Prey for the Gods
Praey for the Gods is a boss climbing open world adventure game where you play as a lone hero sent to the edge of a dying frozen world to discover the mystery behind a never-ending winter. Arriving with only the clothes on your back, you must survive the colossal dangers that you encounter. To restore balance and reclaim the land from the brink, you will be faced with questions that not even a God knows the answer to. Overcome impossible odds to climb atop and defeat the massive beasts that are bound to this land. You can climb on virtually anything you can get your hands on, from ruins and mountains to the massive beasts that inhabit the land. Ascend to the tops of mountains and then glide over the open world to reach previously inaccessible locations. Swim in frigid water to uncover hidden locations that contain secrets and treasure, but don't stay in too long or your swim could become your last.
Steam User 53
I think Praey has received several negative reviews because they compare it to Shadow of the Colossus. I don't think that's a fair comparison. This is a survival game first. There's hunting, crafting, puzzles and melee combat. Sure, there are parts where you climb a colossus, but that's where the similarities end. Praey is a great game on it's own. See for your self.
Steam User 43
Made by a team of 3 people, plus a few others for music and other assets, the game is very good for what a team of this size has achieved, but that doesn't mean this Shadow of the Colossus fan game is, overall, an amazing experience.
-Positives-
-Fantastic Music
-Well executed and epic boss battles
-Decent graphics, especially on the bosses.
-Arena Champion battles were a nice side-track, a shame they were all identical in combat though
-Negatives
-Desolate world, not unlike SoC, but with no horse to get around quicker
-No real reason to explore, as you can actually beat the game without levelling up your stats, or obtaining better equipment. Exploration stopped for me, when a wind puzzle outright wouldn't work. After 30 minutes of trying, before looking up a tutorial, which showed that the wind platform should be on, but just... wasn't, that killed what little desire to bother exploring I had.
-Not many generic enemies are encountered, meaning the sword and bow are very limited in use.
-Survival Mechanics: I actually don't mind this, I just wish that your Hunger and Tiredness didn't deplete so damn quickly. By the time I had hunted and ate, the character would be tired. By the time I found a bedroll, the character would be hungry. In the end, I just quit bothering with those two, and only really paid attention to heat.
-Story: like SoC, the story attempts to be vague, but unlike SoC, the story seems to not really mean anything. In SoC, we understood our hero was trying to resurrect the woman he loved, that's the point of the ritual. In this game, however, we're trying to kill the gods to stop an eternal winter, but we don't know why we are there at all (we crash landed by boat for some reason), and even after the game is over, we basically continue on in the game as though nothing has happened, bar a new skin that we receive.
Constructive Feedback
Give the size of the team, they were super happy to surpass their kickstarter target, but they really should have used that money and expanding the story or adding another 2 bosses. The expansion to Breath of the Wild like gameplay was not worth the effort and fell flat.
Replayability? : Not really, as much as I enjoyed the boss battles the first time around, I can't really say I'd ever pick up the game for a second play through. And my playthrough of 12 hours is quite generous for this game - if you just ignore all the wandering around for poor side-content, you could probably finish the game at least 5 hours faster than I did.
Value for the game: $20-30 is fair for the love the dev's put in, and for a 6-7 hour playtime (that's actually fun)
Total Score: 6.5/10 (Average, a decent game, but not one you need to go out of your way to play).
Steam User 12
This game is clearly a homage to Shadow of the Colossus. It has many things in common with it. Especially the narrative's tone and pacing, as well as climbing onto giants to locate and destroy their weak points as they try to shake you off. The giant segments are the bread and butter of the game's action, and they play out like physics based puzzles. You have to creatively search all over the giants for their weak points, being careful not to fall off of them by saving your stamina on stable surfaces of their bodies when possible. But there are also some notable differences to this game that make it different than SotC. The most notable probably being the survival element. I was reluctant to dip my toes into this one because of its inclusion; I typically avoid those types of games. But I'm glad that playing on normal only requires you to worry about the cold weather. The frigid wind and water will eventually take their toll on your body temperature enough to cause damage. You have to use fires to stay warm. The other survival mechanics, food and sleep, are not necessary for survival on normal difficulty. They instead give a boost to your stamina.
Some Pros:
1. The boss fights are epic, puzzle-solving endeavors completely reminiscent of SotC.
2. Grappling hooks and gliders are nice additions to traversal and puzzles.
3. Having enemies to fight other than giants does add a bit more depth to the combat.
Some Cons:
1. Monotony quickly sets in as you must button mash to keep your grip when the giants shake.
2. Occasionally frustrating physics like the character not running or climbing according to button inputs.
3. On a controller you have to press up a bunch of times to navigate the menu to do a manual game save.
If you enjoyed the heck out of Shadow of the Colossus like I did, then you will probably like this as well. Just maybe not everything the game has to offer. The grappling hook and glider are more aligned with games Zelda or Genshin Impact. The survival elements will surely be off-putting to some, but the fact that you can turn them off on easy mode, or up on hard, makes their inclusion a welcome one. Since they weren't exactly mandatory, I found myself partaking in them to get the benefits. And they add to the immersion of being stuck in an ice age's hostile environment. They also added gear in this game, which you can balance out to your liking or equip an entire set to receive its more exclusive benefits. Pretty cool. And there are puzzle caves you have to solve to acquire them. Very cool. Your interpretations of the primitive cave paintings will provide you with subtle clues to some of the solutions.
Steam User 12
after months of waiting they finally did an epic ending i am proud to say i have played this game to the vary end! and i must say well done...i was speechless when it was over.
Steam User 6
Greatest Shadow of The Colossus type game that doesn't rely on QuickTimeEvent's and actually allows you to freely roam the Colossi, Being able to climb almost any surface was really fun, the explorability of this game and the size of the open world is so nice, the survival system is a nice way to fill in the blank spots as it doesn't have as many colossi as Shadow of the Colossus, each fight was nicely crafted with love and dedication, they all had their own twists and never felt unfair, the mechanics are pinpoint what they needed to be to make such a great game, adding the gliding feature and a grappling hook is amazing, and im all for a Shadow of the Colossus with more mobility as it adds more fun to exploring the battle and the world and it was amazing to be able to have moments where your hundreds of feet in the air and be able to glide onto your enemy or grapple in a clutch situation, the puzzles were nicely spread apart with neat little tricks, the enemies felt under used but still nice to the entierty of the world, the Art style was really fitting and i like how more brains then skills were needed for the bosses as it flips the tables to the usual boss fighting moments in other games, the world story telling as well as the notes were nicely thought out and gave alot of insight onto what has happened, the ending was very satisfactory and this is now my Favourite game of all time! Loved it all thank you No Matter Studios for this amazing masterpiece, i will 100% be replaying it
Steam User 12
Amazing game. Breath of the Wild meets Shadow of the Colossus. Made by only 3 devs, I believe, and they did a fantastic job.
Steam User 6
Praey for the gods is undeniably an alternative to Shadow of the Colossus. It isn't a diet version, but like a seasonal flavor. It has one theme, which is uses to supplement its survival mechanics. The best and worst thing about the weapon crafting and survival system is that on it's lower difficulties, engaging with it is entirely optional. Not in the " I can barely manage if I ignore it" but in the " I didn't feel this was difficult enough to warrant preparing more" kind of way. As someone wanting to just brute force with platforming and understanding the boss behavior and physics system I could just platform or outsmart the boss to reach the weak points. Which was nice but it felt like the potential of the added combat and grapple mechanics were under explored.
The music and the bosses were phenomenal and reminded me of what I hoped this game would be, more shadow of the colossus-esque epic fights. While in my opinion it never reached the same peaks as that game, everything it did different was fun and everything it mimicked was spun just enough to feel fresh with a few stand out bosses and areas.
I am really hopeful for what the sequel for this game could be as I hope it takes its new ideas and isn't afraid to lean on them more. I would have loved a big boss that had minions i had to fight to progress to the next weak point or more necessary archery or grapple challenges. As it stands those systems just feel secondary and the aerial travel makes the rest of traversal just feel bogged down an slow. There was one colossus that I just glided from mountain to mountain to get it, and judging by the odd way the intro cutscene handled me entering the area, it was clearly not intentional to skip the long and still un-mapped trek to it by foot. I think removing the glider system and forcing the grappling would have made exploration feel more necessary.
I would say if you loved or liked shadow of the colossus and want to scratch the itch, this game will do it. However I feel like I walked away with a different itch to see these new mechanics could shine and a longing for the world to feel like i need to explore for more than just an achievement or two.
Played on Normal with Permanent Weapon lost but weather wouldn't be lethal. One day I'll come back to the game and play with the full climate effects and difficulty but this is my take on the "average" mode that is presented in the difficult settings.
7.5/10