Sniper Monkey

Prey (2016) and Arkane's issues with story

So I have finally gotten around to and finished Prey. I had an amazing time with it… for the most part; the game deflates towards the end, which I think is the main reason why people call it forgettable. I don’t want to spoil plot details, so this will be a bit vague, but bear with me.

Prey’s pacing

Prey starts off super strong. The intrigue introduced at the beginning is gripping, and the set up manages to turn the basic premise of the game, something that’s advertised about it everywhere, into an awesome reveal. After exploring the first area and entering a hub area, the game game begins several plot threads, each one adding to the intrigue and making you more curious about what went down on the Talos I station.

You visit a new area to get access to a recording that progresses the story. Cool, standard game stuff. After watching the recording, you learn that to get to the next plot thread, you need to take a detour. You go through a new part of the station… and then another… After reaching the destination, you once again learn that the next plot points are inaccessible. Time for another detour! You start following urgent matters and the moment-to-moment story takes over. Meanwhile, the main plot just… dangles there.

Of course, you learn plenty of side-stories and various going-ons of the setting; while enjoyable, they explain the mysteries from the beginning in a rather mundane way. Tension slowly deflated and I found myself disengaging, just going through the gameplay motions and dealing with the immediate events on the station, like rescuing people, dealing with a treacherous convict and getting yourself out of hairy situations.

About 60-70% into Prey, I realized that mystery from the beginning got unraveled through all the emails and audio logs I’ve read, and that there was not much left keeping me interested. In the gameplay department, I acquired most of the powers which I found interesting and was consistently wiping the floor with the enemies. I just wanted to get over with the quest that has been unresolved for 30 hours (!) of gameplay. And then as I think the game is about to end, it throws another log under the protag’s legs (in the form of Dahl). After being done with that chore, you finally reach that initial goal, and get to go back and forth across the entire map to finish the game. Yay, backtracking. Just what you need to ramp up the excitement for the ending.

Prey’s ending

You can make several choices which make the plot end in different ways. All endings are very short and there’s a hard cut to the credits; they were so abrupt and unsatisfying that I actually laughed in bemusement. I couldn’t help but feel like the writers went “yeah whatever I don’t know”.

Thankfully, there is a post-ending that’s quite interesting, however I would not call it satisfying. Furthermore, some people will be upset about it for reasons I can’t bring up not to spoil it. Predicting this, the final choice gives you the option to, in a way, lash out against the game; however, the story being aware of its ending being weak does not make it less weak, in my opinion.

General thoughts about Prey

All in all, my criticism of Prey’s pacing comes down to this:

• The detour story structure sucks. There is many things which happen in the game, but the main plot should not be something you only experience in the very start and the very end of a 35 hour game.
• Related to the above, a simple goal of entering an office (Alex’s place in Arboretum) should not be dragged out for 30 hours. I have later learned that I could have reached this area basically immediately, but the method (GLOO gun stairs) felt like cheesing the game mechanics. This issue is exacerbated by the location being just barely out of reach. You get an elevator code for this area at the very end of the game, so this seems intentional, not just my oversight.
• The endings should have at least some resolution. One can argue that this is done through gameplay, but this doesn’t change the fact the game ends painfully abruptly.

This wasn’t supposed to be a review per se, but I do want to mention some of the positives, because this game is amazing in the gameplay department. It has so many clever interactions you can come up with, lots of scavenging, various routes to achieve your goals, the setting is awesome and all of this is beautifully presented.

I also loved the space walk mechanics and its fantastic sound design, which come together in really make you feel like you’re outside a space station. The game also uses several ingenious environmental hints to teach you new mechanics; again, I don’t want to spoil it, but I don’t think I’ve had a bigger eureka moment than in this game.

However, Prey was not a financial success, and some even call it forgettable. While I don’t fully agree, I believe the pacing issues I described above are a key contributing factor to that. And this is not the first time that Arkane has fumbled endings.

Dishonored series

While Dishonored has a way more consistent plot with a refreshing twist in the final 20% of the game, it also suffers from an abrupt ending. To me it felt a bit like the devs saying “and they lived happily ever after or something, whatever”. Dishonored 2’s ending isn’t much better, on top of that game’s story being generally a bit nonsensical; this would be a topic for a separate blog post though. Finally, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider has a somewhat decent ending, but its story also starts to really drag in the final acts.

Finishing thoughts

All of these games are amazing. Arkane has single-handedly rejuvenated the imsim genre and I love them for that; I just wish that they paid just a bit more attention to their stories (beyond the amazing worldbuilding), because these pacing issues stop these games very short of being masterpieces.

Unfortunately we are unlikely to see Arkane correct this, given their last two games being flops (Redfall - Arkane Austin, Deathloop - Arkane Lyon). However, after Arkane Austin has been shut down, the developers have created a new studio, so who knows what the future holds…