Info about Prey:

Official game description:
Digital Deluxe Edition
======================
Prey Digital Deluxe includes Prey, Prey: Mooncrash, and Prey: Typhon Hunter- the brand new multiplayer update.
About the Game
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Story
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In Prey, you awaken aboard Talos I, a space station orbiting the moon in the year 2032. You are the key subject of an experiment meant to alter humanity forever – but things have gone terribly wrong. The space station has been overrun by hostile aliens and you are now being hunted. As you dig into the dark secrets of Talos I and your own past, you must survive using the tools found on the station -- your wits, weapons, and mind-bending abilities. The fate of the Talos I and everyone aboard is in your hands.
Features
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*   Sci-fi Thriller
    ---------------
    Nothing is as it seems aboard Talos I. As Morgan Yu, set out to unravel the clues you've left behind for yourself, and discover the truth about your past. What role will you play in TranStar’s plans, and the mysterious threat ravaging the station?  
*   Singular Setting
    ----------------
    Orbiting the Moon, the Talos I space station symbolizes the height of private space enterprise. Explore a lavish craft designed to reflect corporate luxury of the 1960s, and navigate interconnected, non-linear pathways built to hide countless secrets.  
*   Unimaginable Threat
    -------------------
    The shadowy extraterrestrial presence infesting Talos I is a living ecology bent on annihilating its prey. It’s up to you, one of the last remaining survivors aboard the station, to end the deadly attack of these haunting predators.  
*   Play Your Way
    -------------
    Gain alien abilities to develop a distinct combination of powers and upgrade your unique skills. Craft increasingly useful items with the blueprints, gadgets and tools on board the station to overcome dangerous obstacles in your way. Survive unprecedented threats with your wits and ability to improvise.

Release date: May 4, 2017

Categories: Sci-fi Thriller, First-Person Perspective, Immersive Sim, Action Horror, Exploration, Puzzle Solving, Character Progression, Crafting

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 30; verdict: Caution Advised; summary: The reviews for this game highlight several key points. There is a significant concern about the introduction of microtransactions, which has negatively impacted the perception of the game. Additionally, the cost and impact of DLCs are mentioned, with some players feeling that the additional content may be overpriced or changes the gameplay experience. The extensive gameplay hours and the inclusion of multiplayer and Battle Pass features are also noted, which can be seen as both positive and negative depending on player preferences. Overall, while the game has its strengths, the monetization strategies have raised concerns among players.
- Wiki: score 50; verdict: The Student; summary: The analysis of user feedback for 'Wiki Tax' reveals significant reliance on external data sources, particularly for understanding quest outcomes and complex game mechanics. Users frequently need to consult guides to progress in the game, highlighting issues with in-game explanations and mechanics. Additionally, there are notable complaints about bugs and navigation issues, such as 3D motion sickness and alt-tab crashes. These insights suggest that while the game offers a unique and engaging story, it suffers from a lack of clear in-game guidance and some technical problems.
- Proton/Linux: score 0; verdict: Insufficient Data; summary: There are no relevant reviews discussing Linux or Proton compatibility, performance, or issues.
- Steam Deck: score 55; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The analysis of user feedback for the Steam Deck experience with the game reveals significant issues with control mapping, stability, and controller support. These problems are critical as they directly impact the usability and enjoyment of the game. While there are some positive reviews, the majority of feedback points to a need for improvements in these areas to enhance the overall user experience.

- Hardware Profile:
  - Summary: Performance varies significantly across hardware cohorts, with higher VRAM generally yielding better results. Lower VRAM systems report mixed experiences, while higher-end hardware tends to perform well.
  - Sample size: 92 (3% coverage)
  - Audience skew: Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
  - Windows <8GB VRAM (mixed, 28 reports): Performance is generally good, but some users report optimization issues.
  - Windows 8-11GB VRAM (positive, 26 reports): Users report good performance and visual quality, especially with mods.
  - Windows 12-15GB VRAM (negative, 18 reports): Users report issues with starting the game and lack of controller support.
  - Windows 16GB+ VRAM (positive, 6 reports): The game is reported to be well-optimized and performs perfectly.
  - Caveats: 92 of 3438 reviews expose hardware metadata.; Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $20.00 - $30.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence shows that users consider the game to be of high value and worth the full price, with some even stating they would pay full price despite buying it on sale. The game is frequently mentioned as being worth it at a discount of around $3-5, but several reviews also emphasize that it is worth the full price, which is currently $30. This suggests that the community considers the fair base-game price range to be around the full price, but also highlights that it is often purchased and enjoyed at a significant discount.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 30.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 4.5h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provided includes direct mentions of playtime and gameplay experiences. The first quote mentions playing through the game three times with a total of 30 hours of gameplay, indicating a significant investment of time to complete the game multiple times. The second quote specifies a playthrough taking just over 33 hours, which suggests a detailed and thorough playthrough. The third quote mentions replaying the game on a higher difficulty, indicating additional hours spent beyond the initial playthrough. The fourth quote breaks down a playthrough into segments of four to five hours each, providing a clear indication of session lengths and total playtime.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game starts slow and may take several attempts to get into, but it becomes significantly more engaging and fun once players push through the initial hours and gain more abilities and weapons.
  - Stance: Fun after initial slow phase
  - Anchor: Gaining more abilities and weapons
  - Time to anchor: 3h 0m
  - Friction: slow start; difficulty spikes; repetitive combat scenarios; stretched-out pacing
  - Unlock drivers: progression through the game; gaining new abilities and weapons; familiarization with gameplay loops
  - Conditions: exploring everything; pushing through the initial slow phase; switching to easier difficulty if needed; appreciation for methodical pacing and creative problem-solving
- Player Archetypes:
  - Story-First Explorer (buy)
    - Motivation: Immersion and exploration
    - Playstyle: Explores thoroughly, engages with story elements, and enjoys the freedom of choice in combat and skill upgrades.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: Immersive sim fan; Explorer
    - Reference games: Deus Ex; Dishonored; Bioshock; System Shock
  - Gameplay-Focused Adventurer (sale)
    - Motivation: Engaging gameplay and replayability
    - Playstyle: Enjoys a mix of exploration and combat, values replayability, and connects with game characters.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: Gameplay enthusiast; Adventurer
    - Reference games: Alien Isolation; System Shock
  - Challenge-Seeking Achiever (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Challenge and achievement completion
    - Playstyle: Enjoys replaying on higher difficulties, seeks to complete achievements, and values immersion and satisfaction from gameplay.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: Achievement hunter; Challenge seeker
    - Reference games: Dishonored; Deus Ex


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Encourages creativity and freedom (weight 0.47): The game is noted for encouraging creative problem-solving and offering players the freedom to tackle challenges in their own way. This freedom extends to various aspects of gameplay, allowing for experimentation and versatility.
- Engaging and well-written story (weight 0.3): The story is frequently described as interesting, well-written, and engaging, with good plot twists and thoughtful storytelling. Players appreciate the creative and engaging narrative.
- Immersive and top-notch atmosphere (weight 0.29): The game's atmosphere is highly praised for being immersive, enjoyable, and top-notch. Players appreciate the detailed environments, excellent ambiance, and overall immersive experience.
- Enjoyable and fun gameplay (weight 0.26): The gameplay is frequently described as very fun, enjoyable, and engaging. Players love the game and find the exploration and level design particularly enjoyable.
- Praised game mechanics and variety (weight 0.26): Players consistently highlight the game's unique and well-implemented mechanics, offering a variety of gameplay options and strategies. The detailed and specific mechanics contribute to an engaging and enjoyable experience.
- Considered underrated and highly regarded (weight 0.18): Many players consider this game to be one of the most underrated and greatest games of all time. It is often praised for its originality, memorable experiences, and high quality.
- Well-designed scenes and art direction (weight 0.17): The game is praised for its well-designed scenes, excellent sound design, and memorable art direction. The visual design and architecture are detailed and stylish, contributing to a great overall experience.
- Spiritual successor to classic games (weight 0.16): The game is often compared to and considered a spiritual successor to classic games like System Shock and Deus Ex. It is seen as similar to these games and sometimes even surpassing them.
- High replayability (weight 0.15): The game is praised for its high replayability, with players noting that it remains enjoyable even after multiple playthroughs. The open-ended gameplay and secrets encourage replayability.
- Immersive sim elements (weight 0.13): The game is praised for its immersive sim elements, which are considered fantastic and excellent. These aspects are appreciated by players and contribute to the game's overall quality.
- Recommended to specific genres (weight 0.13): The game is highly recommended to fans of sci-fi immersive sims, RPGs, and survival horror experiences. It blends elements from various genres and is praised for its immersive experience and twists.
- Variety in enemy designs (weight 0.13): The game features a variety of interesting and unique enemy types and designs. Players appreciate the diversity and challenge presented by the enemies.

Common complaints:
- Combat and enemy issues (weight 0.28): The combat system is widely criticized for being dull and lackluster, with mediocre gunplay and a lack of enemy variety. Enemies respawn too frequently, and some enemies are poorly designed, leading to a frustrating experience.
- Bugs and technical issues (weight 0.28): The game is plagued with various bugs, including game-breaking bugs, save file corruption, and performance issues. These technical problems significantly impact the gameplay experience.
- Disappointing ending (weight 0.27): The ending of the game is controversial and polarizing, with many players finding it unsatisfactory, lackluster, and even horrifying. The choices made throughout the game ultimately mean nothing, adding to the disappointment.
- Repetitive and boring gameplay (weight 0.2): The gameplay is often described as repetitive, weak, and exhausting. Players find it boring and forced, which detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.
- Poor guidance and direction (weight 0.15): The game lacks clear direction and guidance, making it difficult for players to know what to do next. This includes poor mission guidance and quest progression issues.
- Control and mechanics issues (weight 0.15): Players report issues with the game's controls, particularly in zero-gravity sections, and problems with weapon reloading mechanics. Stealth mechanics are also criticized as ineffective.
- Navigation and map design (weight 0.15): The game features cumbersome navigation and a simplistic map design, which can be confusing and tedious. Excessive backtracking is also a common complaint.
- Difficulty and resource imbalance (weight 0.14): The game is noted for its high difficulty, even on easy mode, due to low resources and strong enemies. However, some players also mention that the game becomes too easy later on, indicating a lack of balance.
- Slow pace and dynamics (weight 0.13): The game is criticized for its slow pace and dynamics, particularly at the beginning. This slow start can make the game feel tedious and drawn out.
- Lack of immersion and horror (weight 0.08): The game is criticized for its lack of horror elements and immersion, making it less engaging and scary compared to other games in the genre.
- Commercial failure and reception (weight 0.08): The game is noted for its commercial failure and mixed reception, with some players not liking the game from a story or artistic point of view.

Gameplay feedback:
- Multiple approaches to objectives (weight 0.34): The game offers open-ended gameplay with multiple ways to tackle challenges and complete objectives, enhancing replayability.
- Upgrade and progression system (weight 0.21): Players can upgrade their abilities and progress through the game, gaining new skills and enhancing their character.
- Multiple endings (weight 0.17): The game includes multiple endings based on player choices, adding to its replay value and narrative depth.
- Action horror RPG elements (weight 0.17): Combining action, horror, and RPG elements, the game offers a thrilling sci-fi story with evolving combat mechanics.
- Exploration and discovery (weight 0.15): The game emphasizes exploration, allowing players to discover new areas, loot resources, and solve problems through environmental interaction.
- Crafting and recycling mechanics (weight 0.14): Players can recycle items to gather materials and craft new items, adding depth to resource management and survival strategies.
- Puzzle-solving and creativity (weight 0.11): The game features a variety of puzzles that require creative problem-solving and the use of different tools.
- Space station setting (weight 0.11): Set on a space station, the game offers an interconnected and explorable environment that enhances immersion.
- Detailed level design (weight 0.1): The game features highly detailed and interconnected level design, though some players may find it confusing.
- Combat mechanics (weight 0.09): The game includes open-ended combat mechanics, allowing players to choose different approaches to combat situations.
- Traversal mechanics (weight 0.09): The game features traversal mechanics, including low gravity and zero gravity sections, adding variety to movement and exploration.
- Side quests and optional objectives (weight 0.09): Players can engage in side quests that reveal additional story elements and provide optional objectives.
- Enemy respawn mechanics (weight 0.08): Enemies respawn in the game, which can affect gameplay strategies and add to the challenge.

Performance notes:
- Smooth gameplay experience (weight 0.2): Many players experience smooth and stable gameplay. The game runs well on various hardware configurations, including older and low-end PCs.
- Long loading times (weight 0.12): Several players complain about long loading times, even on high-performance hardware like SSDs. This issue is particularly noted during quick travel and between locations.
- Excellent graphics performance (weight 0.09): The game is praised for its excellent graphics, which perform well even on non-gaming laptops. Players appreciate the crisp and precise visuals, especially in 4K.
- Average PC requirements (weight 0.08): The game requires average PC specifications, making it accessible to a wide range of hardware configurations, including low-end PCs.
- Optimization and mods (weight 0.06): The game has optimization issues, but some players report that mods can improve performance and visuals. Performance tips are also provided to help enhance the gaming experience.
- UI and graphical glitches (weight 0.04): Players report issues with the UI disappearing and graphical glitches. These problems can affect the overall gaming experience.
- Late-game bugs (weight 0.04): Players report that the game becomes buggier towards the end, with frequent loading screens and crashes.
- Motion blur and FPS cap (weight 0.04): Some players mention issues with motion blur and an FPS cap at 144, which can affect the visual experience.
- Save file problems (weight 0.03): Some players encounter problems with their save files, which can impact their progress and overall experience with the game.
- Language-specific issue (weight 0.02): A player reported a language-specific issue related to 3D effects, which might be relevant for a subset of players.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for immersive sim fans (weight 0.32): The game is highly recommended for fans of immersive sims, particularly those who enjoy sci-fi settings, engaging narratives, and detailed environments. It is often compared to games like Bioshock, System Shock, and Dishonored.
- General recommendations to play (weight 0.31): Many reviewers recommend playing the game, often suggesting it is worth experiencing at least once. Some recommend buying it on discount or waiting for a sale.
- Recommended for sci-fi fans (weight 0.27): The game is recommended for fans of sci-fi, offering a rich and engaging experience within the genre.
- Not for everyone (weight 0.11): The game may not be suitable for those who dislike fear or horror elements, and some suggest it might not have high replayability.
- Worth it for exploration and gameplay (weight 0.09): The game is worth it for those who enjoy exploration and different approaches to gameplay, including sneaking and upgrading abilities.
- Play without prior knowledge (weight 0.07): Reviewers suggest playing the game without watching trailers or looking up guides to enhance the surprise and immersion.
- Consider mods and DLC (weight 0.06): Some reviewers recommend considering mods to improve visuals and physics, as well as purchasing the DLC for an enhanced experience.
- Emotional engagement enhances experience (weight 0.03): Engaging emotionally with the story can make the gameplay experience more impactful and rewarding.

Other player notes:
- Modification links shared (weight 0.03): Players are sharing links to modifications and performance tips, indicating a community effort to enhance or optimize the gaming experience.
- Proxy review posting (weight 0.03): Some players are posting reviews on behalf of their friends who have played the game extensively but are unable to post reviews in their own region.
- Appreciation for birthday gift (weight 0.03): There is gratitude expressed towards the game studio for a birthday gift, showing a positive interaction between the studio and its players.
- Sympathy for laid-off staff (weight 0.03): Players are expressing sympathy for the studio's staff who lost their jobs, reflecting concern for the well-being of the developers.

Emotions:
- Excitement (weight 0.2): Players are excited about the game's unique setting, immersive atmosphere, and engaging gameplay mechanics. The freedom to choose different playstyles, creative problem-solving, and the variety of character builds contribute significantly to this excitement.
- Frustration (weight 0.14): Players are frustrated with various technical issues such as game crashes, bugs, and long loading times. Additionally, gameplay mechanics like enemy respawns, poor combat mechanics, and lack of guidance contribute to the frustration.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.11): Players find satisfaction in the game's immersive experience, freedom of gameplay, and complex mechanics. The engaging narrative, detailed environment, and multiple solutions to tasks also contribute to a sense of fulfillment.
- Disappointment (weight 0.08): Players express disappointment due to the game's decline in quality towards the end, lack of meaningful choices, and repetitive gameplay. Additionally, the game not meeting expectations set by other titles and technical issues contribute to this sentiment.
- Joy (weight 0.06): Players experience joy from the game's engaging story, enjoyable gameplay mechanics, and immersive atmosphere. The combination of good design, interesting abilities, and great audio-visuals enhances this feeling.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.05): Players enjoy the game's unique atmosphere, engaging gameplay, and deep story. The variety of gameplay elements, level design, and the immersive experience contribute to their enjoyment.
- Excited (weight 0.04): Players are excited about the game's unique gameplay mechanics, freedom of gameplay, and the combination of elements from other popular games. The craftsmanship, atmosphere, and variety of ways to overcome obstacles add to this excitement.
- Admiration (weight 0.03): Players admire the game's depth, replayability, and the detailed visual and sound design. The respect for player intelligence, complex systems, and the immersive simulator aspects are highly praised.
- Appreciation (weight 0.03): Players appreciate the game's varied gameplay experience, creative freedom, and immersive sim elements. The attention to detail, high-standard voice work, and the game's unique experience are also highly valued.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.03): Players feel nostalgic due to the game's old-school feel, comparisons to classic games like System Shock, and memories of playing similar games in the past. The unique experience and the game's atmosphere evoke a sense of nostalgia.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.03): Players are enthusiastic about the game's dynamic gameplay, exploration, and high replay value. The well-crafted story, immersive atmosphere, and variety in tactics and strategy contribute to this enthusiasm.
- Love (weight 0.02): Players express love for the game's detailed world design, atmospheric setting, and overall experience. The deep emotional connection to the game and its characters, along with the engaging story, fosters this love.
- Fear (weight 0.02): Players experience fear due to the game's scary atmosphere, terrifying enemy designs, and tense gameplay. The suspense, tension, and unique monster abilities contribute to this feeling of fear.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players are surprised by the game's unexpected story twists, depth, and uniqueness. The flexibility in playstyles and the tension induced by stealthy enemies also contribute to this surprise.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Players are engaged by the game's captivating story, detailed gameplay mechanics, and paranoia induced by enemy design. The story and gameplay mechanics work together to keep players hooked.
- Curiosity (weight 0.01): Players are curious about the game's story, setting, and lore. The engaging notes, audio logs, and environmental storytelling pique their curiosity and encourage exploration.
- Immersed (weight 0.01): Players feel immersed in the game's atmosphere, story, and gameplay mechanics. The soundtrack and overall atmosphere contribute to this sense of immersion.
- Tension (weight 0.01): Players feel tension due to the game's paranoia-inducing mimics, resource scarcity, and enemy difficulty. The atmosphere and potential danger contribute to this tense feeling.
- Regret (weight 0): Players express regret about not playing the game sooner and the current state of the game's development studio. This sentiment is tied to missing out on the game's unique experience and the studio's subsequent projects.}