Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsPretty but Clunky
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2019
Prey is the best and worst of recent PC games combined. The best in that it takes proven assets and an engine that have been designed and perfected over the last 20 years and presents them in one game. The worst in that any avid gamer of this genre will have that "I've played this game before" feeling as they fight the same enemies in the same environments with the same basic story-line as other previous ground-breaking classics. Prey has virtually nothing new to offer unless you are relatively new to gaming and/or this genre. It is obvious that many assets, even some more than 20 years old now, have been tweaked, reskinned and mishmashed together into an often-times incoherent glob of environments, characters and creatures. Even basic sounds are clearly lifted from games two-decades old. This mess is weakly held together (if you can say that at all) by an utterly confusing and incoherent "task and quest" system that leaves you wondering why the heck any of this is important. Making the game ultimately an insult is its pointless "I'm so woke" dialog between characters. Everyone on the space station is apparently gay and they love to talk all about it. The dialog is so cringy it completely makes a mockery of the "serious" situation you are supposed to be in. The game clearly more of an effort to indoctrinate young gamers into the "woke" way of life rather than to present anything unique and engaging for avid players who don't want social justice force-fed to them while playing. There should be a warning label for "woke content" so these sneaky disasters can be avoided.
