locked door that can be tackled in three ways, but you’ll only see the most obvious way that the game presents to you and you wouldn’t have any idea that the other methods exist. It’s definitely possible to play but keep in mind that you’re increasing the difficulty.

All the talk about deathloop inspired me to play Mooncrash. I’m so glad I did, it’s a brilliant game that I really enjoyed. It’s also one of the most tense games I’ve played in a while - exploring the base and having the corruption levels tick up on you, or having that god damn moonshark chase you into some terrifying aliens is just great.

I’m way behind on my backlog, so it might be a GOTY (2021) contender for me. Prey certainly was when it came out and I played it through.

I wish there were more companies building games in this style.

It’s the closest thing I’ve seen to System Shock 2, I really like it, though I thought it got a bit long.