Prey - Impressions and Interview

[joxer]

So Bethesda *did* region based EA/Ubi unlock time. Meh. I post something positive about them and they prove me wrong. Maybe I should stop searching for positives from the buggy releases publisher.

EDIT:
JDR, you suck!!!
chicken.

 

[NewDArt]

Quick PC specific observations:

Performance is extremely smooth - but I'm using a 1080 ti. But it's so smooth that I think the game will run just fine even on mediocre hardware. Played for an hour or so - and there's been absolutely no sign of slowdown anywhere.

Controls are vastly superior on PC. In fact, I worry the game might be too easy on Nightmare - but I won't know until later. But they're fast and super responsive.

Unexpectedly, there's no HUD customization beyond removing tutorial prompts. Can't say it bothers me at all, but I know we have some HUD purists around here - and they'll likely be annoyed at this.

Quick save is instant - and quick load is instant too, unless you load from another area, but it's still very fast.

Not a fan of chromatic aberration on text in books and tablets.

Still not sold on the art style. The late 60s luxury vibe feels strangely out of place. It's giving me a strange sort of 2001 + 2010 vibe (the movies).

Gameplay remains extremely satisfying for me, but I'm a big fan of System Shock 2 - and this is very clearly a spiritual successor. They spell it out for you in various ways, and you'll know what I mean when you play it.

Love how the toilet seat is down when you play the female version of Morgan

 

[JDR13]

I'm installing it as I type this, but I probably won't start playing until day after tomorrow.

I could have started last night if I wanted, but I'd rather wait until I have a good chunk of uninterrupted time to invest.

 

[NewDArt]

Additional observations:

There is some micro-stuttering in the larger open environments. Doesn't seem fixable so far. Hope there's a patch for it, as it's a bit annoying.

The placement of the crosshair is awkward - and they really need to implement some kind of HUD config for this. Also, the lack of "aim down sights" is jarring in this day and age.

Beyond that, the game remains very strong. Loving it.

 

[NewDArt]

Also wanted to add some more gameplay observations, so people can get a better feel for the kind of gameplay they can expect:

It's a true scavenger-centric game. Meaning, you'll gain a major advantage by going OCD on searching all rooms thoroughly and spending your resources wisely. In that way, it's very much like System Shock and its sequel - but even more so, because of the crafting system.

It's also heaven for the explorer. Tons and more tons of hidden stuff lying around - and it's delightfully open. There's a lot of optional backtracking for completionists - where you find the keycard or code for some door or safe you encountered way back and since the station remains open, you can always go back at will.

There's also a significant amount of environmental gameplay. Meaning, you can use all manner of objects and hazards to your advantage. One cute example is that you can provoke gas leakage and ignite it and have it damage the enemies. The cute part is that you can "plug it" by using your Gloo gun afterwards, so you can circumvent the danger.

You can also enable things like "Med-bots" that heal you X number of times - and which will remain so you can go back to them later.

I'm liking the simplicity of the hacking mini-game. It nicely abstracts the hacking process and makes it swift and yet not without some degree of challenge. Not as cool or sophisticated as Fallout 3/4 or Mankind Divided - but I find it fits the flow of the game nicely. Sort of an homage to the systems in SS and SS2. Certainly MUCH better than that horrible mini-game in Bioshock.

So far, the skill trees are excellent in how it's incredibly difficult to choose what to upgrade. Everything is useful - and there's a lot of playstyles available through choice, including hacking, reparing/tech, combat, stealth and so on. There's no one way to deal with things - and the game wants you to find your own way.

I worry there are too many neuromods available - which is a common problem, and it was a really big concern in Dishonored and its sequel. However, I read a developer quote promising that there's "no way" anyone can get all the powers. We'll see if that holds true.

So, again, this is System Shock (both of them) with a bit of Bioshock and Deus Ex on top.

 

[joxer]

It's a true scavenger-centric game. Meaning, you'll gain a major advantage by going OCD on searching all rooms thoroughly and spending your resources wisely.
…
It's also heaven for the explorer. Tons and more tons of hidden stuff lying around

Good. Means $ well spent.

There's also a significant amount of environmental gameplay. Meaning, you can use all manner of objects and hazards to your advantage.

Environment puzzles that are optional? Great!

I'm liking the simplicity of the hacking mini-game.

I dislike simplicity.

I worry there are too many neuromods available - which is a common problem, and it was a really big concern in Dishonored and its sequel. However, I read a developer quote promising that there's "no way" anyone can get all the powers. We'll see if that holds true.

It the game was advertised as RPG, this would sound worrysome, but it's a hybrid so… Jack of all trades and master of them (almost) all feels like standard mainstream. Here's hope that lategame is still challenging for a "skillfull" protagonist or in other words here's hope noone can fastrun the game easily.

There is some micro-stuttering in the larger open environments. Doesn't seem fixable so far.

Now this is bad. I hate when a game does that and I hate the necessity to micromanage your PC to get rid of it (unless it's a general engine problem fixable only through official patches). I hate unoptimized garbage AC4 where the only cure was CPU overclocking as if we were still playing games on on singlecore x86. Here, I doubt the cause will be CPU. Will start the game later today, maybe I find out how to stop it.

EDIT:
Peeked on steam forums and seen plenty of stuttering reports, different system specs.
Seems the culprit might be the latest GPU drivers, per user comments here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/480490/discussions/0/1327844097114441647/?ctp=7
And here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1368766&page=10

EDIT2:
Even wccftech warns on the new driver!
http://wccftech.com/prey-pc-totally-fine-shouldnt-miss-gem/

The footage below was actually taken with the new NVIDIA driver release (382.09), but the game is far smoother with the previous driver (381.89). Roll back until the stuttering is fixed.

Means, don't upgrade GPU drivers. Yet. If you did and the game is stuttering, try reverting to previous version.

 

[NewDArt]

Yes, I've just confirmed that fix (noticed it on reddit).

It works - and it's now 100% stutter free. Well, so far

 

[fadedc]

I'm happy to hear there is a lot of exploration. Thinking back to why I liked System Shock 2 so much, I think a big part of it was how you had so many options when it came to exploring the space station.

 

[crpgnut]

Thanks for the deets, Dart. Hmmm, deets is slang for details....

I'm going to pick this up tonight since you guys have sold me on it. Since I rarely update by Nvidia driver, I'm probably okay

 

[NewDArt]

Daaamn… This game just keeps on giving and expanding.

Game of the year candidate for my part, for sure!

It's almost brazenly open and non-linear. It's like they mixed the best parts of SS and SS2 and added something of their own to the mix on top.

Also, I've spent more than 8 hours exploring 2-3 levels and there are plenty of areas left in them that I haven't gotten access to yet. The game has something like 14 levels.

I can easily see myself spending 40-50 hours if it keeps up the density of things and secrets to find.

 

[joxer]

40-50 hours? So it ain't 10 hours long Doom? JDR will be disappointed.

 

[zahratustra]

I'm kind of worried about exploration DArt. Worried that it might eventually turn into "samo samo" kind of thing…
What I mean is that, judging purely from the vids, the space station reminds me of an office skyscraper. I mean there are plenty of rooms and they might have different layout, furniture, notes left on desks and computer screens but after 30th room isn't another room just another room? Or is there more to the exploration than that?

 

[Dasale]

I'm kind of worried about exploration DArt. Worried that it might eventually turn into "samo samo" kind of thing…
What I mean is that, judging purely from the vids, the space station reminds me of an office skyscraper. I mean there are plenty of rooms and they might have different layout, furniture, notes left on desks and computer screens but after 30th room isn't another room just another room? Or is there more to the exploration than that?

Never played System Shock 2? I don't remind it had amazing landscapes for tourism. That said a major gameplay elements was turrets and camera and locks, looks like Prey didn't borrow the idea. And yeah they are elements that add relief to an exploration.

 

[NewDArt]

I'm kind of worried about exploration DArt. Worried that it might eventually turn into "samo samo" kind of thing…
What I mean is that, judging purely from the vids, the space station reminds me of an office skyscraper. I mean there are plenty of rooms and they might have different layout, furniture, notes left on desks and computer screens but after 30th room isn't another room just another room? Or is there more to the exploration than that?

There is much more. Each level is full of sublevels and there are many visual themes and all kinds of surprises. There's an overall aesthetic that's prevalent, much like Deus Ex HR or Bioshock, but it's full of variety within that aesthetic. It also includes zero-g and exterior space exploration.

 

[JDR13]

I gave it a quick spin this morning. Mixed feelings but mostly good.

It is indeed very well optimized. I'm using max settings + vsync, and it's completely smooth.

Visuals are a little bit of a letdown. Not from an artistic view, but from a technical standpoint. They're certainly not bad, but I was expecting a higher level of detail. The character models look slightly dated to me.

What little I've seen of the environment so far has been very impressive as far as how much you can interact with.

 

[zahratustra]

Ok. Thanks! Right now I'm taking my time playing Dishonored II but Prey just might be next

 

[Thrasher]

So do you think my laptop can handle it?
2.9 GHz Core i7-4910MQ
32 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro K4100M 4GB

 

[JDR13]

I'm not too familiar with the mobile Quadro line. What would a K4100M be equal to if you were to compare it to desktop GPUs?

 

[Thrasher]

Yeah, that's the tough one. The site I usually use to compare GPU is missing its page for notebook GPUs that allow a direct comparison. But found another one.

http://archive.techarp.com/showarticle3e7a.html?artno=98&pgno=8

http://archive.techarp.com/showarticlecf8e.html?artno=88&pgno=8

The biggest difference between mine and a GTX 970M I see is the pixel fill rates - where mine is about half the rate. Ouch. And memory speed at about a third lower, as well as DX 12.1 vs. DX 11.1.

 

[JDR13]

Here's a performance comparison.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/2427/quadro-k4100m

Compared to desktop GPUs, it appears to be roughly equal to a mid-range Geforce 600 series. My guess is that you would probably be able to run Prey on medium settings, but that's just a guess. You might want to post in the Steam forum and see if anyone else is running the same GPU.