I thought the monsters and mimicry would be the stars of Prey [official site], but I was wrong. The real star is the Talos-I space station, which manages to be a convincing functional space and a delightful collection of hidden routes and challenges. In my first couple of hours with the game, I thought the setting was a too-predictable mixture of offices and industrial machinery, but six hours in, I’m finding it hard to hard to tear myself away.
Despite all of its powers and tricks, Prey is a game where I’m not so much interested in what I’m doing as I am in where I’m doing it. The combat irritates me more often than it excites me, the creatures pestering rather than petrifying, and the upgrade system hasn’t convinced me yet but if Talos-I continues to be such a warren of possibilities, I’ll gladly spend another thirty hours or more there.