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We are at the Talos-1 space station, which survived a kind of disaster. There would be a good part of the staff, the station is partially destroyed, monsters from nightmares roam everywhere. And the main character (or heroine), a scientist named Morgan, also does not remember anything. What he (a) will do?

Adapt and improvise. Because how could you guess, Prey Not a shooter at all, but a much more complicated game.

He studied with the best

Those who played in System Shock or Deus Ex, Feel here at home. Developers from Arkane The elements of other projects were not shy about borrowing at all: the style went to PREY from BIOSHOCK, Tasks and atmosphere refer to Half-Life 2, and sometimes to Portal, And during episodes with some enemies I recall Alien: ISOLATION. The presentation of history and some mechanics are borrowed from Dishonored, another game Arkane. But all this manages so competently that it does not go to reproach the developers in soulless plagiarism.

The game came out so long that closer to the final events from the entry begin to be forgotten.

Most of the time will have to explore the surrounding world, look for scraps of stories, read a lot, solve technical problems at the station, make something, look for ways to the goal (there are many of them), pump a hero, hide and sometimes fight. And in all this, Prey managed to withstand the balance: she teaches to think, to be attentive, calculating and cunning.

This is important : __ ARKANE did not lie about variability. Almost any problem can be solved by many ways. Do not know how to break the terminals? It does not come out to kill a strong enemy? Designers probably prepared a bypass or a couple of turrets, hid the pass or the code from the door – they just need to find them. Improvised, studying everything around and wandering here generally it is generally very important – the most useful finds, usually outside the main route.

There are very few resources: cartridges, first -aid kits and spare parts are constantly ending, you have to adapt. Stealth will help someone: you can hide from opponents, snooping along the safer hidden paths. Someone will be extracted by gadgets-they are allowed to assemble a rubbish from improvised rubbish. But everyone will need attentiveness: noticing a tiny ventilation hatch or a note with a code from a safe can be difficult, but vital.

Similarity with Dishonored there is.

And the skills that the main character opens along the course of adventure will also be useful. For example, individual objects blocking the path can be moved only after buying the ability to “rise”. Hacker skills allow you to quickly get into the locked areas – there will probably be resources or a short way to the goal. And those who will invest in repairs will be able Jammy Jack Casino to repair security turrets and get an advantage in battle.

Survive at all costs

However, the battles here are not the main thing. There are many enemies (even very), but almost all of them are strong and tenacious, so the developers are actively urge to hide and run away. But if you still have no luck to get into a fight, it will not be boring either.

The main thing is that the local fights are remembered is to think in them. When there are a lot of cartridges, you can go into an open battle, but most often you come to enemy with empty pockets and bad health. And in such cases you have to improvise and use any means that it is possible to choose.

Gradually, in each location, you begin to first look for disguised enemies and potential opportunities: fuel puddles, “first-aid kits” drinks and the like.

Enemies here are also very different and make you look for a special approach to yourself. Some, for example, are disguised as interior items and attack from an ambush. Others create doubles, shoot energy clots and turn off the player's weapon. Still others fly, block the abilities of the hero and turn people into zombies, and some invisible monsters in addition are able to raise Morgan (a) and all other objects in the room in the air by telekinesis.

This is important: As in Dishonored, it was not without supernatural forces. Thanks to the new invention, neuromodes, Morgan can adopt enemies: for example, telekinesis, mind control or explosions by the power of thought. But the sensational opportunity to turn into objects was not in fact impressive – yes, with its help you can penetrate in difficult places, but using it is inconvenient. There should always be an object that could be “copy”. A serious mimicry is not suitable for anything, except for “hide and seeks” with enemies, when the player has enough energy. But this does not happen particularly often.

As a result, short contractions alternate with tense battles, when you have to crawl between the tables in search of resources, rush into enemies with chairs and hide in pantries, in the end, find a couple of cartridges in the nightstand and finally smash an annoying enemy into shreds. Such victories give a sea of ​​pleasure.

Each room is a separate story. If you wish, you can find out the fate of almost everyone who worked there.

Complete dive

But the main merit of Prey is how the developers beat the elements of the mechanic and bind them together.

For example, the terminals here are unexpectedly useful: they allow not only to read mail, but also to download drawings, location maps, activate the functions of the station or find the right character. In this case, interaction with sensory screens does not occur in a separate menu, but right in the game – you need to enter the cursor and press the button. This not only enhances the feeling of immersion, but also affects the gameplay, especially when such operations have to be done directly under the nasal of the enemy.

Separate terminals make it possible to find any employee of the station who had a special bracelet. Sometimes it helps to find allies, supplies or even ill -wishers.

If you are attacked by electricity, then it is better not to stand on the iron floor or in a puddle. Enemies that have come into spilled fuel can be set on fire, and a gas pipeline opposite them to pierce a bullet. Or, conversely, block the hole with a plastic foam from gypsum gun, if a stream of flame interferes with passing.

This gun is generally universal. And the holes will allow you to close, and stop the fan blades, and immobilize the enemies, and with its help you can make stairs and climb into the most unexpected places. In this regard, the game does not put any obstacles: you can climb and grab it for almost everything and everywhere where a real person could be able.

Creation of objects in Prey is a special pleasure. First, the entire collected trash must be dumped into the recycling basket, then press the button, letting the command process everything in resources, assemble them, go to another terminal, select the desired item, put resources and press the creation button. It turns out for a long time, but atmospheric.

And most importantly, all mechanics harmoniously interact. The monsters scanner allows you to unlock unique skills (we will borrow them from enemies), find the vulnerabilities of the opponents and detect the hidden facial expressions. Some grenades do not just kill all enemies in the district, but at the same time split them into resources – it is no longer necessary to dispose of the trash after that. So you calculate each throw in such a way that there are as many useless items around as possible around. I don’t even want to leave the collection of garbage anymore, because every “rusty spring” is a chance for a new pack of cartridges or a first -aid kit.

What is good and what is bad

All this creates a real feeling of survival at the space station. Moreover, even a mug or seductively lying pistol can be a disguised enemy. After a couple of such incidents, you start pounding almost everything in the district with a wrench: chairs, globes, boxes … Yes, Prey cannot be called a horror, but there is something terrible in the wandering of the dead “Talos-1”. And it is sometimes difficult to play. Even very much.

Sound design in the game amazing. Music and other effects so competently pump the atmosphere that the first time to travel is even scary. But there’s nothing to surprise PREY. The artists tried, and there are no complaints about the style, but the simple textures and angular models will clearly like everyone.

Sometimes it seems that the complexity of Prey is like a guest from the 1990s, and this is both a dignity and a lack. Developers do not care that the player may not understand where to go and what to do. For the same locations with reviving enemies, you can drive you several times. And if all the resources end overnight, you will spend in private with an annoying tenacious monster for half an hour, rummaging empty rooms.

Prey, even during boot screens, almost screams: save resources, hide and run away from enemies, survive, it will be difficult. And sometimes it works: you are forced to hide, use all improvised means, collect garbage to make ammunition from it, even rush stools. And, when it is possible to get out, the sensations remain special.

Many problems can be eliminated with a gun that shoots with hardening foam.

But sometimes all this is just annoying. Of course, it is possible to hide, but there are no exciting stealth mechanics here, there are too many enemies, it’s difficult to run away because of the most convenient management (at least on PS4), and without resources, fighting a dilutant key is simply boring.

What can be precisely attributed to unambiguous minuses is minor flaws. Then the damage is not counted on enemies, then they beat or shoot through the wall. You have to climb relatively often, but it is inconvenient to do it: you constantly get stuck in objects and obstacles. Well, the story characters sometimes begin to speak at the same time, because of which it is simply impossible to make out some dialogs.

A living dead world

And listen to them as you want! Especially when you know that Chris Abellon was engaged in the script, one of the creators Planescape: Torment And Fallout: New Vegas. And his contribution to Prey is felt. True, apparently, he got texts and details of history, and not the main backbone of the plot.

Will take a look to both the morgue and in outer space.

The plot itself is trivial to the terrible: the hero does not remember anything, a mysterious assistant came up with him, experiments on the aliens were conducted at the station … At first it still seems that there is an intrigue, and the scriptwriters are about to surprise and get out, but gradually stamps only become more.

However, all the flake flaws are redeemed by the study of details. Diaries, audio recordings, notes and magazines are scattered around the station, and computers are clogged with emails. All of them give a sea of ​​information about the environment, enemies, relationships of characters and life on Talos-1. Entire plot lines gather from fragmentary information, and many of their heroes later appear and participate in global history.

If in the first hours you feel lonely, then more and more survivors are gradually found. True, not all meetings turn out to be pleasant.

You can see with your own eyes almost everything that is mentioned in the records. We heard about experiments on people – be sure to stumble upon the laboratory where they were held. After reading how a group of workers spends time behind the hilies, you will find their table, and on it – the rules and even sheets of characters. And having found a person’s corpse, later, it is quite possible, you will look into his room. And this makes the world of the game much more lively.

The same with side missions: here we solve detective riddles, and we hunt for psychopaths, and save other heroes. Many such stories are nonlinear: one mistake, and an important character for history will die. The game will continue, as if nothing had happened. And only with repeated passage it turns out that the whole storyline has disappeared.

If you believe the diaries, the employees of this department decided to glue all the objects with stickers in order to know exactly where the facial express. Good idea…

Morgan is even given the opportunity to escape from the station on a rescue capsule, without waiting for the final missions and the true ending. And perhaps not in vain. It is the final – perhaps the main disappointment in the whole game. Nothing terrible, but after twenty to three hours of gameplay, the ending seems crumpled and offended.

Prey is an amazing game. Those who do not like difficulties, a slow pace and assembly of the plot by notes, you can safely miss it. But the rest will be remembered by both gameplay finds and the feeling of a real adventure. Bypassing each room, fixing many systems and learning the stories of dozens of characters, you just fall in love with the station and its inhabitants. And after the final credits, nostalgia rolls: it seems that the introduction was a long time ago, and you went a long way. And this is perhaps one of the most pleasant emotions that games can give.

Pleased

• The atmosphere of "horror in space";

• the history of the inhabitants of the Talos-1 station;
• unusual opponents;
• interconnection of a mechanic;
• nonlinearity;
• Attention to details;
• MUCH MIK GORDON and Sound Design.

Sharped

• The plot is replete with stamps;

• crumpled ending;
• Not the most modern graphics;
• someone will seem excessively complex.

How we played

What: The game is provided by the publisher

On what: PS4

How many: Twenty -four hours.

Achivka of the editorial office

"Not a mimic"

Afraid to drink from mugs after PREY.

About localization

The game is completely translated into Russian, but if there are no special complaints about the text, then dubbing is disappointed. When the character says in a satisfied voice: “Without panic” – or during the disaster, quite calmly drops: “Oh God”, the impressions remain strange.

Fabulous

9.0

Grade Gambling

Verdict

A very atmospheric adventure with a whole bunch of entertaining gameplay mechanics. If you like not only to shoot, but also read and think, then Prey will take you for a long time.

Buy a game| All about PREY