Prey (2017) Review Roundup
Check out what the critics are saying about Arkane's new game.
It's been a week since Prey was released. Being a long game that wasn't shared with critics long before launch day, it's taken some time to complete, but a variety of Prey reviews now made their way online.
We've collected a handful of these for you to get a sense of Prey's critical reception. The response has been all over the place, with technical issues having a severe effect for some while others have enjoyed its atmosphere and the experimentation it allows for.
You can check out the reviews below and head over to GameSpot sister site Metacritic for a broader look at Prey's reception.
GameSpot -- 6/10
"Prey is a game of uneven pacing and uninteresting characters. It opens with a poignant, thought-provoking premise, but fails to follow through until the end, when it claims a revelation it doesn't quite earn. Its gameplay falters out of the gate, eventually maturing into something worthwhile, if a bit familiar. As an homage to System Shock it's competent and at times even enjoyable. However, Prey fails to distinguish itself, and next to immersive sim contemporaries such as Dishonored, it feels stagnant." -- Tamoor Hussain [Full review]
PC Gamer -- 79/100
"Many of Prey's issues are a consequence of its broad range of options. Attempting to cater to a variety of play styles is laudable, but also means that Prey isn't as good a stealth game as Dishonored, nor as good a combat game as BioShock. But while the individual parts have problems, Prey is nonetheless greater than the sum of them. Prey is worth playing, mostly thanks to the strength of Talos-I as a setting, and the excellent environment design." -- Phil Savage [Full review]
GamesRadar -- 4.5/5
"Talos-I isn't just a location. The space station is a story in itself, with every inch of it marked by the people who used to live and work there. Walking through its corridors and gradually ridding them of the Typhon brings it closer to what it used to be. Weirdly, you wouldn't belong if everything went back to normal. Because over the course of the game it becomes increasingly impossible to stop thinking with your GLOO Gun and Typhon powers. Prey is a playground for creativity where you control the variables. It's time to start experimenting." -- Zoe Delahunty-Light [Full review]
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Rock, Paper, Shotgun -- no score
"Prey is a game that's smart about almost every aspect of itself, and yet with that, so crucially modest. It doesn't yank the camera from you, doesn't force you to sit through cutscenes, doesn't demand you sit still and listen to its backstory. It's content to be itself and let you find it, which is a damned rare treat in this hobby. Even more amazingly, for all its array of abilities and powers, you can finish the game without touching them, perhaps even find a narrative rationale for doing so. It lets you improvise, explore, make big decisions without needing to tell you they're big. And yes, it absolutely does let you turn into a cup." -- John Walker [Full review]
Time -- 3.5/5
"If you're in the mood for a corridor crawl modeled after the Dishonored series' 'one problem, multiple solutions' approach, Prey has plenty to offer. Its pedigree is clear, an homage to design DNA you can trace back to Looking Glass Studios 1990s Thief and Shock games. There's no shame in iteration, and Prey does nothing worse than its precursors. The only question, given how familiar most of its ideas feel in 2017, is whether homage is enough." -- Matt Peckham [Full review]
IGN -- 8.0/10
"Prey's curious alternate-history universe, intriguing side-quests, hidden threats, and detailed environmental storytelling make Talos-I a joy to explore. The unsettling sense of paranoia that comes from knowing any object could turn out to be a hidden enemy gives even the quiet moments a palpable tension. All of that picks up the slack for combat and stealth that doesn't feel fresh enough to sustain it throughout what can be a long game." -- Dan Stapleton [Full review - updated 5/12]
Polygon -- 8.5 (PC) / 8.0 (PS4/Xbox One)
"Arkane has the confidence to let Prey end on its own terms, even if it occasionally leans too heavily on its least interesting aspects. When it looks most like a shooter, Prey is merely competent. But as a mystery, a deep-space haunted house with dozens of stories of tragedy and humanity to tell, Prey is a remarkably successful archaeological expedition--and it manages to compellingly ruminate on what it means to be." -- Arthur Gies [Full review]
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