Why Was Prey (2017) So Forgettable? | Extra Punctuation

This week on Extra Punctuation, Yahtzee discusses why the 2017 Prey video game from Arkane Studios was so forgettable.

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#ExtraPunctuation

[taerikee]

One of the most memorable moments in Prey for me was the room covered in "Not a Mimic" sticky notes.

[adamsbja]

The only line I remember from the game is:
"Don't touch anything without hitting it with a wrench."
"Wait! Check the wrench first."
"*sigh* He's right."

It's a good line.

[johnholland]

The Reason is called Prey is that Zenimax came down from on high and told Arkane their next original game needed to be called Prey, it didn't matter what it was, it just needed to be called Prey, so they could keep the IP and it wouldn't return to Human Head studios, developers of Prey and Prey 2. The history of Prey 2 is worth researching if you want to feel dirty anytime you ever play something Zenimax has touched

[DragonsGuy]

I personally will never forget Prey because I was gifted it at the same time that I'd been working as an overnight janitor at a college. So for a time my home life was exploring an assortment of unpopulated office spaces while being wary of unusual sounds and movements that would indicate there's a horrible monstrosity waiting to murder me, and my work life was exploring an assortment of unpopulated office spaces while jumping at any perceived unusual sounds and movements for fear of horrible monstrosities waiting to murder me. I only actually found horrible monstrosities one time, but it was a wonderfully coincidental immersion.

[NotANazi]

The ending to this episode reminds me of my favorite joke:
I killed many enemies and won many medals in the war, but do they call me war hero? No.
After the war I became a teacher and taught hundreds of kids, but do they call me teacher? No.
In retirement I bought a farm and cultivated thousands of acres full of crops, but do they call me farmer? No.
But you shag one sheep!

[pipiramirez]

Forgettable? I still remember the intro, ending and many of the bits between. Also the foam gun. NOICE game.

[CappnRob]

I had this exact conversation with my friends when they recommended Prey to me about a year ago. I had slept on it when it came out as well, only to discover "what the fuck, this is basically System Shock 2 with a AAA polish budget". Nothing was compromised mechanically, it was rich and in-depth and beautifully designed and open ended. The GLOO gun is one of the best Gravity Gun chasers to come out for an FPS game as well, and the aesthetics of the setting were right up my alley. How come people weren't talking about this game with the same reverence as they do System Shock 2??? I couldn't get it. I'm not sure if I totally agree that Prey lacked a key "memorable" element as the culprit why (personally I did enjoy Alex Yu as a character and the moral complexity in which he's involved with the story as you unravel everything), but I definitely see the logic in it, as Prey does lack a certain degree of bombast. It's a very understated game, it doesn't really get in your face with anything it has, at least nothing on the lines of Andrew Ryan or SHODAN.

[catinator]

Prey really is such a good game that is never talked about. There are a lot of memories of it for me. The first time you take the elevator, tapping on the glass with your wrench to find the person in space, The "Cook", the DnD character sheets you find. There is a lot of love sprinkled throughout the game but you might miss it if you don't take your time.

[garsedj]

The meme-able moment in prey is when you can't find a password for a computer and it's written on a note under the desk. As a guy who works in IT, it really made me laugh.

[elliottstokes]

i think the mimics were actualy pretty good enemies, making you distrustful of your environment even if you cant see anything hostile

[TasteSouthsider]

The most memorable moment of Prey is the song blaring at full volume while fighting monsters attracted to it. And it's fantastic!

[Matt-fewu]

One of my all time favourite games. Moment I smashed through the glass I couldn’t believe it as I stayed away from all spoilers. An unforgettable experience and an incredibly under appreciated game

[boxhead]

The biggest issue was how the game was released, Bethesda was going through its angsty "we hate games media phase" where it refused to give out game release codes before release, and didn't buy adspace on said publications limiting its exposure before release. A lot of reviewers were not incentivised to review it, and being told they had like 24 hours to play and write a review to meet a deadline and most refused. Eventually Bethesda realised their anti-game reviewer policy hurt them and game sales and reversed it.

Then comes Prey Mooncrash, they released the DLC the same day they announced it on stage at E3... while all the games media and critics were too busy at E3 to play it, cause they all got backstage passes to see the Cyberpunk 2077 guided demo of two in-game missions.

Its weird when you see all the critic reviews on Deathloop, and it by many Arkane fans pales in comparision to Prey or Dishonoured... so why did Deathloop get reviewed so highly when its less memorable and even more generic than Prey, mostly cause none of them remember playing Prey... CAUSE THEY DIDNT! Bethesda didn't give them time to, so they ignored it.

[Hawkeye]

Forgettable? Fuck, I love this game. Haven't played it in going on 2 or 3 years and still remember it very well, especially stuff like your first encounters with specific monsters.

[manderic]

Ah yes, Prey 2017's ending. To me it was one of the most ballsy design choices I've ever seen in a AAA game. For the mostly everyone who didn't get obsessed with Prey's lore, the ending was pretty much designed to appear like the dumbest 'we wasted your time, none of that actually happened' ending UNLESS you paid a lot of attention to various small details and thought about the philosophical questions the main story was bringing up. This is the sort of thing that developers usually put in for their own sakes, and Prey is the only AAA game I know of that possibly damaged its own reception because of this desire.

[Archone]

Oddly enough, I LOVED this game. It was very intelligent, the gameplay was incredibly creative and interesting, and the theme raised so many interesting philosophical questions. I think Yatzee's third theory is the correct one - there simply aren't any memorable characters in the game. Without memorable characters and quotes, you don't have much to meme with.

[bkgrila]

I thought Prey was pretty memorable, though I'm the type of player who explores obsessively and reads everything. It might not have technically have done much new, but it is still a very unique game. There aren't many other games that mix old-school System Shock/Deus Ex immersive sim design with modern polish. I loved the level design, the GLOO gun, the crew backstories, and even the crafting. I did feel the gameplay and story completely fell apart 2/3 of the way through, which soured me on replaying it. Exploring the first time was a joy, though.

[ryhanon]

It wasn’t forgettable at all - it was just under appreciated. It was easily one of the best games of the year.

[johnshank]

Prey 2017 is one of my favorite games of all time. It's a shame it was lost in the mix due to a clouded and controversial release but I loved it when I finally got around to playing it and I think it's a game that you get out what you put into it

[frostyblade]

I'm so glad Preys being mentioned again. It's one of my favourite games ever, despite my hatred for scary games. It's a masterpiece of writing level design and what I call, 'adaptive horror' I.e if you play with the mimic sounds off in a well lit room, it won't scare you at all, apart from maybe 1 scene hidden in a projector screen somewhere. On the other hand If you play in a dark room with high sound it will scare you shitless
TLDR Prey is amazing, go play it now