Prey

Arkane studios has always excelled at word and level design in all of their games and it showed in prey. Their worlds feel alive and realistic in a way that most video games never capture. Both dishonored and prey are also great at giving the player freedom to play how they want with intuitive and interesting gameplay that varies widely on player choice. It's a shame that it didn't sold that well.

> Releases incredible im-sim
> Forced to make live service slop that fails spectacularly
> Studio gets shut down
What did Microsoft mean by this?

I want to start by saying this first - I know I'm extremely late with this review (9 years late) so I doubt anyone will really care at this point but I still want to share my opinion of Prey, in 2026.
I've had Prey since day 1. Back when I was a "newbie" to PC gaming and I know it launched with... let's just say... terrible PC optimisation which ruined my opinion of it. Sadly, It got added to my ever expanding Backlog and somewhat forgotten about due to the issues. (I wasn't sure if it was my PC or not but doing some research, it was indeed the game).
Here I am in 2026, FINALLY playing Prey to 100% completion and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this game. Below I will explain why, so let's get to it!
What I liked/Pros
⚫Compared to it's launch, almost all of the game's "poor" optimisation issues have been fixed. I didn't encounter a single issue. No lagging, stuttering, FPS drops, crashing e.t.c e.t.c. Nothing. Compared to 2017 and 2018.
⚫I absolutely adore how well designed Talos I is. The entire space station is interconnected. What I mean by this is - no matter where you are, you can go ANYWHERE in the station you want to go (and out). This HEAVILY encourages exploration (at your own pace too).
⚫There are so many ways to approach objectives. You can choose to go stealthy and sneak around Talos I. You can choose to go full out on Combat and kill everything (including humans). You can manipulate the environment with Typhon or Human "abilities" and so many, many other ways. It's up to you to decide how "YOU WANT TO PLAY".
⚫Prey's Atmosphere is beyond stellar (pun intended as it's in space haha). Alone on a space station (for a while), navigating some sort of... disaster? invasion? The paranoia the game makes you feel. Could that be a mimic? Could THAT be a mimic? COULD THAT BE A MIMIC?!?!?! You never know. Watch what you pick up!!
⚫About exploring - you find employee terminals that have emails, Audio logs (transcribes), employee locators and so much more around Talos I that tells the story of what the crew has went through, what they are going through. Their final moments. All of which builds up an exhilarating story.
⚫As you progress the story Talos I becomes covered in this beautiful golden spider-like weave (made by weavers so fitting). This was really beautiful to see... word's cannot express how gorgeous this looks. The entire environment changes.
⚫The abilities are awesome and let you have creative freedom of how to play the game. You want to become a coffee cup to squeeze through a tight gap? Unlock mimesis (a typhon ability) to become that cup BUT turrets will see you as a threat and shoot you. You want to avoid the previous thing happening? Unlock some human abilities to "leverage" a door open to brute force your way in. Getting stuck at a location without a door code? Get hacking and hack EVERY single door in the game to progress!!
What I disliked/Cons
⚫The story takes a while to "climax" (for lack of better words). It's rather slow to play out.
⚫The ending. Oh man... I was rather... disappointed in the ending. All of "THAT" just to find out "not everything is as it seems". (sorry, no spoilers but if you know, you know).
⚫At the start of the game the stealth was rather... clunky to get used to. The lack of resources early on make it tedious to do much, if anything at the start efficiently.
⚫None of your choices matter. No matter what gender you choose (male or female morgan), no matter if you choose to save or kill all the humans... it doesn't matter.
⚫I personally think that the guns could have had a little more "oomph" to them. They feel weak. You have to shoot a phantom with a pistol (non-stealth) about 10-20 times to kill it. Using the wrench you need to whack it about 10-20 times to kill it.
Small Disclaimer
Prey is not the continuation of THAT Prey, the Prey we all know and expected a sequel to. The 2006 Prey to be exact. Sadly the sequel to the 2006 Prey got cancelled in 2014 by Bethesda.
Instead, this Prey is a "loose reboot" of Prey made by Arkane Austin, which made Redfall. With the "failure" of Redfall Arkane Austin got shutdown which means we probably will not be seeing a sequel of 2017's Prey.
I just wanted to mention this just in case you get the game (or own it) and want a follow up to this game... it probably won't happen. Albeit Bethesda still own the IP rights but because Prey didn't sell well... I doubt it will get a follow up.
My Verdict/TL;DR
At the end of the day Prey is a good game. Not a GOTY contender by any means but for £24.99 and how long the game actually is, I feel like this is a bargain. Prey also goes on sale dirt cheap.
The atmosphere and paranoia the game builds up, the ability to play how YOU want to play, how YOU want to approach an encounter and how interconnected the entire game is, is just amazing to me.
I would recommend this to anyone a fan of Sci-fi, Immersive sim horror games. Like Alien Isolation.
7/10. Prey in 2026 is a true Hidden Gem to me and I am sad at the thought of no sequel

One of the greatest space horror RPGs out there.

RIP Arkane Austin, you deserved better than Microsoft

RIP Arkane Studios.
Prey is an absolute masterpiece that should get more attention! This game plays amazingly, great combat, exploration, tons of skills and weapons to shape your play-style. It's is very easy to run, as I played this on a GTX 1050ti and a Ryzen 1600 @ 60 fps a few years ago, so I believe you'll have no issues playing this with amazing performance.
If you love sci-fi, this is a great game to play. Fantastic game design, good and well designed enemies, and can get spooky sometimes.
And oh man, the ending... Just, wow. Loved it.

>Releases incredible im-sim
>Forced to make live service slop that fails spectacularly
>Studio gets shut down
What did Bethesda mean by this?

S tier game. A spiritual successor to games like System Shock and Deus Ex. Shame they didn't make a sequel.
EDIT: After beating the game I can safely say this is one of the best games EVER.