Apologies for the necropost, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on this. Prey had been on my 'to do' pile for a long time, but I kept avoiding it as I was never in the right frame of mind to tackle, what I had heard could be a tough, stressful game. I had some time off over Christmas and thought it was a good opportunity to take a look at it. Boy I am glad I did, as it totally sucked me in right from the start.
Prey did turn out to be quite tough, but if taken slow and played cautiously it was very manageable. Sneaking around, reading email stories and hovering up items and junk to upgrade Morgan became incredibly addictive, such that this gameplay loop and the storyline became more engaging than the okay-ish combat. Developments towards the end of the game made sense from a storyline point of view, but made for a slightly rushed and frustrating final quarter, which did slightly sour the experience.
Overall Prey ranks as one of my favourite games of this generation. It utterly absorbed me for the full 47 hours of my playthrough. I'd like to go back and experiment with different builds, but it's a shame I will never get to play it for the first time again.
